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Lemon and Courgette Risotto

Ingredients

  • A good knob of butter 30 or 40 g if you must
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped
  • 1 large or 2 smaller cloves of garlic minced
  • 200 g arborio or other risotto rice
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock made with a cube
  • The zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • A pinch of thyme
  • One large courgette roughly 200g, diced
  • A good handful of parmesan or pecorino cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • A tablespoon of creme fraiche or more butter

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan or deep frying pan, add the onion and gently fry until soft and translucent. Add the minced garlic and stir in and fry for a minute or two.
  2. You should have your vegetable stock simmering away in another pot by now.

  3. The rice goes in next, stir it around so it gets coated in buttery goodness. Add the juice of the lemon and half of the zest.  Add a ladle of the veg stock and watch as it sizzles and the rice absorbs it.  Season with salt and pepper and keep stirring to prevent the rice from catching or sticking to your pan.  This is the only tiresome part of risotto, you really have to be vigilant and while you don’t have to stir constantly you do have to stir frequently.  Keep adding the stock a ladle at a time and stir it in, it will be worth it in the end.

  4. When you have used about half of your stock stir in the chopped courgette. It will depend on how finely you have chopped it actually. My pieces were fairly chunky so I put them in at this stage, if yours are smaller you can wait a little longer as you don’t want the courgette to turn to mush and disappear into the mix. I guess this bit is something you can only learn with a little experience, and it doesn’t really matter if your courgette disappears.  Anyway, keep adding the stock until it is gone and the rice is nicely cooked, fish a little out and check it is cooked through but still retains a little ‘bite’.  If the rice is not cooked and you need more liquid then just add a few more glugs of hot water straight from the kettle, conversely, if the rice and courgette are cooked before you have used all the stock then don’t feel compelled to add the rest.

  5. When it is all looking just about ready stir in the parmesan cheese and creme fraiche or butter, just to give it that extra little richness and creaminess. 

  6. Garnish with the remaining lemon zest, serve immediately and enjoy.

  7. I entirely forgot to take pictures of this so you’ll just have to use your imagination!