SERVES 4 AS A MAIN COURSE OR 8 AS A FIRST COURSE

30 g | 1 oz butter
1 large onion, chopped
1.2 litres | 2 pints boiling vegetable stock
a large pinch of saffron strands (optional)
110 g | 4 oz each of any 4 of the following: fresh peas, asparagus, broad beans, French beans, runner beans, carrots, courgettes
340 g | risotto rice
110 ml | 4 fl oz white wine
6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for shavings
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Stir in the onion. Cover with a piece of dampened greaseproof paper and a lid. Cook over a low heat until soft.
2. Place the stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the saffron, and keep hot.
3. Prepare the vegetables: cut the asparagus and beans into 2.5 cm | 1 in lengths. Peel and slice the carrots thinly. Cut the courgettes into 6 mm | ¼ in cubes.
4. Tip the rice into the pan with the onion and stir for 1 minute to coat all the grain.
5. pour in the wine and stir until it has evaporated.
6. Stir a ladleful of the hot stock into the rice. The the stock has nearly evaporated, stir in another ladleful.
7. When half the stock has been added, tip in all the vegetables, except the courgettes. Continue to add the stock, stirring in a ladleful at a time.
8. When nearly all the stock has been added. Stir in the courgettes. The risotto is done when the rice is cooked through but still has some “bite”.
9. Stir in the grates cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to stand for 5 minutes
10. serve garnished with the parsley and shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Wine: LIGHT RED

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Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]