Green superhero risotto

Despite the intermittent downpours and gail-force winds, we’re actually starting to see the occasional glimmer of summer here and there, and these patches of sunshine call for a summer dish! This risotto is just the freshest, most deliciously summery risotto we’ve ever had, and it was loved by baby, parents and even the preschooler.

My 4-year-old recently stated that “I will probably only like edamame or courgette again when I am much older, so I won’t eat them again for a while thank you, Mummy”. So in an act of parenting defiance, that’s exactly what I made everyone for dinner the other night. Well, we had loads of fresh green food in the fridge looking all lovely and so it became a matter of ‘take it or leave it’. Fortunately, this dish was a serious hit! I think it was helped by the fact that it was the kid’s job to pick the fresh mint leaves from the garden in order to add “some magic superhero flavour” (and that they were both about as hungry as I can let them get before total meltdowns ensued).  Still, this was a ‘clean plates, asking for more’ kind of a hit!

Risotto is usually a bit of a labour of love and can be time-consuming. This risotto is full of green goodness and zingy flavour in two easy steps…. basically 1) cook the rice in the stock and 2) blitz the veg into a paste…. then stir them together near the end! So easy, so healthy and just so yummy!

I hope that you love this as much as we do! And of course feel free to add in a generous dash of white wine to the rice during the cooking phase if you’re just making it for the older members of the family ;-).

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp rapeseed oil
400g risotto rice
1 litre no/low-salt stock
3-4 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 small courgette, roughly chopped
1 green (bell) pepper, roughly chopped
1 generous handful fresh mint leaves
100g shelled edamame beans
1/2 an avocado
1.5 tsps apple cider vinegar
40g frozen peas

Method

1. In a large non-stick pan, gently heat the oil, on low/medium heat.
2. Once the oil is heated, add the uncooked rice to the pan and stir continuously for a minute or so to fully coat the rice in the oil.
3. Carefully start to add small amounts of stock to the pan, stirring gently as you go, until the stock is fully incorporated. Leave to simmer gently, stirring regularly (if cooking this for adults, go ahead an add a couple of generous glugs of white wine into the pan at this point!)
4. Meanwhile, put the spring onions, courgette, green pepper, mint leaves, edamame, avocado and apple cider vinegar into a large food processor and blitz until very finely diced and almost paste-like. It’s a good idea to roughly chop the veg first to help the blender out a bit!
5. Once the rice is starting to soften (about 30 minutes into cooking time), add the diced green veg paste to the rice in the pan and stir.
6. Add the frozen peas to the rice and gently stir through.
7. Continue to simmer gently for another 5-10 minutes until rice is fully cooked and a lovely green colour, stirring often to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
8. If you wish to make the dish more creamy, add a dollop of cream/soya cream/ creme fraiche at the end of cooking before serving and stir through.