Mary Berry's risotto al verde recipe

Mary Berry's Risotto Al Verde - or green risotto - from Italy is a three-in-one recipe that allows you to choose which flavour risotto you want for your meal depending on your mood and who you are cooking for. Add pesto as a quick mid-week meal with the kids, blue cheese and pine nuts for an indulgent night in on the sofa or mushroom and asparagus for a dinner party with friends. It's up to you but Mary Berry has provided all the tips and tricks on how to make each! Risotto is not a difficult dish to cook, it just takes some time and patience to wait for the rice to absorb the liquid and they are the perfect recipes to use up leftover veggies or cheese that is a little dried out and past its' best.

Ingredients

• 15g (1/2oz) butter
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 250g (8oz) risotto rice
• 1l (1 3/4 pints) hot vegetable stock
• 175ml (6fl oz) single cream
• 90g (3oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
• 4tbsp shredded fresh basil

Extra ingredients for risotto al verde:

• 90g (3oz) blue cheese, crumbled
• 4tbsp ready made pesto
• 4tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 4tbsp shredded fresh basil

Extra ingredients

for chicken and mushroom risotto:

• 1l (1 3/4 pints) hot chicken stock instead of vegetable stock
• 125g (4oz) mushrooms, sliced
• 250g (8oz) cooked chicken, diced

Extra ingredients

for asparagus risotto:

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 375g (12oz) asparagus, trimmed and chopped

Method

1. For risotto al verde: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When it is foaming, add the garlic and cook gently for 1 min.
2. Add the risotto rice, stirring to coat the grains in the butter, and cook for 2 mins. Add a ladleful of the hot vegetable stock, and cook gently, stirring constantly, until the stock has been absorbed. Continue to add the stock, a ladleful at a time, and cook for 20-25 mins or until the rice is just tender.
3. Add the cream, and cook gently, stirring, until it has been absorbed. Stir in the blue cheese, then the pesto, Parmesan and pine nuts. Garnish with shredded fresh basil, and serve.
4. For chicken and mushroom risotto: Add sliced mushrooms to the saucepan with the garlic in step 1 and cook for 3-5 mins until the mushrooms are soft. Substitute chicken stock for the vegetable stock, omit the blue cheese and pesto, then add cooked diced chicken with the cream in step 3.
5. For asparagus risotto: Add a finely chopped onion to the pan with the garlic in step 1, and cook for 3-5 mins until soft. Omit the blue cheese and pesto and add 375g (12oz) trimmed and chopped asparagus in step 2, about 5 mins before the end of the cooking time.