Turkey meatball tomato risotto soup

It is now that time of the year that summer salads start becoming a distant memory, we pull our big jumpers out from the storage under the bed, we keep our feet warm with fluffy socks and we rescue our casserole dishes from the back of the cupboard. For some people that would make them a little sad, but not me - I love autumn! I love all the seasonal produce and the thought of finishing work and being greeted by a hearty and warming casserole or soup puts a smile on my face.

Risotto is a great way to use up vegetables from your fridge and use whatever meat is on offer to make it budget friendly. I made this with minced turkey breast as it is lean and the flavour is not too overpowering, but you could use beef, pork, lamb or chicken. Sometimes I like to chop up sausages and add those instead. Instead of peppers and onions I have used leeks, carrots and parsnips. This dish really is adaptable. You can make it vegetarian by adding beans instead of meat.

Risotto shouldn’t be dry, but that is where a lot of people go wrong. I have taken this risotto one step further and added extra liquid to it so it is more of a soup. You could add less stock if you wanted to, or if you wanted to make it more of a soup, use extra liquid. But this was the perfect balance for me.