Risotto met hopscheuten
Zonder de hopscheuten is dit een prima basisrecept voor risotto bianco, door Masterchef-finalist Andrew Kojima.
Onthoud vooral de details: uien smoren met zout en met deksel op de pan! Glans moet komen van de 'elbow-grease' en niet van room!! En gebruik veel boter!!!
Het recept vond ik via Twitter op de website Spearswms.com
The shoots that appear in spring are an edible but little known vegetable, like asparagus or samphire in appearance but peppery and a little astringent. If you can get hold of some this spring, try this risotto recipe.
Risotto with Hop Shoots
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon of light olive oil
300g hop shoots, rinsed and chopped into 3cm lengths
250g arborio risotto rice
150g butter, diced and kept cold
2 generous pinches of Maldon sea salt
1 small white onion, diced finely
200ml white wine
1 litre of light chicken (or vegetable) stock, hot
Method
Sauté the chopped hop shoots in the light olive oil without salt. Many of the nutrients and flavour compounds are water soluble so it is best to cook them in oil, rather than blanche them. When they are al dente, set the hop shoots aside but keep the saucepan.
Now make a risotto bianco. Melt 50g of butter in the saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the diced onions and the sea salt. I far prefer it to the refined type (table salt), which also has additives such as anticaking agents.
Salt draws the moisture out of the onions and encourages them to sweat and soften, especially if you put the lid on for two minutes. Don’t be tempted to stir the onions or you will let the steam escape. Allow it to accumulate and drip back onto the onions, basting them so that they do not colour. Brown onions will ruin the colour of your risotto and taste bitter instead of gently sweet.
When you do peek inside, you should be able to tell by looking if the onions are cooked – they will be translucent – but a nudge with a metal spoon will confirm it. With the lid now off, add the white wine and turn up the heat. You may let your mind wander as you watch the wine evaporate away, but don’t wander off and let it burn. As soon as you hear the bubbling turn to a sizzle, add a spoonful of butter and stir quickly so that you have glossy onions.
Now add the rice all at once into the butter, wine and onion reduction. When it is well coated, add a ladle of hot stock and listen for the ‘sospiro’ – the sigh of relief as the rice begins to absorb the water. Stir gently, adding the stock ladle by ladle. I don’t resent standing over the pot, I find the stirring therapeutic.
After about ten minutes, it is time to nibble some rice, feeling for texture and tasting for seasoning. Add salt if necessary and keep going with the stock until it is so ‘al dente’ that were you in a restaurant, you would complain to your dining partner but not to the waiter.
There are many ways to a creamy risotto – purists abhor adding cream – the creaminess should come from the elbow grease you have put into polishing the rice as you stir.
If you want to emulate a restaurant risotto, add an obscene amount of diced, cold butter, much more than a tablespoonful, and stir it in. Add the hop shoots to warm through and pour the risotto straight from the pan into a shallow white bowl.
At this time of year, you might like to add a handful of wild garlic, finely shredded, and stir it through so that it wilts in the heat, but you may lose the flavour of the hop shoots in the truffly perfume of the garlic. Serve seasoned with grated parmesan and spiced with freshly cracked black pepper.
Onthoud vooral de details: uien smoren met zout en met deksel op de pan! Glans moet komen van de 'elbow-grease' en niet van room!! En gebruik veel boter!!!
Het recept vond ik via Twitter op de website Spearswms.com
The shoots that appear in spring are an edible but little known vegetable, like asparagus or samphire in appearance but peppery and a little astringent. If you can get hold of some this spring, try this risotto recipe.
Risotto with Hop Shoots
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon of light olive oil
300g hop shoots, rinsed and chopped into 3cm lengths
250g arborio risotto rice
150g butter, diced and kept cold
2 generous pinches of Maldon sea salt
1 small white onion, diced finely
200ml white wine
1 litre of light chicken (or vegetable) stock, hot
Method
Sauté the chopped hop shoots in the light olive oil without salt. Many of the nutrients and flavour compounds are water soluble so it is best to cook them in oil, rather than blanche them. When they are al dente, set the hop shoots aside but keep the saucepan.
Now make a risotto bianco. Melt 50g of butter in the saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the diced onions and the sea salt. I far prefer it to the refined type (table salt), which also has additives such as anticaking agents.
Salt draws the moisture out of the onions and encourages them to sweat and soften, especially if you put the lid on for two minutes. Don’t be tempted to stir the onions or you will let the steam escape. Allow it to accumulate and drip back onto the onions, basting them so that they do not colour. Brown onions will ruin the colour of your risotto and taste bitter instead of gently sweet.
When you do peek inside, you should be able to tell by looking if the onions are cooked – they will be translucent – but a nudge with a metal spoon will confirm it. With the lid now off, add the white wine and turn up the heat. You may let your mind wander as you watch the wine evaporate away, but don’t wander off and let it burn. As soon as you hear the bubbling turn to a sizzle, add a spoonful of butter and stir quickly so that you have glossy onions.
Now add the rice all at once into the butter, wine and onion reduction. When it is well coated, add a ladle of hot stock and listen for the ‘sospiro’ – the sigh of relief as the rice begins to absorb the water. Stir gently, adding the stock ladle by ladle. I don’t resent standing over the pot, I find the stirring therapeutic.
After about ten minutes, it is time to nibble some rice, feeling for texture and tasting for seasoning. Add salt if necessary and keep going with the stock until it is so ‘al dente’ that were you in a restaurant, you would complain to your dining partner but not to the waiter.
There are many ways to a creamy risotto – purists abhor adding cream – the creaminess should come from the elbow grease you have put into polishing the rice as you stir.
If you want to emulate a restaurant risotto, add an obscene amount of diced, cold butter, much more than a tablespoonful, and stir it in. Add the hop shoots to warm through and pour the risotto straight from the pan into a shallow white bowl.
At this time of year, you might like to add a handful of wild garlic, finely shredded, and stir it through so that it wilts in the heat, but you may lose the flavour of the hop shoots in the truffly perfume of the garlic. Serve seasoned with grated parmesan and spiced with freshly cracked black pepper.