I’ve had some great risottos, and some really bad ones…the bad ones are usually the vegetarian options at work events, with lots of mushrooms, and not enough salt.
The best risotto I’ve had was actually in Bangkok. During our honeymoon we stayed in the Banyan Tree hotel, and one night we went for dinner in Vertigo, their rooftop restaurant. My husband ordered arancini for starters in a pumpkin veloute. The creamiest risotto came out of the breadcrumbed risotto balls, with a centre of melting mozzarella, it made me wish I had ordered that instead of my beetroot salad! Since then, I’ve warmed to risotto, it’s creamy texture is comforting, and with a salty cheesy flavour, it really hits the spot in Winter.
My risotto recipe is evolving, I’ve made it twice and done it slightly differently each time. I tend to make it in what I believe is the Venetian way, with milk, rather than stock. This is because I never have stock in the house when I need it. However, I like the creamy decadence of the milk flavour. As parmesan isn’t vegetarian, and a lot of the vegetarian parmesan style cheese contain egg, I recently bought Violife Prosociano. It is a vegan cheese, but has the texture and taste of parmesan. I’m looking forward to trying it in a lot more recipes!
I made this risotto on a cold night, I thought it would take much longer, but it was ready in 30 minutes, and had so much flavour, that I was quite surprised how good it was.
Ingredients
- 300g Arborio Rice
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 750ml milk
- 250ml warm water
- 1tsp black pepper
- 1tsp salt
- 150g marscarpone
- 100g Violife Prosociano (or any other vegetarian parmesan cheese)
- 100g peas
- 100g asparagus cut into 2cm pieces, and the tips left whole
- 100g broad beans (out of the shells)
Method
- Into a non-stick frying pan add olive oil. Add the rice and coat it with the oil, cook for 1-2 mins, to ensure the rice is fully coated.
- While the rice is cooking, heat the milk and water. When the milk/water mix is warm, add around a quarter to the rice.
- Reduce the heat to low, and stir until the milk has been soaked into the rice.
- Add the milk/water mix in to the rice slowly, about a quarter at a time, waiting until it has been soaked in before adding more, until the rice is tender. This should take about 20 minutes.
- Once the rice is tender, add the salt and pepper, peas, asparagus and marscarpone. Add a little warm water if you prefer your risotto a little looser. Add the Prosociano (or other vegetarian parmesan cheese).
- Serve immediately, with some shavings of the Prosociano (or other vegetarian parmesan cheese) and goats cheese if you like.