45 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 2
About the recipe
A bowl of comforting, silky risotto is hard to beat in the colder months, but getting it right can be a labour of love. So, I’ve taken the principles of a vibrant green risotto and turned it into a cheat’s risotto soup that also packs in 3 of your 5-a-day. No more standing at the stove stirring away – here you can just chuck it all in and let it simmer away. With toasted hazelnuts and crispy leeks to finish, it’s a super-satisfying bowlful.
Ingredients
2 sticks of celery
1 large leek
olive oil
1 lemon
1 organic vegetable stock cube
100g risotto rice
20g blanched hazelnuts
250g baby spinach
30g Parmesan or vegetarian Italian hard cheese
extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/325ºF/gas 3.
- Trim, wash and finely chop the celery and the white part of the leek (save the green part for later). Drizzle 1½ tablespoons of olive oil into a large pan on a medium heat, add the chopped veg, finely grate over the lemon zest, and season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook for 15 minutes, or until soft and sweet, stirring occasionally.
- Crumble in the stock cube, then stir in the rice and toast for 1 minute. Pour in 1 litre of boiling kettle water and reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
- Halve the green part of the leek and finely slice, then scatter onto a baking tray and season with salt and pepper. Roughly crush or chop the hazelnuts and scatter onto the tray, then drizzle lightly with oil, toss together and roast for 10 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
- Transfer a ladle of liquid from the soup to a blender, pile in the spinach and squeeze in the lemon juice, then blitz until smooth and stir into the pan. Cook for a further 2 minutes, then finely grate in most of the Parmesan and loosen with a splash of boiling water, if needed.
- Divide the soup between bowls, top with the crispy leeks and toasted hazelnuts, then grate over the remaining Parmesan and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Tags
