Back in February, we crowned Slimming World member Maria Rusolo the winner of our Free Food Festival 2024 cook-off competition.
Maria’s rich and tangy hunter’s chicken risotto won her £1,000 – and has now become part of the Slimming World Free Food range.
Maria Rusolo, 31, has lost 1st 2½lbs at Nina Fowler’s Slimming World group in Alvaston, Derby. She says:
“I’m half Italian and at my happiest when I’m cooking big pasta dishes for my family. Discovering that, at Slimming World, I could easily adapt my favourite Italian recipes and lose weight was a big plus for me.
I’d always enjoyed the taster nights in my Slimming World group, where members bring along their favourite Free Food recipes to share. So when I heard about the cook-off competition, I was excited to give it a go.
Two of my favourite Slimming World dishes are hunter’s chicken lasagne and bolognese risotto, and I thought something that combined the two would work really well. I tested the recipe out on my mum and dad first and they loved it, so I decided to enter it as my dish.
When my Consultant, Nina, phoned to tell me I was the winner I was shocked. I’ve never won anything like this before and I couldn’t believe my recipe had been chosen. I was so happy!”
More on the blog: 10 Slimming World pasta recipes
Maria’s hunter’s chicken risotto
serves 2
Free
ready in 45 minutes
freezer-friendly
What you need:
low-calorie cooking spray
1 onion, diced
3 red peppers, deseeded and diced
2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
4 rashers unsmoked bacon, visible fat removed
1½ tsp garlic granules
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
200g dried risotto rice
700ml chicken stock
What you do:
1. Spray a large non-stick frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and put it over a medium heat.
2. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Add the chicken and bacon and fry for 5 minutes more, until the chicken is browned, adding the garlic granules for the last minute.
3. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and rice. Add a ladleful of the stock and stir well. Simmer for a minute or two, and when almost all the liquid’s absorbed, add another ladleful and stir again.
4. Keep adding the stock like this for 20 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender. Divide between bowls and serve with the veg or salad.
Unlock exclusive Slimming World recipes
Whether you’re a pasta master, a noodle ninja or you want to take things rice ’n’ easy, you’ll have access to more than 2,200 slimming-friendly recipes as a Slimming World member – and that’s on top of all the weight loss support and recipe-swapping action you’ll find in your local group and within our Community at Slimming World Online.