As a reluctant Vegetarian (so reluctant that I'm not vegetarian at all) and a reluctant risotto eater; I made it my challenge to cook up a entirely vegetarian risotto that's enjoyable to eat and that's just what I did. No complaints here, this was a complete treat. This works as a starter or a main. It's a very versatile dish, plus it looks pretty!
Triple The Greens Risotto
Feeds - 4/6
Preparation / Cooking Time - 25 mins
Ingredients -
300g (1/2 Bag) x Fresh spinach (throughly washed)
200g x Fresh rocket (thoroughly washed)
300g x Arborio rice
1.5 pints x Vegetable /spinach stock
1 x Cup of frozen peas
Parmesan shavings (vegetarian parmesan style cheese)
1 x Large free range egg (poached)
Small handful of parsley to garnish
Salt
White & fresh black pepper
Instructions -
Start by adding the spinach to the hot vegetable stock and take it off the heat. Give it a stir and let the spinach wilt. Once this has happened use a hand blender to blitz the spinach thoroughly.
In a separate pan and on a medium heat, add a nob of butter and your rice. Season with a small sprinkle of salt and black and white pepper. Make sure you keep mixing so the rice doesn't stick, it should just be throughly coated.
Start adding the spinach stock little by little. The trick is to keep stirring the whole time and keep adding small amounts of the stock.
About 3 mins before you're ready to serve; Gently crack your eggs into a pan of simmering water with a dash of vinegar, allowing them to cook for 3minutes. Make sure your pans large enough for the eggs, go as big as you can if you're poaching a load.
After about 15 minutes the risotto should be pretty much there, give it a try to make sure the rice is cooked and that the seasoning is spot on. Add the frozen peas a few minutes before serving. Save a little of the stock and add this along with the rocket. Get your vegetarian parmesan shavings (you can use a potato peeler to do this) ready to garnish along with the finely chopped parsley.
Serve it all up and make sure you don't overload your plate. It's filling and you'll enjoy it more if you come back for seconds and don't overload on firsts!