I tried out this Risotto recipe a little bit trepidatiously at the weekend. My hesitation was due to the fact that A) I had never made a Risotto before and B) I had no idea whether the kids would even eat it.
Success on both counts. I can now state that there is no need to approach Risotto making with caution, if I can do it you can too. This dish is ready to serve in 30 minutes and is a complete meal. There aren’t too many dinners than can be whipped up in that amount of time and I found the stirring and ladeling therapeutic. There was no clanging of pans or spitting grease just a nice, sedate one pot experience.
The origins of this recipe lie in the freebie ‘Healthy Recipes’ booklet that came with Good Food magazine. I did alter it a little – olive oil instead of low-fat cooking spray, streaky bacon instead of pancetta and 4 shallots instead of a bunch of spring onions. I’m looking forward to trying Risotto again soon, this time maybe with some cream and mushrooms. 
Serves 4.
You will need:
1 tbsp olive oil
100g streaky bacon
225g arborio risotto rice
4 shallots
1 garlic clove
100ml dry white wine
850ml hot vegetable stock
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
50g frozen petits pois (tiny winy frozen peas)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Method:
Put the petits pois on a large plate and they will be defrosted by the time you need to use them.
Peel, half and finely slice the shallots.
Peel and crush the garlic.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and use a kitchen scissors to snip in the streaky bacon.
Add the risotto rice and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring all the time. (Do not brown it.)
Add the shallots and garlic, stir well and cook for 1 minute.
Add the white wine and cook for 1 minute – it should bubble, if not raise the heat.
Add two ladelfuls of hot stock and stir well.
As the stock gets absorbed add another ladelful and continue in this manner until it is all added (20-25mins).
Keep stirring every so often.
Finally add the grated parmesan, peas and chopped parsley, heat through and serve.
This is comfort food. Enjoy,
Til next time. Sheila.