Arugula Risotto

This mild, light and nutritious risotto is made with brown rice. It is garnished with beautiful and delicate arugula flowers. Arugula flowers are available at some farmers markets and if you grow your own arugula you will have plenty of flowers. They are mild in taste, similar to arugula leaves.
Recipe:
Precooking rice:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 clove garlic finely chopped
½ tsp salt
1 tsp basil
In a saucepan, boil all ingredients and continue to cook for 30 minutes.
Risotto:
1 onion
3 tbls olive oil
1 cup fine green beans
2 cups arugula
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds chopped
1 tbls butter
1 tsp honey
2 tbls white wine
½ cup arugula flowers


In a large pan sauté onions on olive oil, add rice and vegetables, salt, pepper and wine. Cover the pan and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes or until rice is tender and there is no more liquid. Add butter and sunflower seeds at the end. Serve garnished with grated parmesan cheese and arugula flowers.

For vegetarian version of this risotto omit butter and parmesan. You can add a little bit more olive oil and sprinkle the risotto with some more chopped sunflower seeds. When precooking the rice, instead of salt put 1 tbls of white miso.