Leek risotto

Leek risotto

€4.48 │Serves 4 │ €1.12 per portion │ 30-45mins │ Italy

A lean Italian classic with buttery leek. Risottos are simple, tasty, and warming. It's also easy to make plenty and freeze any extra for emergency meals!

• What to serve it with?
• Leftovers
• Utensils
• Ingredients
• Method

What to serve it with?

Risotto is great on its own! Though if you fancy a side, you could go for cherry tomato bruschetta, garlic bread, or a fresh, leafy salad.

Leftovers

Spoonfeed meal plans save you money by using the economy of scale. Making extra from dinner into a leftover lunch avoids spending money and extra time cooking!

A leek risotto is perfect for leftovers! It is delicious warmed back up the next day.

Utensils

• 1 saucepan
• 1 sauté pot/wok
• 1 ladle
• 1 spatula

Ingredients

• 225g risotto rice
• 1 leek
• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 175ml dry white wine
• 1 stock cube for 1.5L of broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 50g hard cheese, grated/flaked
• Thyme

Method

1. Slice your leek, separating the white and green parts. Rinse well.
2. First, prepare the broth. Add the water, stock cube, bay leaves, thyme, and salt. Keep at a rolling boil.
3. In your sauté pot, add butter. Once melted, throw in the whites of the leek, seasoning with salt and pepper. On a medium heat, cook the leek down until almost caramelised and crunchy, then set aside. This takes a few minutes, remember to keep the leek moving every once in a while.
4. Dice onion and garlic very thinly. Cover the surface of the sauté pot with the olive oil, turn to high heat and add the onion. After 2 minutes, when the onion is becoming translucent, add garlic and cook for one minute.
5. There should be good olive oil left in the pan as you add your rice. Keep stirring the ingredients for a minute on that high heat. The rice will begin to absorb the flavours.
6. Once the rice becomes translucent, gradually add your wine to deglaze the pan. Move the ingredients until the wine has evaporated.
7. Bit by bit, add the broth two ladle scoops at a time, gently stirring until absorbed by the rice. Repeat until the rice is 2/3 cooked. Add the greens of the leeks, stir, and keep adding broth until the rice is fully cooked. Risotto is ready when you can trace a line with your spatula in the pan.
8. Add 2/3 the pre-cooked leeks, reserving the rest to add on top of the serving for presentation. Finally, take off the heat, stir in grated cheese and black pepper. Serve with remaining leek and flakes of cheese on top.
9. Enjoy!