Leek Risotto

“A good risotto always contains wine. If you, or your guests, don’t want to consume wine grape juice is a good substitution. The trick to keeping the peppers upright is to trim a small piece off the bottom of each pepper. But try to make it a small piece, otherwise you might go too far through the flesh.”

Prep time - 20 minutes

Cook time - 30 minutes

Difficulty - Medium

Serves / makes - 3 stuffed peppers

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Ingredients

500ml water

2 teaspoon stock powder

1 leek

1 large garlic clove

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

150g / 1 cup risotto rice (arborio, carnarolli etc)

120ml / ½ cup white wine

½ tablespoon rosemary

60g baby spinach

Salt, to taste

3 peppers

1 tablespoon pine nuts

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Equipment

Saucepan

Large frying pan

Small frying pan

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/390f/GM6.

2. Heat the water with the stock in a saucepan, once hot lower the heat.

3. Finely chop the garlic and roughly slice the leek. In a large frying pan heat the oil, add the garlic and leek. Fry on a low heat, this will take a while but the leek needs to be on a low heat as it burns easily. Once the leek is soft add the rice and mix well.

4. Add the wine and mix well again. Allow the wine to reduce by half. Add the rosemary either whole or chopped finely, depending on your preference.

5. Add the stock 1/2 a cup at a time, allowing it to be absorbed almost completely before adding the next. This process may take 30 minutes or so. Once the rice is cooked add salt to taste.

6. Cut the top off the peppers and remove the seeds and the bitter membrane. Fill with the risotto, wrap each in foil and bake for 30 minutes.

7. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan on a medium heat and scatter on top.

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