If you are on a diet… look away now!
1 onion
1 tsp olive oil
3 fat cloves of garlic
2 mugs risotto rice
1 pint chicken or veg stock
1 cup white wine (or a cup of 1/2 lemon juice topped up with water)
4 medium courgettes
2 tbsp salted butter
1 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
Put the stock (from cube is fine) in a pan and leave to simmer. Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion and garlic. Stir gently, for a minute, then add the rice and stir to coat it in the oil and heat up. Add the wine and stir until almost evaporated. Add a ladle of stock. Stir until almost evaporated. Repeat. When half the stock is gone, taste the rice. It should be almost halfway cooked. It is important to undercook, rather than overcook it, as you will get a lot of liquid from the courgettes.
Add the courgettes and stir well for a minute. At this point, I usually put the lid on, turn down the heat and leave it alone for about 5 mins, to get the heat through the courgettes. Stir again and keep stirring until the courgette liquid is absorbed. Try the rice, it should just have a small amount of bite. If it is still too hard, add more stock, then stir etc until you have a good texture. Stir in the butter and cheese. Taste and season.
I serve this with a peppery Hackney salad. You can put that flower on top of the risotto as a garnish! Otherwise rocket is perfect with it. Offer more parmesan, and some toasted sunflower seeds in separate bowls. And don’t forget the rest of that bottle of white…