Risotto is super easy to cook, looks good and tastes better – what it needs is patience. About 20 minutes worth.

Use a high-starch, low-amylose, short- grain rice which absorbs liquids, releases starch and is consequently stickier.

Vialone Nano is wonderful for risotto but just as good, easier to obtain and lots cheaper, is Arborio.

My brother cooked this Risotto Muzza for family dinner, impressing upon me the need to have all the ingredients ready to go and close to hand before the rice hits the pan. As soon as you start to cook the rice, you can’t walk away!

Ian’s Ingredients :

• 500g of arborio rice
• 1 and 1/4 litres vegetable stock. (You can shortcut here by buying a prepared chicken stock)
• knob of butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 kilo prawns, shelled, deveined, heads removed
• 2 glasses wine
• 250g mushrooms, washed, sliced

Two cooking pans.

Method
Ian’s Vegetable Stock
To make 4 cups of vegetable stock – 2 large onions, 2 medium carrots, 1 whole bulb of garlic, 10 peppercorns, and a bay leaf.

In order for the stock to take on all of the flavours of the vegetables in it, it has to simmer for a full hour. Because of the long simmering time, the vegetables were chopped into large chunks rather than small dice. All ingredients were combined in a stockpot large enough to cover them all with water. Simmered for an hour, then strained.

While the stock is heating, chop the onions, slice the mushrooms and prepare the prawns.

In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the onions have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock.

Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.

Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. Taste the rice — is it cooked? (If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water).

Add the mushrooms. Stir through for 5 minutes

In the last few minutes stir in the prawns – enough to warm them.

Serve instantly with a handful of torn mint leaves, or rocket.

More : Risotto Portabello