Hi guys! Hope you're all really, really well. I'm going to give you the principles to make the best
risotto ever. The flavour that we're going to do is smoky bacon with sweet peas and gorgeous
crumbly goat cheese. And this is celebrating the fact that I've got my beautiful pans
made by Tefal, in John Lewis and partners right now. So first principle when making the perfect risotto
is actually the pan. It's a high sided pan. You've also got the quantities on the inside as well
so you know how much you're cooking and how much you're serving which is great. We also want a nice
lid for later on to go on top as well. So we've got that on a medium-high heat. I want to use half an
onion. So the Italians would call this the sofrito and the sofrito is the base of any soup or stew
or risotto. Okay so we've got the onions nice and fine which is lovely. The next part of the sofrito
is celery and if you can get some celery heart, that is my favourite bit. And you basically do the
same thing as the onion. We'll just keep chopping until it's nice and fine. So that's the base
done. Then we're going to begin with flavour, smoked pancetta or bacon. So four rashers is all you need
and then I just want to finely slice it into little matchsticks. So to help it along I'm
going to do two things. I'm going to add a little bit of olive oil then we're going to go in with
the pancetta or smoky bacon. Then here we've got some thyme. So just get yourself a little wadge
of those lovely tender leaves, just rip them off. No more than that, right. That's all you need. Then
I'll just finely slice it a little bit and that little bit of thyme will make all the difference.
We're going to render off this bacon. Then we're going to go in with our sofrito, the onions
and the celery. The beautiful smoky bacon, we're gonna soften that off, right and we're gonna let
it go nice and sweet. So just like 3 or 4 minutes on a fairly high heat and as that starts
to soften up then we'll go in with the rice. Now let's talk about the rice, okay. Risotto rice is
not everyday standard rice and there's all kinds of different varieties but basically it's short,
plump, and very creamy when you stir it. We're gonna go in with 400 grams of our lovely arborio rice.
So we're gonna let that toast for about one minute. Then we can go in, don't have to. We can go in with
some booze. So I'm gonna use some nice Italian white wine. So get the wine in and cook it away.
And now we're into the next part of the ritual... adding the stock. So I've got some nice stock here,
chicken stock. You can of course use veggie stock or any stock you like really. So one ladle at a
time and we give it a little love. And every single time the stock cooks away then you go back in with
another one and slowly but surely you'll start to see the rice change. This rice is gonna swell up
and almost quadruple in size. Okay... so while that rice carries on cooking, let's talk about cheese.
Now most risottos will have somewhere, parmesan. So you want a nice little handful of parmesan,
like that. And then let's talk about the goat's cheese. What I like is something that's tangy,
fresh and crumbly. You know what you can do is either get the tip of your knife and just kind
of get little nuggets of it or you can actually grate it as well. So from this you're going to
get a tang, you're going to get a freshness. So if you look in the pan now you can see how the
stock has pretty much cooked away so we'll carry on adding that beautiful stock. Stir it back in
again. Really, really nice. So the rice is going to take about 20 minutes to cook. And I want to show
you the next ingredient which is frozen peas. It's a really great ingredient. Let's get a nice little
handful or two. You're gonna get that little burst of sweetness and with the saltiness from the
goat's cheese and the smokiness from the bacon, it's gonna be joyful. So straight in they go. So
last I reckon, last ladle of stock goes in. So the risotto is nearly there but I know that when I add
this goat's cheese and parmesan, it's going to take it to the next level. I'm going to add a nice knob
of butter and I'm now going to turn the heat off, right. We don't want to be boiling cheese or butter.
I'm literally beating the cheese into this risotto. It smells amazing. The lid goes on top and we leave
it for one minute and then we serve it. And by leaving it, it just kind of relaxes the whole thing,
flavours, texture, it just does nice things. So remember we're looking for that ooze. So when
you put it in the middle of the plate, it just moves. Just lovely. Just a few little bits of
goat's cheese... you know just to make it pop. You can go back to the thyme and just steal a couple of the
tips of the thyme. That is my smoky bacon, sweet pea and goat cheese risotto. Let's have a try.
The tang of the goat's cheese, the sweetness of the little pops of peas, it's a really
elegant dish. There you go guys, that is the mighty risotto. Get cooking and enjoy