Spring Risotto

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
• 125g asparagus tips, trimmed
• 100g fine green beans, trimmed
• 150g sugar snap peas or mangetout
• 100g fresh or frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 25g butter 2 onions, finely diced
• 300g carnaroli risotto rice
• A small glass of white wine
• A good handful of fresh parsley and chopped mint
• 50g parmesan, to serve
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Prepare a litre of vegetable or chicken stock before you start.
2. In a Denby saucepan, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the mangetout or sugar snap peas, fine beans and simmer for 1 minute. Add the asparagus and peas and continue to cook for a further couple of minutes.
3. Refresh the vegetables in a bowl of iced water and set to one side.
4. Reheat the stock if you prefer and keep it simmering gently in the pan.
5. Heat the olive oil and 1/2 the butter in a large frying pan on a low heat. Add finely diced onions and cook for 5 minutes until softened, but not browned.
6. Increase the heat to medium and stir in the rice. Cook for a couple of minutes until the grains become transluscent then add a glass of white wine and allow to simmer for a little longer.
7. Once the wine has been absorbed start to add in the hot stock, one ladle at a time and stir gently until the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat over the next 15 minutes adding more stock when required. Check the rice to see if it’s nearly cooked.
8. Stir in the vegetables, fresh parsley and mint and cook for a couple more minutes. Add more stock if required to loosen the risotto. The rice will be cooked with a creamy appearance when stirred.
9. Remove from the heat, add the remaining butter and season to taste.
10. Serve in Denby pasta bowls with a scattering of herbs and shaved parmesan.