Lemon and Pea Risotto

Ingredients

• 60 g butter
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 320 g arborio rice
• 120 ml dry white wine
• 1.1 litres hot vegetable stock
• 250 g frozen peas
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 60 g parmesan, grated
• a small handful of mint, shredded

Method

1. Soften and toast

   Cook the shallots in half the butter until translucent but not coloured, then stir in the rice for two minutes until the grains turn glassy at the edges. Colour on the shallots would muddy a risotto meant to taste green.

   10 min

2. Add stock slowly

   Splash in the wine and let it disappear, then add hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring, only topping up when the previous ladle has nearly gone.

   15 min

3. Peas at the end

   With about four minutes of cooking left, stir in the frozen peas straight from the freezer. Any earlier and they lose both colour and their pop.

   4 min

4. Finish

   Off the heat, beat in the remaining butter, the parmesan and the lemon zest, then add juice to taste. Add the juice last — acid stirred in during cooking makes the rice cook unevenly.

5. Rest and serve

   Cover and rest for two minutes, then loosen with a splash of stock and scatter the mint. It should spread slowly on the plate, not sit in a mound.

   2 min