Lets put spring on a plate, shall we…
My love for summer is very well known by people close to me, I love everything about it… From the gorgeous fruits to lazy days on the beach and little frilly dresses, the list can go on. But this year I’m enjoying spring and all that it has to offer so much that I don’t want summer to arrive. Well I do, but I wish spring lasted for another 3-4 months.
Spring means change, a fresh beginning, the mother nature waking up… It also means artichokes, peas, fresh broad beans, it means green…They all are little pleasures of life, they all are the healthiest of vegetables.
Risotto is another pleasure of life for me, there aren’t many dishes I would choose over a well made risotto with balanced flavours. You can read more about risotto on one of my very first posts “Butternut Squash Risotto w/ Prawns” , now I will cut the story short and get to the recipe :):)
You will come across many recipes called “Risotto Primavera”, meaning “Spring risotto” made with various spring vegetables like asparagus, artichokes and peas. I usually make it with artichokes but this time I had some beautiful fresh peas so I added those to elevate both the flavour and the visual of the dish. That was a really good call as artichokes don’t have a nice colour once they are cooked. Then I also had the freshest of broad beans, I thought “why not, chuck those in as well” :):) And where there is peas you can’t not use mint, right? The dish was coming together really well in my head and finally I thought one more thing would make the dish perfect and that was “lemon”! The result was wow, I mean WOW :):) It was so good that my mouth waters just thinking about it. What a harmony, what a balance of flavours, the best risotto I made in a while. You can be as adventurous as you like and create your version with the vegetables you have but first you should give my recipe a try :):)
- 6 fresh artichoke hearts
- 1 cup fresh peas, uncooked (about 200 gr)
- 1 cup fresh broad beans, uncooked (if not using,replace with more peas)
- 1 medium white onion
- 1 spring onion
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1,5 lt chicken stock (6 cups)
- 3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 80 gr butter (about 6 Tbs)
- 400 gr risotto rice (Arborio or Carnaroli types)
- 100 ml dry white wine (room temp) - can do without
- 80-100 gr grated parmesan
- finely grated zest of a lemon
- a handful of fresh mint leaves
- Trim the artichokes, cut in half and put in a bowl filled with water. Squeeze half a lemon juice into the water.
- Shell the broad beans and boil for a minute or two, until tender and peel their skin. Put aside.
- Heat the olive oil with half the butter and very gently cook the finely chopped onions and garlic until they are translucent.
- Stir in the rice and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat then add the wine and turn the heat up. After a couple of minutes the alcohol will evaporate and most of the liquid will be absorbed.
- Drop four of the artichoke halves into the simmering stock and finely slice the rest.
- Once the alcohol is evaporated put in a couple of ladlefuls of stock and the sliced artichokes and set your timer to 13 mins. Cook on a medium heat constantly stirring and adding a ladleful of stock at a time as the previous addition has been absorbed.
- When the time is up stir in the peas and keep cooking for another 3-4 minutes, adding more stock as needed.
- After the 4 minutes has passed check for seasoning, add the broad beans and turn the heat off.
- Stir in the remaining butter and most of the parmesan, put the lid on and let it rest for 2 minutes.
- Put the artichoke halves that you cooked in the stock into a bowl, sprinkle with the lemon zest, a drop of olive oil and torn mint leaves.
- Divide risotto between plates and top each one with an artichoke half. Sprinkle with more lemon zest, mint and parmesan cheese.
- Enjoy!!!
As my stock was already salted I didn't need to add any more, if you make your stock without salt you should add it to the rice in the beginning so it can absorb the flavour.
Times given are a guide only, you should start checking your rice a few minutes before the time is up as not all rice take the same time to cook. But make sure it stays al dente.
You can substitute the chicken stock with vegetable to have a vegetarian dish, you can even make it with just olive oil and omit the cheese for a vegan version.