Original recipe of the week: Mushroom, Spring Onion and Lemon Risotto

Risotto has got a bad reputation for being labour-intensive. This recipe does involve its fair share of stirring, but double up the recipe, and an hour’s cooking will give you a week’s worth of lunches – pretty good if you ask us.

Mushroom, Spring Onion and Lemon Risotto

Serves: 2-3
Cooking time: 1 hour 10 mins

What you will need:

150g risotto rice (either Arborio or Carnaroli)
200g mushrooms (finely sliced)
5 spring onions (finely chopped)
50g parmesan (grated)
450g hot chicken stock
150ml white wine
½ tin of bortoli beans (drained)
15g goats cheese
15g butter
Zest of 1/4 lemon and squeeze of juice
Salt and black pepper

What you need to do:

1. Heat the butter in a pan and add the risotto rice, stirring for a few minutes until the grains are lightly coated in the melted butter.

2. Add the hot stock to the pan a ladle at a time, making sure that all of the liquid has been absorbed before adding the next ladle. You’ll have to continuously stir the risotto to make sure it absorbs all of the liquid and it doesn’t stick to the pan.

3. Once you have used roughly half of your stock, add the mushrooms, spring onions and lemon zest and juice and mix together.

4. Continue to cook the risotto until you have used all of the stock, then add wine (if the rice is a little too al dente, keep slowly adding more stock)

5. Add the beans and season with salt and a generous amount of black pepper.

6. Take the pan off the fire, and now add parmesan and some extra butter: this phase is known as mantecatura.

7. Top the risotto with crumbled goats cheese and more black pepper.

Enjoy!

Laura McLeish