pea & Kale risotto

Reasons to be cheerful: spring is in the air, I’m wearing my green hoodie, the kids have gone back to school after the longest Christmas holiday in history and it’s International Women’s Day! Sending love and a fresh green risotto recipe to all the amazing women in my life!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 250g Frozen peas

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 100g cavolo nero, stalked removed, leaves chopped roughly

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 celery stick, finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 150ml white wine or 100ml sherry / vermouth

• 320g risotto rice

• 50g parmesan, finely grated

• 3/4 tsp sea salt

• Juice of ¼ lemon

Method

• Melt the stock cube in 1L boiling water (I always dilute stock cubes way more than the packet instructions as I find their flavour is too strong otherwise)

• Put 150g peas in a small saucepan, pour over 100ml stock and bring to the boil. Turn off and leave to cool.

• Steam the kale for 4-5 minutes and then blitz in a food processor with a knob of butter.

• Once the peas have cooled, then add to the kale and blitz until smooth.

• Heat 20g of butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a large shallow pan and fry the onions and celery on low for 10-12 minutes.

• Add the garlic to the onion and cook for 1 minute.

• Warm the stock in a pan on the hob or microwave.

• Next stir the rice into the onions, after about a minute it should look slightly translucent at the edges.

• Then turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off and once the rice has absorbed the rest of the wine start adding the warm stock. I usually pour in about a ladle or 100ml at a time.

• After 10 minutes add the pea and kale purée and continue pouring in the stock for another 5 minutes and then add the rest of the peas. Cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

• Check the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite to it), add a little more water if needed (a risotto shouldn’t stand up in your bowl, it should melt to the sides) and then stir in 10g of butter, 30g parmesan, salt and a squeeze of lemon.

• Serve with the rest of the parmesan, warm ciabatta and a green salad.

Tip

• The way I got my fussy meat-eating son to eat a very green risotto was to: not tell him about the kale, only the peas, fry some crispy bacon bits and put them on top and serve with warm ciabatta bread. He will eat a significant amount more things if there is white bread or a wrap on the side!

• I used cavolo nero or black kale, but you could switch to curly if that’s what you’ve got in. Just make sure you take the tough stalks out and only use the leaves.

• Tip

• A note about stock - if I’m using a cube then I will double the amount of water recommended on the pack, so for this recipe I just used one cube for one litre of water. Otherwise you’ll end up tasting the stock cube rather than it being a savoury back note.

• I don’t always want to open a bottle of wine just for cooking, so I keep a bottle of sherry or Vermouth in the cupboard to use for risotto. It doesn’t go off like wine, so you can just use a glass as and when you need it.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy ‘butter’ and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and or a little oat cream instead of cheese. Top with pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.