Pea Risotto
2014-11-04- Cuisine: Italian
- Course: One Dish Meal
- Skill Level: Advanced
- Yield : 350 gms
- Servings : 3-4
- Prep Time : 10m
- Cook Time : 30m
- Ready In : 40m
Have Peas, have boneless chicken, Arborio and herbs? Make this winner dinner tonight. Peas Risotto with Pan Roasted Chicken. The creamy risotto can be made with or without peas. Feel free to experiment with various vegetables, and if you do, please leave a note for me. I used chicken broth to cook this, but you can use vegetable broth and make the dish completely vegetarian.
Risotto is a dish that requires complete attention while it is being cooked. A risotto tastes best when it’s done to perfection The rice is cooked al dente. So how do you tell if your risotto is perfectly done? When you are half way through the cooking, start checking the rice. Take a grain and mash it between your thumb and forefinger. You will feel the hard rice grain in the center. Keep checking every few minutes. If the grain smashes completely without any hard grain between fingers, your risotto is done.
Ingredients
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Onion, chopped 1 large
- Garlic clove, crushed 2-3
- Risotto rice 350g
- White wine 1 small glass
- Hot chicken stock 1.25 Liters
- Left over roast chicken, chopped (optional)
- Rosemary Sprig 2 -3
- Frozen peas 200g
- Sour Cream 2 tbsp
- Grated parmesan, plus extra to serve 4 Tbsp
Method
Step 1
Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add finlely chopped rosemary. Stir in the rice and cook till it starts to look transparent. Pour in the wine and keep stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.
Step 2
Start adding stock, 50-75 ML at a time and let it simmer with the rice. Keep adding more stock as it keeps getting absorbed by the rice till the rice is tender.
Step 3
Stir through the chicken (if using) and peas, then cook for the peas are cooked through. Add the sour cream and Parmesan with some seasoning, then remove from the heat. Cover with a lid and leave to stand for a few minutes before serving with extra Parmesan, and a garnish of fresh rosemary stalk.
Step 4
Since I did not have left over chicken breast, I Pan Roasted a Chicken breast and served it on the side with the RIsotto.
Basics of making a Risotto
There are many different risotto recipes with different ingredients, but they are all based on rice of an appropriate variety cooked in a standard procedure.
The rice is first cooked briefly in a soffritto of onion and butter or olive oil to coat each grain in a film of fat, called tostatura; white or red wine is added and has to be absorbed by the grains. When it has evaporated, the heat is raised to medium high and very hot stock is gradually added in small amounts while stirring gently, almost constantly: stirring loosens the starch molecules from the outside of the rice grains into the surrounding liquid, creating a smooth creamy-textured liquid. At that point, it is taken off the heat for the mantecatura when diced cold butter is vigorously stirred in to make the texture as creamy and smooth as possible. It may be removed from the heat a few minutes earlier, and left to cook with its residual heat.
Properly cooked risotto is rich and creamy but still with some resistance or bite: al dente, and with separate grains. The traditional texture is fairly fluid, or all’onda (“wavy, or flowing in waves”). It is served on flat dishes and it should easily spread out but not have excess watery liquid around the perimeter. It must be eaten at once as it continues to cook in its own heat and can become too dry with the grains too soft. Source: Wikipedia
Risotto in pan.
Fresh Green Peas
