Wild herb risotto recipe
"My favourite pastime on a dull, rainy midwinter Sunday is to go foraging in the woodland. At first all you will see is a barren landscape of trees, stripped of their leaves, muddy paths and broken branches on the ground. Then, when you look more carefully the life of the winter landscape is revealed. Suddenly a little clump of pennywort discovered growing under an oak tree, and more… on the trunk there is oak moss gripping to the bark and further along wild chervil and hairy bitter cress.
It never ceases to excite and inspire me when I find a secret world of culinary delicacies. This simple risotto can be adapted to include almost any herbs or vegetables, but for me it is the perfect vehicle for my winter woodland treasure trove."
You can use whatever vegetables you like with this recipe, if you cannot or do not want to forage for your own ingredients. As always, if you are foraging, make sure you know exactly what you're picking. If you're unsure, leave it.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 0.5 large red onion, finely diced
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 250 ml white wine
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 350 g Arborio risotto rice
- 1 tsp (heaped) salt
- 250 ml double cream
- 200 g approx. large bunch foraged herbs such as pennywort, oak moss, chervil and hairy bitter cress, lightly washed and coarsely shredded
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 20 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a moderate heat and fry the onion until soft, approx. 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile measure out the vegetable stock and white wine and combine them in a large jug with the lemon juice.
- Add the rice and salt to the pan and stir well for a couple of minutes to coat the grains in the hot oil. Start adding the liquid to the pan, a cupful at a time, stirring well between each addition. As the rice cooks and absorbs the liquid, you can continue adding more liquid, stirring regularly.
- Stop the cooking when the rice has swelled but still has a little bite to it, after approx. 15 minutes. To finish the risotto, stir in the cream and wild herbs, reserving some to garnish.
- To serve, spoon the risotto into wide serving bowls, scatter over the strings of lemon zest and garnish with the reserved wild herbs.
The Shed: The Cookbook is published by Kyle Books and has an RRP of £19.99. Photography by Simon Wheeler.
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