A truly delicious risotto which makes a King of the humble courgette. The lemon cuts through the rich creaminess of the risotto.
Add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas in the last 2 minutes if you like, and add a few dots of Ricotta to the top on serving to posh it up a bit.
Prepare your vegetables: carefully wash the leek and finely chop it. Finely chop the celery. Thinly slice the garlic. Wash the courgettes, top and tail them and coarsely grate them.
Grate your Parmesan Cheese.
Juice the 1/2 lemon.
Make up your vegetable stock.
Weigh out your risotto rice. Now you’re ready to start cooking!
In a large pan, heat the olive oil and one large knob of butter over a medium heat.
Add the leek and cook down for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the celery and sweat that down for another 2 or 3 minutes before adding the garlic.
Sweat the garlic for another 2 minutes, then add the risotto rice.
Now, you have to stir stir stir, and don’t stop stirring!
After about 5 minutes, the rice will start to become opaque. Now you can add the first ladleful of stock. Keep stirring.
When the stock has been completely absorbed, add the next ladleful. Keep going like this, one ladleful at at time.
Try the risotto after around 12 to 13 minutes. It should be very nearly cooked and you have probably used nearly all of the stock.
Add in the grated courgette and stir, stir, stir. As it starts to cook, it will release some lovely tasty juices which the rice will absorb.
Try the rice again after another 3 or 4 minutes. It is cooked ‘al dente’, so it retains a little bit of bite.
Turn off the heat, add a large knob of butter and the grated Parmesan (keep back a tiny bit for serving). Add the lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy your restaurant-class risotto. And add it to your Family Favourites!
