Eats #8: Green Risotto

Ingredients: [Basic Risotto] 500ml chicken stock, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon butter, 1/2 large oinion, 3 sticks celery, 300g risotto rice, 125ml dry white wine. [Other] 75g butter, 1/2 clove garlic, nutmeg, 75g spinach, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, 350ml chicken stock, parmesan, 1/4 lemon, 100g soft goats cheese, olive oil.

Note: I reduced the ingredients by half to serve 2 people.

Difficulty: 2.5/5
Rating: 4/5

Last weeks recipe was “Spinach and goat’s cheese risotto” (page 129, Cook with Jamie)

First step when making any of Jamie’s risotto recipes is to make a basic risotto until 75% cooked. This can then be refrigerated (if necessary) and the remaining 25% of the cooking done just before serving.

To make a basic risotto finely chop the onion and celery and gently fry in olive oil and butter until soft but not coloured. Add the risotto rice and turn up the heat, add the wine and stir until the liquid has absorbed. Continue adding the stock a ladle at a time, stirring until absorbed.

The basic risotto can then be used as a base to make any of Jamie’s risotto recipes. Last weeks was spinach and goats cheese. To transform the basic risotto first make the spinach by frying the garlic and nutmeg in olive oil and butter then add the spinach and stir until wilted blitz in a food processor.

Cook the risotto the remaining 25% adding the stock a ladle at a time. Once cooked take off the heat and stir in the spinach, lemon juice, butter and parmesan and cover for a few minutes. Finally crumble in the goats cheese and stir until melted.

Serve and finish by crumbling over the remaining goats cheese, parmesan and lemon zest - done!

Summary

I’ve made many risottos in the past and can claim risotto as one of my specialities so I was very happy to draw a risotto recipe at last. The cooking process was fairly straight forward although lengthy but that was to be expected with risotto.

The celery in the basic risotto recipe was a nice addition and the discovery of Jamie’s 75/25% trick will make dinner party risotto a lot simpler in the future.

The overall dish was creamy and very fresh tasting and despite not being a massive fan of spinach worked really well and you could taste the subtle addition of garlic and nutmeg. My one mistake was using too much goats cheese, 200g instead of 100g, which made the risotto very rich.

All in all a lovely risotto and something I’d try again…I look forward to trying Jamie’s other risotto recipes.

Eats #8: Spinach and Goat’s Cheese Risotto

This weeks number is 129, Spinach and goat’s cheese risotto.

I love risotto and already make a mighty fine tomato or mushroom risotto so I’m looking forward to learning how Jamie Oliver makes his.

I must admit thought I’m not a massive fan of spinach and the green colour of the risotto does put me off slightly but as they say… “the proof is in the pudding” (or in this case risotto).