The PEA RISOTTO is a light and delicate first course, perfect to begin a lovely spring lunch, when peas are sweeter and more flavorful and you want to savor the garden’s early produce. It’s a simple dish, as you will see, but well balanced and complete and, with the small tips I present here, it can become special and refined.
Risotto has its little secrets: a good soffritto and proper toasting of the rice, a particularly aromatic vegetable broth made also with the pea pods, and finally a decisive creaming (mantecatura) with very cold butter and plenty of Parmesan. As with all simple and quick dishes, you must be precise in the preparation, and for this reason I provide a step-by-step photo-recipe to remove any doubts. Try the dish and let me know.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 5 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring
Ingredients
- 2 cups Carnaroli rice
- 2 1/2 cups peas (fresh, shelled)
- 4 1/4 cups vegetable broth (celery, carrot, onion, pea pods)
- 1 onion
- 3 tbsp butter (very cold)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
FOR PEA RISOTTO YOU WILL NEED
- 1 Pot
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Strainer
- 1 Ladle
PREPARATION: PEA RISOTTO
The preparation of PEA RISOTTO is very easy.
Shell the peas (to obtain about 2 1/2 cups of shelled peas — roughly 400 g — you will need around 2.2 lb / about 1 kg of whole peas) and set aside the pods, which you will use to make the vegetable broth. Alternatively, you can use frozen peas.
In a frying pan put half an onion finely chopped and let it soften over low heat with a drizzle of oil. When it becomes soft, add the peas and let them flavor for a minute. Add about 3/4 cup of water, season with salt and cook for 10 minutes.
Transfer the peas to a blender, reserving a few in ice water for decoration, and blend until smooth to obtain a creamy purée.
In a pot with 4 1/4 cups of water (1 L) put half of the washed and trimmed pea pods, one onion, one celery stalk and a carrot. Salt and bring to a boil.
In a saucepan add a drizzle of oil and soften the other half onion. Add the rice and toast it for 5 minutes, seasoning lightly with salt so that the inside of the grains also absorbs flavor.
Deglaze with the strained vegetable broth and, stirring continuously, cook until done.
When cooking is finished and with the heat off, add the very cold butter, the pea purée, the whole peas reserved earlier and the Parmesan. Vigorously stir (mantecatura) your risotto, adjust salt and pepper, cover with a lid and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Plate your pea risotto and enjoy its full goodness.
