James shows us how to make a creamy, tasty rustic risotto, made with ingredients usually found at the back of your fridge!
Serves 4
Ingredients
300g arborio risotto rice
340g tin of sweetcorn (drained weight about 280g)
150g cream cheese,
170ml dry white wine,
11/2 pint of hot chicken or pork stock,
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon sliced into lardons
8 sliced chestnut mushrooms
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
1 handful of rocket rocket OR peashoots
Zest of 1 lemon
Method
1. Heat a non stick pan on the hob. Add a splash of vegetable oil and sauté the garlic and onion for 1 minute. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains all over.
2. Next add the white wine and simmer until it reduces by half then slowly add the hot stock a little at a time. Continue gradually adding more stock from time to time, using around a pint of the hot stock as you cook. The rice needs to be just cooked through, this will take around 12 minutes.
3. Meanwhile crisp up your bacon lardons and sliced mushrooms by frying in a splash of oil for 2/3 minutes until crisp then drain on kitchen towel and set aside.
4. Next set up a blender and take roughly a ladle of the hot vegetable stock and add half of the sweetcorn and blitz together then pass mixture through a sieve. Add to the rice in the frying pan and stir in, then add the cream cheese, lemon zest and the remaining sweetcorn and cook for a further minute.
5. Loosen the mixture with any remaining hot stock season to taste and spoon into warm serving bowls. Scatter over crispy bacon bits and mushrooms, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and finish with rocket.