Mangetout Risotto with Broad Beans
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh broad bean pods it is around 100 g of beans
- 240 g mangetouts 2x 120g bags
- 350 g risotto rice
- 150 ml white wine
- 2 pints of vegetable stock reuse water from blanching mangetouts and top it up with hot water if necessary
- 3 garlic cloves - sliced
- 1 large onion - diced
- 15 mint leaves
- 70 g grated parmesan
- 125 ml lactose-free cream we used Oatly oat cream
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Cook broad beans in boiling water for 3 minutes. Once they have cooled down remove the light outer skin by pinching it off (it's not necessary for very small beans but the skin of larger beans taste bitter).
- 500 g bag of broad bean pods gives around 100 g of beans
- how to remove the outer skin from broad beans
- Blanche the mangetouts by inserting them into boiling water for 2 minutes then promptly remove them and plunged in icy cold water to stop the cooking. (Don’t discard the hot water from blanching - reuse it to make vegetable stock). Remove mangetouts from the cold water bath and set them aside.
- Prepare the vegetable stock. (I reused the leftover mangetout water, if I need to I add more boiling water to make 2 pints and I dissolve 1 ½ cube of vegetable stock in it).
- Take ½ of mangetout pods and blend them with mint leaves and a few splashes of vegetable stock. Set the green puree aside.
- Fry the onion, once the onion is browning add garlic and rice. Continue frying for another minute.
- Pour in the wine and stir until it dissolves.
- Start adding 200ml or a big ladle of stock at a time. Let it simmer on medium heat. Stir regularly. Each time the rice sucks up the liquid, add more. It takes around 25 - 30 minutes before the rice is cooked.
- At this point, mix in the mangetout puree, oat cream, parmesan and blanched vegetables. Season with salt and remove from the hob.
- Let the risotto rest for 3 minutes before serving.
ABOUT THE RECIPE
We like being organised with our meal plan each week, but when cooking seasonally it is impossible to plan all meals in advance. While we know what vegetables and fruit are in season each month we have only a brief idea of what will be on offer in our supermarket. For that reason, we usually keep 1 - 2 dinners in our weekly meal plan open to any inspiration.
Last week I got a nice deal on mangetout and broad beans. I settled with the idea of making green creamy risotto for our meat-free Monday. I was aiming to make it vegan but couldn't help myself and stirred in some grated parmesan at the end.
Mangetout also called snow pea is harvested very young while the pods are flat and the seeds inside are undeveloped. Even when in the season it is imported from abroad to the vast majority of our supermarkets. As I learnt the local production isn’t big enough to fulfil the supermarket needs. However broad beans don’t have to travel far as they are grown in the UK.
I have to admit this risotto isn't the quickest meal to make when in a hurry so better to plan your cooking time ahead. The recipe is simple but there are a few steps that add the time on.
The most fiddly bit is preparing broad beans. As I bought fresh broad bean pods I had to open each pod and collect all the beans at first. Then I cooked the beans for 3 minutes, waited for them to cool down and peeled them. It’s because each bean has a thicker outer skin that can be slightly bitter so most of the recipes using broad beans (frozen or raw) recommend peeling it off.
I tasted the beans with the skin on as well as without and I agree that unless the beans are very young and small it's better to remove the skin. Peeling the skin reveals a very bright smooth green seed that tastes sweet.
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