Delicious Risottos

Risotto Made Better

Risottos are a speciality rice dish originating in northern Italy. They can be served plain, as an accompaniment instead of potatoes or pasta. More usually they are elevated to the dizzy heights of 'yumminess' with fresh ingredients of land and sea.

The Basic Risotto

Soften 1 sliced shallot in butter then add 250g of Arborio Rice. Move the rice to cook it evenly until it becomes translucent, then add 2 tsp of Stokes Dijon or Classic English Mustard and 100ml of white wine.

Gradually add up to 750ml of chicken or vegetable stock, a little at a time stirring constantly. The rice will absorb the liquid until you have a creamy finish with just a little crunch left in the grain.  

Simple Tomato Risotto

You can cook the rice and tomatoes together or, fry sliced tomatoes and grated garlic in butter with 2 or 3 tbsp of Stokes Chipotle Ketchup, then fold the tomatoes with their smoky chilli finish into the finished rice letting the risotto absorb the tomatoes and their juices.

Leek Risotto 
& Coriander Pesto

Slice and simmer your leeks in chicken or vegetable stock until just tender, strain and set aside keeping the leek-infused stock for the risotto, which you make as above. Stir the leeks into the risotto at its closing stages.

For the pesto: Chop a bunch of coriander (stalks as well) and mix this in a bowl with about 40g of finely grated Pecorino cheese, the juice of half a lime, 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1tsp of Stokes Mint Sauce.

Spoon the refreshing pesto over the risotto with a further grating of cheese.

Chilli Prawn Risotto

It's rare to see a risotto without peas for some reason. Although the previous two are 'sans pois', the sweet pop of petits pois here balances the heat of the chilli with the prawns.

Make the risotto as above, this time though add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas.

Using raw peeled prawns, first soften a diced shallot in olive oil then add 2 grated cloves of garlic and 2 or 3 tsp of Stokes Chilli Jam (more if you like it hotter) and the prawns. Stir the prawns around the pan quickly until they turn from blue to succulent chilli pink.

Spoon the prawns and their cooking juices over the risotto with a grating of cheese to finish.

Soupy Risotto

This is a lovely way of using up leftover vegetables in a hearty soup of risotto.

Part cook assorted veg - broccoli, celery, peppers etc in vegetable stock. Reserve the stock, draining and setting the vegetables aside.

As you fry the shallot in butter, this time add a handful or two of sliced mushrooms, the mustard (as above) and 2 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce (this adds a great depth to the flavours). Pour in the wine and gradually stir in the stock.

To create the 'soup', we obviously need more liquid than the normal risotto needs, so either reduce the volume of rice or increase the amount of stock.

When you are halfway through cooking the rice, add the vegetables to finish cooking as you stir in the remaining stock. Try to keep the slight crunch in the rice as it sits with the veg in a delicious soup.

Risottos Made Better with Stokes

Order your 'spoon, shake, squeeze' - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:



 

Chilli Chocolate - 
two words guaranteed to wake the taste buds. Warm up your weekends with the joy of chilli - here.








Beautifully Beetroot - 
we take the fear out of cooking raw beets and enjoy their versatility from hummus to tarte tatin - here.




 



Watch the Wrap - 
this little video shows teatime breaded chicken being turned into an exciting Tea Made Better - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150