no 1 in an occasional series.
I like rissotto. I don’t like standing over the cooker, ladling hot stock from one pan to another. And so, although I know the name of D**** Smith is anathema to many, she does have a recipe for a more than adequate oven baked rissotto. Hers is made with mushrooms, and is very good – she’d no doubt be very vexed to find that someone is deviating from it …
put the oven on low (gas mark 2 – don’t know what that is in electrickery), and put a biggish lasagne type dish in there to warm up.
chop a head of fennel into, oh, 1/4″ cubes, and an onion fairly finely chopped. I used a red one, cos it gives the finished article a nice colour. Saute these gently in some olive oil and a decent chunk of butter for about 20 minutes until they’re nice and soft. A biggish deep frying pan works best, rather than a saucepan.
add 6 oz of rissotto rice (I used arborio last night) to the pan, and sloosh it about a bit to get it coated with the buttery oily stuff. Then add a pint of liquid – I used the juice of a lemon, topped up with plain water this time, although vegetable or meat stock is good too. But as fennel has such a delicate flavour, I thought I’d be subtle (who me?!).
then add 5 fl oz of white wine or vermouth – I tend to go for the latter, as it gives a slightly sharper flavour. Bring the pan up to a gentle simmer, add a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper. Get the (hot) dish out of the oven, and pour in the contents of the pan.
return to oven, leave for 20 minutes, then give it a stir. Back in for another 10 minutes, out for another stir, then add some prawns. Another five minutes, and dish it up. Accompany with some salad leaves – last night very simply dressed with olive oil and white wine vinegar.
this is supposed to serve four, but I’m ashamed to say that perlmonger and I always scoff it between us.
this works with lots of things – replace the fennel with grated ginger and a finely shredded red chili. Use pancetta or bacon or salmon instead of prawns. Try tinned crabmeat for a change. Or do the original version with mushrooms. Nice and simple comfort food.
Do you cover the rice whilst it’s in the oven?
no
Ta. I’ll have to try this.
That Delia
Don;t knock Delia; she’s the patron saint of divorced men, who suddenly find themsleves in the unfortunate postion of understanding that their poor wives did actually do things other than watch daytime TV and lay underneath them of a weekend.
I myself, of course, did not fall into this bracket being a long time cook and foodie, despite my early years of student poverty where for a period I had a finely stocked larder of a carton of tinned beans and a sack of onions. However, I do know a few sad bastards who not only rely on Delia to guide them through the production process, but have her book propped up across the table, picture showing, to provide company and conversation throughout the ensuing consumption.
My No 2 daughter makes the rissotto; try addding a dash of pastis, or supping same as an aperitif. Luckily I brought myself a giant bottle of same on last weeks jaunt.