Perfect as a main or for a side dish, once you have tried this creamy, delicious home made risotto you will never go back to using packet risotto!
Ingredients:
1 bunch of sprouting broccoli
250gm streaky bacon (omit bacon for vegan option)
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups of Arborio rice
1 large onion (can substitute leek)
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 handful of parmesan cheese (omit or substitute with nutritional yeast for vegan option)
1/2 cup white wine
2 TBS Olive oil
25gm butter (substitute extra olive oil for vegan option)
1 tsp ground turmeric
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Prep your ingredients before starting to cook. Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic and slice the bacon into 2cm pieces. Chop the sprouting broccoli into 2cm lengths, be sure to use the entire stem. Chop your fresh parsley and grate the parmesan cheese.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan over a medium-high heat and add turmeric and black pepper, then finely diced onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until the onion is translucent.
Add sliced bacon and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Decrease the heat to medium and add the rice. Do not rinse or pre-cook the rice. Cook the rice for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the white wine and stir constantly, until the wine is completely absorbed.
Next add the vegetable stock, which should be done 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently until the stock has completely absorbed before adding another 1/2 cup of stock. Continue this until you have added 3 cups of the stock.
At this point, add your sprouting broccoli, then add the last cup of vegetable stock, again 1/2 cup at a time and stirring frequently.
Once the last amount of stock has completely absorbed, check the consistency of your risotto. It should be thick and creamy and the rice should be cooked al dente - soft but still firm and a bit chewy in the centre. If the rice is not quite cooked, just add a little more vegetable stock (or water) and stir until absorbed, then check again and repeat if necessary.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the parsley and grated parmesan cheese before serving, reserving a little of each for garnish if desired.