Spring Veggies Risotto

Sometimes you want a dinner that's easy to make, but still feels a wee bit special. Risotto gets a bad reputation for being a hard work meal - but really it's just stirring. A packet of risotto rice is an essential ingredient in my store cupboard.

If you have fresh green vegetables in the fridge then you can use these for this recipe - anything like leeks, asparagus, sugar snaps will work. But equally frozen vegetables are good in a risotto too!

Using home-made stock from the freezer will make this a Home Made Monday recipe, but if you don't have this then try to keep a good quality stock on hand.

This is the recipe I follow, depending on what I have in the house. If you don't have leeks then start with a white onion instead. It serves 3 hungry (greedy) people, or 4 normal people.

350g risotto rice
50g Butter
Olive oil
1l vegetable stock
5 spears asparagus - cut in to 1cm chunks, apart from the heads
1 leek - cut in half length ways and sliced thinly
Handful each frozen peas and broadbeans
Vegetarian parmesan
Rind of half a lemon

Melt butter in a large pan and add a glug of olive oil. Saute the leeks on a low heat until softened - be careful not to overcook the leeks, if they go brown they get quite bitter.

Add the risotto rice and stir well. Cook until the grains of rice start to go translucent around the edges. Start adding the stock, a ladle full at a time. Stir until the stock is absorbed, then keep adding a ladle at a time.

Once you are about three quarters through the stock add in the asparagus.

Keep adding stock until it is all gone. Add in the frozen vegetables, parmesan and lemon rind with the last of the stock.

Check the rice is cooked through, it should still have a bite to it. If it is too hard then add boiling water, a ladle full at a time, until it is ready.

Serve immediately.

I actually garnished mine with baked leek fries - reserve a strip of leek at the beginning, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes until crispy.