Many Herbs and Pea Risotto

After my month of risotto cooking I felt like I just had to get back to basics and cook a good old fashioned risotto but with my own little veghotpot twist! I loved the colours of Delia’s risotto and the subtlty of Jamie’s risotto so I tried to incorporate both of these factors into my recipe.

I think I’m having a bit of a vegan week because I decided to not add any cheese as it really didn’t need it for the flavour! I wanted it to be fresh and light rather than too rich. Also I wanted to show that you can have a very decadent and elegant meal without the added wine and cheese which is often found in risottos!

I used fresh herbs to flavour my risotto, by adding them in at different times you get a real combination of flavours and textures. Once cooked I garnished it with further fresh herbs and some cress (a poor mans pea shoots I decided since I have no idea where you can buy pea shoots!) to give it a kind of summery garden feel with the deliciously silky risotto underneath.

As you can see in the above picture I started tucking in whilst taking the pictures (Straight out the pan) … for creative purposes only, to show the under layer of risotto…and I can confirm that is was very moreish! Luckily I caught Scott watching me digging in and quickly put some in tupperware for another day

Serves 2 as a main meal

1 Stick Celery
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
150g Risotto Rice
500ml Vegetable Stock
Small Bunch Mint
Small Bunch Dill
Small Bunch Chives
100g Frozen Peas
1 Lemon
Handful of Cress
spray oil (for frying)
Good quality Olive oil for drizzling if desired

In a deep frying pan fry the sliced celery, onion and crushed garlic in some spray oil, on a medium-low heat for 5 minutes untill softened. If the onions start to colour add a splash of water to bring the temperature of the pan down and keep them cooking slowly. Add the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Then add the thinly sliced mint, some black pepper and 2 ladels of stock. Once the stock has evaporated add another ladel of stock and keep stirring the risotto. Keep adding the stock one ladel at a time and waiting for it to have evaporated before adding another ladel.

Half way though the cooking time (half way though your stock) add the chopped dill and chives and stir them into the rice. Keep the process of adding the stock going and when you are down to one or two ladels of stock left (or you feel the rice is nearly cooked) then add the peas and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Taste the risotto and season to your own taste.

Take the pan off the heat and garnish the top with extra chives, dill and the cress.

Serve with Lemon Wedges

Post submitted to the Weekend Herb Blogging Feature – please see these links for more details… Cook Almost anything and Weekend Herb Blogging xx

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