At Season’s Eatings, we are big fans of risotto, as it’s the kind of recipe that once you’ve mastered the base, you can be as creative as you want, for example our previous recipes: Wild mushroom and Chestnut Risotto and Mint and Asparagus Risotto.

This rice dish is simple to make, warming and has fresh flavours that you can really taste. We’ve used peas and mint as they are a traditional flavour combination and mint is currently in season at the moment, meaning it’s abundantly available. The recipe comfortably serves two people, and just needs to be multiplied up if you want to serve more. It you remember the ratios of 100g risotto rice & 300ml of stock per person, you can’t go too far wrong.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 200g risotto rice
• 1 small red onion
• 1 tbsp garlic oil
• 600ml vegetable stock
• 1 glass of white wine / vermouth
• 3 large handfuls of frozen peas (taken out the freezer as you start cooking)
• 1 large handful fresh mint – chopped
• 2 tsp dried mint
• parmesan – grated
• half fat crème fraîche

Recipe:

1. Finely chop the red onion and add, with the garlic oil to a medium-sized pan over a medium heat. Leave to soften for 5 minutes in the pan before adding the risotto rice.
2. Slick the rice around in the onion and oil for a couple of minutes, then pour in the white wine (or vermouth if using). Stir until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated.
3. Then slowly added the vegetable stock (hot) one ladleful at a time, stirring continuously and only adding more stock once the previous quantity has been absorbed. Add the dried mint with the first portion of stock.
4. When you’ve only got 2 ladlefuls of stock left, add the peas (which should now be partially defrosted) and the chopped, fresh mint. Add the remaining stock and stir until all the liquid is combined.
5. Add a handful of freshly grated parmesan and a large spoonful of crème fraîche (‘dollop’ being the technical term), give one final stir and serve, topped with a sprig of fresh mint.