Rocket Ride

After a very enjoyable Friday evening in mid-September entertaining two friends at their house, I spent the Saturday getting out into the country for some peace and quiet with the new puppy during the morning and in the afternoon I re-visited a risotto recipe I'd not cooked for around two years.

The risotto of choice was lemon and rocket risotto. The album I listened to matched my state of mind; it was Van Morrison's underrated 1983 masterpiece 'Inarticulate Speech of the Heart' which contains a sizable helping of meditative instrumentals and mellow songs dominated by crisp guitar lines and frosty synthesisers.

I covered the bottom of my Le Cresceut dish with olive oil, turned on the heat and added an ounce of margarine to the pan. Whilst the margarine was melting I diced three onions and four cloves of garlic on the chopping board.

Once the butter was melted I added the onions and garlic to the dish and then grated the zest of two lemons over them as they began to cook. I stirred the zest of the lemon into the onion and garlic and after about five minutes when the ingredients had softened sufficiently it was time to carry out the next stage of preparation. I added 300 grams of risotto rice and then leaned over the Le Cresceut dish stirring the mixture constantly for two minutes. It is important you do this as otherwise the rice becomes stuck to the bottom of the dish which will consequently ruin the whole meal.

After two minutes was up I took half a pint of white wine and poured it into the dish. I turned up the heat on the hob and boiled the ingredients for two minutes, always remembering to stir it constantly, until the wine had boiled away and the rice had become a little bloated.

I laid my hands on 750 millelitres of chicken stock and added it gradually to the dish, again stirring the ingredients constantly to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the dish, until all the stock was gone. I kept stirring the contents of the dish until I was sure the rice was cooked; a good test as to whether it is cooked is how bloated it is. If the rice is very bloated it indicates it has absorbed enough wine and stock to be soft enough to eat.

I then added two bags of rocket, I find Sainsbury's Rocket the best, and an ounce of grated Parmesan Cheese and mixed then in until the rocket was soft and the cheese had melted.

The results were top drawer; the distinctive and sour taste of the lemon zest was complemented by the rich Parmesan Cheese while the gritty rocket was counterbalanced by the large amount of wine in the recipe. The risotto rice, garlic and onions meanwhile gave the meal enough body not to need the presence of any meat in the recipe.

In the dish just after the Parmesan had melted 

Ready to eat- hopefully the taste matches that of some risottos made in professional kitchens