Risotto Primavera

Today was market day at the nearest small town, so off we went armed with our reusable cloth bags and a pocketful of euros - ignoring the bushels of wild asparagus, artichokes and peppers, we came back with loads of bags filled with lovely fresh long aubergine, zucchini (flowers and all!), peas in the pod, fragrant plum tomatoes and our basics of celery and carrots.

For lunch, I decided upon a Risotto Primavera - a great way to utilse these lovely Spring vegetables so prevalent in the market today.

Recipe

• 30ml EVO Oil

• 1 chopped onion

• 2 carrots (grated)

• ! celery stick (grated)

• 75g Arborio Rice

• 1/2 glass of white wine

• 2 small chopped courgette (or zucchini)

• A handful of fresh (or frozen peas)

• 300ml boiling water

• Parmesan (or any other nicely flavoured cheese)

• Chopped parsley

Method

1. I didn’t have any stock to hand today, so I simply grated some carrot and celery to fry with the onion - that worked really well and delivered a good, intensive flavour to the dish.

2. Heat up the Olive Oil and add the first 3 ingredients, cook on a low heat until the vegetables are well cooked and caramelised

3. Add the rice and stir everything around until the rice has absorbed the flavour of the vegetables.

4. Add wine and allow to evaporate

5. Add courgettes, peas and water and allow to cook slowly until the rice is almost all cooked

6. Add a good grating of Parmesan (or any other cheese off cuts that you may have) - this will emulsify the dish and give it a lovely, creamy texture

7. Finish with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and more cheese (if desired)

Can be vegetarian if Parmesan is substituted for a cheese not made with animal rennet