Debut Dish

Garden Pea, Broad Bean and Courgette Ribbon Risotto (Serves 6 people)

Ingredients:

1 large banana shallot – peeled and diced

250 grams of garden peas

250 grams of broad beans

500 grams of risotto aborio Rice

1.5 pints of vegetable stock

Knob of softened butter

Vegan hard cheese (grated)

2 courgettes peeled and sliced into small paysanne

1 courgette for ribbons for garnish

A pinch of salt

A pinch of black pepper

One unwaxed lemon (juice and zest)

Equipment required:

Heavy based metal pan

Wooden spoon

Measuring jug

Serving spoon

Pre-warmed artisan plates

Frying Pan

Kitchen towel

 

Method:

1. Place a heavy based metal pan onto the heat, once the pan is up to temperature add a knob of softened butter. Allow the butter to foam and colour a little but without burning. Next add your finely diced shallot to the pan, sweat the shallot in the melted butter ensuring not to burn the shallot as you want the shallot to release its natural perfume to the dish.
2. Next add the risotto rice into the pan allow to the cook until it has reached the POPPING stage (as this breaks down its outer casing allowing the starches to be released). At this point add a ladel of your vegetable stock when making a risotto you cannot rush this process, as this is where the creamy texture is formed. Also don’t be tempted add another ladel of the stock, wait until the last has been absorbed or otherwise you will over saturate the risotto rice. Carry on this process until all of the stock has been absorbed and the rice has reached a beautiful creamy texture (a little like rice pudding).
3. For the courgette paysanne- slice your washed courgette into quarters as this gives you the paysanne shape using your guide finely slice the courgette about the thickness of a one pound coin. Add into a pre-heated frying pan with a little oil and sauté like a pro! Tip out onto a piece of kitchen towel and allow to drain.
4. At this stage add the peas and broad beans to the risotto along with the sauté courgette paysanne (for this dish I used Waitrose duchy frozen garden peas and broad beans, frozen vegetables are still packed full of the important vitamins and minerals, as they are frozen in a matter of hours after picking.) Allow the vegetables to cook ensure that you don’t over stir the risotto as this can make your risotto go like glue. Add the juice and the zest of one lemon.

Time to Garnish! (Allow to cool a little before garnishing) As a chef your knife skills are paramount, if you are brave enough to slice thinly go ahead but WATCH YOUR FINGERS. I personally like to use a speed peeler, which everyone has laying around in the draw, normally only venturing out to peel the potatoes! Yet this tool is great for creating  vegetable ribbons which add both texture and interest into your dishes. For my risotto I peeled the ribbons of courgette and placed them onto a griddle pan as this gives them a charred appearance whilst enhancing their natural sweetness.

5. (Through trial and error I have found that adding the hard vegan cheese just before serving avoids it going sticky). Serve using a metal serving spoon, place a generous portion into the centre of the plate, to garnish add your griddled courgette ribbons  making the whole dish pop.

Most importantly…

6. Enjoy with family and friends, accompanied by a Brew Dog IPA.