Prawn & Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

2oz (60g) butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

l oz (30g) beef marrow if available

6oz (170g) rice, Italian Avorio if possible, otherwise long grain

1 gill (150ml) white wine

1 pint (575ml) stock

1 packet powdered saffron

1 bay-leaf

a pinch dried thyme or a sprig fresh

2 stalks parsley

1 clove garlic

salt

freshly ground black pepper

4oz (115g) sliced cooked mushrooms

4oz (115g) cooked shelled prawns

loz (30g) grated parmesan cheese

Plenty of grated Parmesan to accompany

Method

Melt loz (30g) butter in a heavy pan and soften the onion in it until pale gold but not brown.

Add beef marrow, if you have it, and the garlic, then the rice and stir until transparent.

Add wine and cook rapidly until almost evaporated, then add the stock, saffron, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.

Cook over a low heat, stirring frequently until the rice has absorbed all the stock and is tender and creamy but not sticky.

Towards the end you must stir continually.

Remove the bay leaf, thyme and parsley, add mushrooms and prawns then loz (30g.)

Add the parmesan and the remaining butter, stir until melted and serve immediately with more parmesan cheese to accompany. Serves 2-3 as a main dish, 5-6 as a first course.

Serving suggestion

Serve with a crisp dry white wine. We prefer Chablis or Muscadet with this dish.

Variation (pictured)

Replace the prawns with pan-fried scallops. To do this, cook the risotto as instructed but don't add the scallops until the very end. When your risotto is ready, serve it onto plates and using the same pan (we use a wok) melt some butter and toss the scallops in this until cooked and serve them on top of the risotto. Garnish with herbs. We like parsely, chives or dill.

Photo of our variation with pan-fried scallops. See bottom of page for details.
Taken: July 3rd, 2004