I rediscovered risotto about a year ago and am making up for lost time now! It is so versatile, just add anything to the basic recipe. There’s as many different risottos as there are ingredients.

The basic is below, instead of the white wine I keep a bottle of Dry Vermouth which I use. Saves us fighting over whose glass of wine goes into the risotto

Ingredients for 2
6oz of Arborio (risotto) rice
1 clove garlic finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 glass white wine
2 pints of chicken or veg stock

Heat some oil in a pan and add the garlic, cook for a minute and add the onion and celery. Slowly sweat for 5mins. Turn up the heat and add the rice. Cook on a very high heat for a minute or two making sure to stir so as not to burn anything. Now add the glass of wine (or Vermouth), it will sizzle and cook into the rice in a short time. When this has done reduce the heat and add a ladle of stock. Stir it into the rice and repeat the process until the rice is fully cooked. Season to taste but it will already be quite salty so be careful. All the stirring is a bit of a pain but it has to be done. It should cook in 20 to 25mins.

Once the rice is cooked stir in a handful of grated Parmesan and a knob of butter. At this stage you can add anything. Last time I cooked this I added some Vignotte cheese and Parma ham. Makes it really savoury.

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Recipe, risotto