Fennel and Lemon Risotto

Fennel and Lemon Risotto is a treat either for lunch or as an accompaniment to dinner.

A Riverford organic vegetable box is a great way to increase the variety of vegetables you eat, stopping you getting into a rut. This week I received 2 bulbs of fennel. 

Now here's the quandary, I don't like aniseed or liquorice, but actually like the flavour of fennel and tarragon when it's very mild. 

So what were my choices? There is the classic fennel and orange salad, Delia's roasted red peppers with fennel (which are lush hot or cold and my husband's favourite) but I didn't have any peppers; a layered potato and fennel gratin or something different!

Jamie Oliver has a great video about fennel, explaining the nutrients too. I love to see buddy just eating the slices raw and chewing the fronds (bubblegum style).

I decided to get creative and make a fennel and lemon risotto and was very pleased with the results. The flavour was very subtle, creamy and was great with some turkey burgers.

I still have another bulb of fennel left to use.

Ingredients (serves 4 as an accompaniment)

1 onion, finely chopped (check out my tutorial on chopping an onion with minimal tears)

1 bulb of fennel

1 tbsp olive oil

25g unsalted butter

1/2 packet risotto rice

1 Knorr chicken stock pot (you could use vegetable stock)

1 large lemon

25g grated parmesan

25g unsalted butter (to add at the end)

salt and pepper

Method

Scrub the lemon under some hot water to remove any wax or product and leave to dry.

Now to prepare the fennel. I trimmed off the top of the fennel, the stalks were a bit tougher. I then cut the fennel in half, then into quarters and remove the core if necessary. I then chopped the fennel into small piece, slicing down the length, then across.

In a small saucepan, pop in the stockpot and 500 ml boiling water. Dissolve the stockpot and then leave over low heat, just keeping it hot. You always add boiling stock to a risotto.

Take a large saucepan, add the olive oil and 25g of butter, melt over medium heat, then add the chopped onion and fennel and fry gently for about 5 minutes until the onion is going translucent.

Add the rice and stir, frying for another minute, the rice should start to squeak. If you haven't made risotto before Gennaro has a great video teaching you the basics.

Start adding the stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring and cooking until the risotto rice is just cooked, top up the stock pan if you need more water. Add the grated zest of the lemon, stir well, then season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and add the parmesan and butter and stir again. Cover and leave for 3 minutes.

Serve and grate over a little more lemon zest.

Let me know if you try this, or have any other great ideas for using fennel. 

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Mushroom risotto

Served with the pancetta wrapped chicken

A mushroom risotto is really easy and makes a great accompaniment to a main meal.

I love to use a few porcini mushrooms in mine, it brings out the flavour of the chestnut mushrooms. If you want to make this vegetarian, then use a vegetarian stock.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

25 g of butter

1 onion, chopped

250g chestnut mushrooms

1 handful of dried porcini mushrooms

250g  Arborio risotto rice

1 pint chicken stock (I use a chicken stock pot)

Method

Dried porcini mushrooms

Pour 1/4 pint hot water over the porcini mushrooms in a jug, leave whilst you start cooking the risotto.

Stock simmering in pan

In a small pan, add the water and stock pot and bring to the boil. Turn heat down until barely simmering. It's important to keep the stock very hot when adding to the pan. This is the secret of a good risotto.

Gently heat the olive oil and half of the butter in a saucepan, (the olive oil stops the butter from burning). Add the onion and gently fry until softened.

The onions and chopped mushrooms gently cooking

Chop 1/3rd of the mushrooms into 1cm cubes, add to the onion and continue to cook until soft. Turn the heat to low.

Add the risotto rice to the pan and keep stirring for about 1 minute until the rice is well mixed in, it should start to squeak a little. The Italians say it "screams like Aida".

Add a couple of ladleful's of the stock and keep stirring, always add stock 2 ladleful's at a time and wait until the pan screams.

Remove the porcini from the soaking water (don't throw it away). Chop the porcini and add to the risotto.

Use the stock when you next need to add more, don't use the bottom of the water as their may be grit in the soaking water.

Chop the rest of the mushrooms in half and then finely slice them. After half the stock has been used, add the mushrooms to the pan.

Keep adding the stock and stirring regularly. Check the rice is cooked, it should be creamy and just al dente. You may need to add a splash more boiling water.

When it's cooked, remove from heat and stir in the rest of the butter.

Serve.

I served this with the chicken stuffed with chorizo and wrapped in pancetta.

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Half-term Soup

It must be half-term.... 

The weather is awful, I'm feeling shattered after a very busy first half of the Autumn term, no energy and I've got that horrid feeling that a bug has decided to join me.
For some reason, I normally crave home made soup when I'm feeling like this, loaded with nutrients, easy to eat and makes you feel all warm and snug.
I must have had an inkling as I ordered a Riverford bumper veg box this week, it arrived Thursday, so I've got masses of amazing fresh organic vegetables to work with.
The box contents this week are:-

Leeks
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Parsnips
Butternut squash
Cauliflower
Savoy cabbage
Cime di rapa
Butterhead lettuce
Portobello mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes

I wanted to make a soup with minimal fuss and little washing up (no blender or food processor needed). I don't mind preparing and chopping ingredients so it was time to pick the veg and see what resulted.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 leek, the green end, carefully washed and shredded
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped (life's too short to skin them)
1 handful of risotto rice
1 beef stock pot
1 pt cold water
couple of small bunches of cime di rapa, shred including the stalks, keep the stalk section separated from the rest.
Sprig fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil, shredded

Method

In a large pan, heat the oil then gently fry the onions and carrots until the onion is soft. Add the leeks and fry for another minute, stirring regularly. Add the stock pot and water to the pan, bring to the boil. Add the rice, tomatoes, 1/2 the fresh basil and the fresh thyme, turn down to a simmer.
Cook for approximately 20 minutes and add the bottom of the cime di rapa (the part with the stalks) to the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add more water if necessary, you want some liquid to make this a soup not a pile of veg.
Check the rice is cooked.
Add the final cime di rapa and cook for another couple of minutes until wilted.
Add pepper to taste, remove the sprig of thyme.
Turn off heat and add the freshly shredded basil and stir.
Serve and enjoy.

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