Two Risotto Recipes

Risottos are the perfect student meal. Cheap, satisfyingly filling and can usually be cooked using just one pan - in dishwasher free halls and student houses, anything that minimizes on washing up has got to be a winner. Although these two recipes are for fantastic-tasting risottos, don’t feel you have to limit yourself to them! Once you get the hang of making a risotto, go for any flavour combinations you like, be they tomato and basil, mushroom, four cheese - the list really is endless.

Pea and goat’s cheese risotto

Ingredients (per person)

• Two large handfuls of risotto rice
• Half an onion
• Half a vegetable or chicken stock cube
• Approx. a litre of boiling water
• Two handfuls of peas
• A few slices of goat’s cheese (how much depends on how cheesy you like it!)
• A tablespoon of olive oil
• A handful of pine nuts (optional)
• One slice of bacon (optional)

1. Chop the onion and fry it gently in the olive oil until soft.

2. Add the rice to the pan and stir until the grains are slightly translucent.

3. Dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water and, a ladle at a time, stir it into the rice. The trick with risottos is to keep stirring, especially at the beginning so all the starch is released.

4. As the stock is absorbed, keep adding ladles of it. The rice should take between 20 minutes and half an hour to cook.

5. If you’re having the pine nuts and bacon with the risotto, heat a frying pan (no oil) and toast the pine nuts in it for about 5 minutes until they colour slightly. Remove them from the pan and then fry the bacon until crispy.

6. Three minutes before your rice is fully cooked, add the peas.

7. When the rest of the stock has been absorbed (not all of it mind, risottos are meant to be soft and sloppy!) add the goat’s cheese and let it melt into the rice.

8. Season the risotto to taste and to serve, top with the pine nuts and crispy bacon.

Tomato and chorizo risotto

Ingredients (per person)

• Two large handfuls of risotto rice
• Half an onion
• Half a vegetable or chicken stock cube
• Approx. a litre of boiling water
• Half a chorizo sausage, sliced
• Two tomatoes, chopped
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• Chilli flakes (optional)
• A teaspoon of cumin

1. As in the first recipe, chop the onion and fry it in some olive oil.

2. Add the rice and stir until the grains are slightly translucent.

3. Add the stock cube to the boiling water and add the stock, a ladle at a time, stirring regularly. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked.

4. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat the rest of the olive oil and add the sliced chorizo. After a few minutes, add the chopped tomatoes. At this point you can all add the chilli and cumin.

5. The tomato juices will need some time to reduce so just leave it to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

6. When the risotto is cooked, stir in the chorizo and tomatoes and dig in!

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.