Prawn, Asparagus and Hot Smoked Salmon Risotto

POSSIBLY THE BEST RISOTTO I HAVE TASTED IN MANY A YEAR…

This was a treat to make and the result was simply stunning. My son reckons he will never eat any other risotto now and my daughter wants this dish as a regular on the menu roster. It went down well!

For 4

50g butter
1 white onion finely chopped
500gm risotto rice
125ml white wine
1 1/2 litre hot vegetable stock 
 240g cooked prawns  
150g hot-smoked salmon fillets
100g fresh asparagus tips, blanched briefly in boiling water
Freshly ground black pepper

Lemon wedges to serve

Method

Melt the butter in a thick-based pan and gently cook the onion without colour until it is soft.
Add the rice and stir to coat all the grains in the butter.
Add the wine and cook gently stirring until it is absorbed. This takes about 5 minutes roughly.
Gradually add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring until each addition is absorbed. Keep stirring until the rice is tender. This process will take about half an hour, so put some good music on – maybe some Chet Baker – and get into a comfortable standing or seated position near the cooker!

Flake the salmon and gently fold into the risotto with the prawns and asparagus – this will be right near the end when the rice still has a little bite to it.
Add a grind or two of black pepper. No need for salt – the stock and salmon provide that to this dish,

Stir gently to heat through. Serve with lemon wedges.

Of all the dishes I have put on here in the last two years this is certainly one of my real favourites.

Please, please give it a go!

Risi e bisi…. it’s easy peasy!

Venetian Rice Dish with Pancetta and Peas

This is one of those dishes that I have been meaning to get around to cooking for a while….I should have made it before – it is delicious!

Simplicity itself and considering the basic ingredients the result is remarkable. It satisfies the soul and calms the beast. It is awash with flavours.

For 4

60gm butter

3 tbsps olive oil

1 onion peeled and finely chopped

150 gm pancetta or smoky bacon

500gm frozen peas

A handful of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1.5 L of hot chicken or vegetable stock

400 gm arborio rice

50 gm parmesan grated

Good extra virgin oil for drizzling

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt 40 gm of the butter with the oil in a large sauté pan and fry the onion and pancetta for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, Add the peas with the parsley, and 2 ladlefuls of the hot stock. Simmer for 15 minutes – no lid – until the stock has evaporated.

Add the rice and stir gently on a medium heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 500 ml of the stock and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. As soon as the water has been absorbed add more stock, a ladleful at a time. Cook for 20 more minutes until the risotto looks a little like soup and the rice is cooked but still has a bite to it.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining butter and parmesan. Cover with a lid and leave to rest for 3 minutes. Serve in warmed bowls and drizzle on a little olive oil at the table.

Autumnal bliss in a bowl.

Risotto with Swiss Chard and Italian Sausages…

When judgment day comes and someone high up in the angelic ranks is weighing everything in the balance, risotto will be marked down as one of the dishes that mankind got right. It is almost fool-proof….as long as you are patient soul. It rewards you with one of the most flavoursome, fulfilling dished that has ever hit a plate-anywhere!

This was lunch today. It was a joy to make and a pleasure to consume. It hit every spot that Eros has thought about.

You may have worked out by now that I am navigating my way through a marvellous book by the wonderful Gino D’acampo and this is my take on his risotto al radicchio rosso e salsiccia. I was fresh out of radicchio but I substituted some sumptuous red swiss chard that was passing the time of day in my fridge. It was a great substitute.

For 4

2 tbsps olive oil

6 Italian sausages or ant really good bangers, skins removed

1 onion finely chopped

2 celery sticks finely chopped

400 gm arborio rice

100 ml white wine

1 litre of chicken stock

150 gm frozen peas

4 leaves of swiss chard finely sliced – or half a head of radicchio – in fact if you were struggling, a bag of spinach would do

125 gm butter

80 grams of grated Parmesan

Black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil and 25 gm of butter in a large sauté pan on a high heat and add the sausage. Fry until golden brown, breaking it up along the way with a wooden spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with kitchen paper and keep warm.

2. In the same pan, add the onion and celery and fry gently for 2 minutes. Add the rice and allow to toast in the pan for 3 minutes. Stir continuously and then pour in the wine. Continue to cook for a further minute.

3. Add 2 ladles of the hot stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Continue doing this for about 15 minutes – adding a ladle of stock, stirring continuously each time until it has been absorbed. It will be ready when all the stock apart from a ladleful has been absorbed and the rice is al dente.

4. Add the peas and chard, or whatever you are using, and add a final ladle of stock – remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter and the Parmesan. Once the butter has melted, add three quarters of the cooked sausage and stir in. 

5. Serve straight away on plates and add a little drizzle of olive oil to each and a smattering of black pepper.

 A winner of a dish for a Sunday…indeed any day.

Rough weather risotto…

So what do you do when you come in out of the deluge that the local rain gods have chosen to favour your region with and you feel damp and a tad despondent – and you look in the fridge and there is a hatful of fresh spinach left over from Monday…and then you see the bowl of toasted pine nuts that are also left over from Monday making a pass at you from a kitchen shelf?

Only one thing to do – a spinach and pine nut risotto!

Bliss in a bowl bestowed upon you with basic ingredients that warm and soothe away the aches and melancholy induced by the foul ferocious weather of ferrel February.

For 4 fair folk

1 onion finely chopped
75 gm unsalted butter
400 gm arborio rice
1 glass of white wine
1.5 litres of chicken stock
salt and pepper
A handy hatful of spinach washed and chopped roughly
60 gm parmesan cheese grated
100 gm toasted pine nuts

Fry the onion in half the butter until soft and transparent. I use a large stainless steel sauté pan. Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with the butter and onions. Add the wine and stir well. After 1 minute stir in a ladleful of stock.. Stir gently then add more stock. Continue like this for about 20 minutes – put some good music on and open a bottle of red to see you through. The rice will become soft and tender but the grains will remain firm – perfect. Season with a grind or two of sea salt and black pepper.

Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the butter, the spinach and the parmesan. Stir thoroughly and cover. Leave it to rest for two minutes, then serve in warmed bowls – top with the toasted pine nuts.

A brilliant way to use up two key ingredients left over from Monday’s bit of magic. This has to be a real favourite risotto of mine.

Simple and satisfying on a stormy eve.

Back Seat Chicken and Rocket Risotto…

I came home late this evening…tired and aching….and I took a back seat…my wife had decided to take over the cooking for a night. I sat in the garden, listening to the mid evening bird song, glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in hand and closed my eyes. When I came in, there was supper! I do all the cooking normally, but now and then, Jane does me her speciality – a risotto. I cook them too…but she does them better. We divide the labour well in our house and she is happy that I do all the cooking and food shopping – but it is bliss when she takes over and cooks one of her specials.

Ingredients:
1 onion / 75 gm unsalted butter / 400 gm arborio risotto rice / 2 chicken thighs cooked, skinned and meat stripped off / 1.2 litres of chicken stock brought to a simmer and kept there / 2 handfuls of rocket, roughly chopped / 2 tsps crème fraîche / glass of a good white wine / 50 gm parmesan, grated / black pepper

Fry onions in half the butter til soft. Add rice and toast it well til it is sizzling and opaque. Then add the wine and boil for a minute to evaporate the alcohol. Start to add the stock. A ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and making sure the rice absorbs all the liquid before adding any more. The mixture will gradually become smoother and creamier. After 15 minutes or so, when the risotto is ready, add the chicken. Stir round for another 5 minutes. The rice should be still a little firm to the bite. Now stir in the rest of the butter, the rocket, crème fraîche and the parmesan. Add a little black pepper to taste.
Take off the heat and leave to rest for two minutes.

Serve to a hungry and waiting audience who will thank you lots and lots for cooking it for them!! Grazie bella!