Risotto with artichokes, lemon & saffron

[Guest guest]

300g risotto rice (arborio/carnaroli/Vialone Nano etc)

4-5 artichokes, depending on the size

1 shallot, finely sliced

1 medium lemon, juice & zest seperate

1 bag of saffron

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 lt vegetable stock

1/3 glass of white wine

grated Parmesan

Freshly ground salt and pepper

 

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low-medium heat and add the shallot.

 

Clean the artichokes carefully. Cut the top off each artichoke & stand it on

end (there is a small thorn at the top of each leave, so you need to cut off

enough to remove these from the inner leaves as well), cut down from the stem to

remove the hard outer leaves (keep going until the leaves change colour. It

will seem like a lot), halve them and remove the 'furry' centres.

 

Put the artichokes into a bowl of water with 2/3 of the lemon juice to stop them

going brown. Slice the artichokes very thin and stir 2 of them in with the

shallot. Cook for about 1 minute.

 

Add the rice to the frying pan and stir until each grain has become transparent.

Add the wine, turn up the heat and allow most of the wine to boil off, stirring

frequently.

 

Add the stock and cook over a medium heat. When about half the liquid has

evaporated add the other two sliced artichokes. Stir in and add the saffron.

 

At the end of cooking stir in the lemon zest and the remaining juice. If you

want you can stir in a knob of butter when cooking is over.

 

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with parmesan cheese.