RisottoServes 2-4
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions
- 1 small onion
- 50g/2oz butter plus a large knob of extra butter
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, or 1/2 tsp dried
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 250g/10oz risotto rice
- Small glass of Marsala
- 1 litre/13/4 pt hot chicken stock (fresh is best but cube is fine)
- 50g/2oz freshly grated
- Parmesan, more to serve
- 2 tbsp mascarpone or crème fraîche (optional)
Method
- Keeping separate piles, peel, halve and thinly slice the onions. Fry the small onion in the vegetable oil, stir-frying until crisp and golden. Rest on kitchen paper to drain.
- Melt 50g/2oz butter in a wide-based pan over a medium heat. Stir in the medium sized onions, add 1/2 tsp salt, cover the pan and cook gently, stirring now and again for 20-25 minutes until limp, soft and hardly coloured.
- Finely chop the rosemary leaves until they resemble green dust and stir into the onions. Stir in the rice until all the grains are glistening and translucent. Add the Marsala, stirring as it bubbles into the rice. Add half the hot stock. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is almost all absorbed.
- Stir in most of the remaining stock and continue cooking for another 15 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender with a slight bite in the centre. You might need to add more stock to achieve the desired creamy, sloppy texture.
- Stir in the knob of butter and 50g/2oz Parmesan.
- Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Serve the risotto with a dollop of mascarpone, a garnish of crisply fried onions and extra Parmesan.
Please note the image above is for illustrative purposes only, and is not an original photograph of the dish described.
Lindsey Bareham's website is: www.lindseybareham.com
This recipe was first published in the April 2008 edition of Saga Magazine