Prep Time 10 minutes - Total Time 45 minutes - Serves 2
Risotto is an incredible dish, and one that lends itself so well to any season.
A beautiful pumpkin and blue cheese risotto in autumn, wild mushroom risotto in winter or a stunning seafood risotto in summer full of mussels, squid and prawns.
And this recipe just screams spring to me, such a brilliant combination of flavours.
So it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is, just add whatever is in season to the rice and you are onto a winner every time.
(You will also find this recipe on page 88 of my book Richard’s Family Favourites click here)
Ingredients
150 g risotto rice such as Arborio.
1 small onion, finely diced.
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced.
½ a small leek, finely sliced.
1 small handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped.
1 litre of chicken or veg stock.
1 small glass of white wine.
25 g of Parmesan, grated.
70 g of frozen peas, defrost.
3 knobs of butter.
200 g of raw king prawns, peeled and cleaned.
1 lemon.
Method
The first thing to do is to get the stock on over a medium heat. Then into a separate pan add a drizzle of olive oil and 1 knob of butter. Add the onions, garlic, leeks and season. Slowly fry the veg for 5 minutes or until it is nice and soft.
Turn up the heat to high and add the rice. Make sure you keep stirring and after a minute or so the rice will start to go a little translucent. Now, it’s time to add the wine. Keep stirring until the wine has almost gone.
At this point, it’s time to reduce the heat to a medium to low (more on the low side) and add your first ladle of stock with a pinch of salt. Only add one ladle at a time and continue stirring allowing the rice to absorb the stock before adding the next one. This will take around 20 minutes to cook, you want the rice to have a very slight bite to it, or of course if you prefer the rice more well done just keep cooking and adding the stock. You may need a little more or little less stock so just keep checking the rice. If you run out of stock and need more just add boiling water.
Once the rice is cooked to your liking, take the pan off the heat. Now add the peas, the butter, Parmesan mix well and cover. Allow the risotto to rest for a couple of minutes while you cook the prawns.
Get a frying pan over a high heat and once hot add a drizzle of oil and add the prawns along with a pinch of salt. Depending on how big the prawns are they are only going to take a couple of minutes on each side. When they are almost done add a knob of butter and the juice from half of the lemon, mix then pop to one side.
To finish the dish check the risotto for seasoning, add the chopped mint, squeeze in the juice from the remaining half of the lemon and mix well. Pop the prawns on top and drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil. I topped the dish with a few pea-shoots and a little bit of cress and some more fresh mint.
A good risotto should oozy like lava on the plate so if it’s a bit stodgy add a little stock or water to the pan to loosen it up.