Clara Cooks

Packed with three of spring’s star ingredients, Wild Garlic, asparagus & mushroom. This risotto recipe is a stunning example of seasonal cooking. If you can’t get hold of wild garlic, substitute with a mixture of herbs of your choice.

You need time and care for this dish, you should have everything prepared before you start cooking so that you are giving all your time to the cooking of the rice.

This recipe serves 4- 6

Ingredients

• 85g of unsalted butter
• 1.2l vegetable stock
• 1 small onion, diced
• 300g of risotto rice
• 150g of seasonal local mushrooms diced
• 50g of wild garlic, finely chopped (if no access to wild garlic use a mixture of herbs such as parsley, thyme and coriander) 
• 50g of Parmesan
• 3 tbsp of olive oil, (best quality)
• Salt & pepper

To Serve

• 100 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 knob of butter
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Method

1. Add 50g of the butter to the pan and warm gently. Place the stock in a separate pan and heat up. 
2. Add the onions to the pan with the butter, season with salt and slowly cook gently for about 10 minutes. Make sure they do not brown as this will affect the flavour.
3. Add the diced mushrooms and fry until golden. Stir in the rice and stir through for a minute or until translucent.
4. Turn the heat up to medium, then add a ladleful of hot stock. Keep stirring and adding stock, a ladle at a time, waiting for the rice to soak it all up before adding the next ladleful. Continue until you’ve added two-thirds of the stock.
5. Once about ¾ of stock gone stir through wild garlic and asparagus. Keep adding the remaining stock until the rice is just cooked and the risotto is nice and oozy 
6. Add the remaining butter, parmesan and olive oil to the risotto and stir through with a bit of vigour until all fat has incorporated evenly and the risotto is lovely and creamy
7. Taste and season
8. On a separate pan add a generous knob of butter, once foaming, add the remaining mushrooms, a pinch of salt and pepper for garnish and a few thyme sprigs and fry gently until the mushrooms are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper
9. Evenly put the risotto into 4 bowls, top with mushrooms and if you have any wild garlic flowers.

Delicious!!