Posts
Masterchef finalist and Cambridge restaurateur Alex Rushmer asked me to find a wine match for his broad bean, pea & Monte Enebro risotto.
Alex's recipe is given below in detail, but in short it is a traditional risotto with creamy goat's cheese and some herbaceous greens.
The strongest flavour comes from the tangy goat's cheese and the classic match for this is a Loire Sauvignon so stick with tradition and go for a crisp, minerally Touraine from Domaine Rablais.
The acidity cuts through the creaminess of the dish nicely whilst the herbaceous notes of gooseberries, nettles and cut grass on the nose pair with the two green vegetables as well.
It's a very classy wine and really opens up with some air, so if you can, I'd recommend popping it in the decanter for an hour before serving.
Domaine Rablais Touraine - £8.49 from Cambridge Wine Merchants
Alex Rushmer's broad bean, pea & Monte Enebro risotto
After much experimentation trying to find the right cheese to enrich this version of risotto I’ve settled up Monte Enebro – a fresh and light Spanish goat's cheese from Cambridge Cheese Company. It has the right balance of acidity and creaminess to keep the dish from tipping over into cloyingly rich whilst maintaining enough of the decadence that a good risotto should provide.
Serves four
Two banana shallots, finely chopped
Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped
25g unsalted butter
25ml olive oil
300g vialone nano risotto rice
75ml white wine or dry vermouth
750ml vegetable stock
100g podded and cooked broad beans
50g podded and cooked peas
25g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
100g Monte Enebro cheese, cut into small cubes
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the olive oil then the chopped shallots and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring often.
They should soften and cook but not colour.
Add the garlic and cook for a further ten minutes, again without colouring.
Increase the heat and add the wine or vermouth and simmer for 10 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Pour everything into a clean bowl and wipe out the saucepan.
Bring the stock to just below boiling point and leave it on a gentle heat within easy reach.
Add the rice to your newly dry and clean saucepan place over a moderately high heat.
Toast the rice without any butter or oil in the dry pan for 3-4 minutes stirring often until the grains are too hot to touch.
Add the shallot, garlic and wine mixture and a ladleful of stock.
Reduce the heat and add more stock when the rice in the pan looks ‘thirsty’. You don’t necessarily need to stir constantly – nor always in the same direction as was dictated to me by a heavily bosomed Italian matriarch once upon a time – but do shuffle things around every couple of minutes to make sure the grains cook evenly.
The rice should be cooked after 12-15 minutes.
When it is to your taste add one final ladleful of stock (this will seem like too much but worry not: as it cools it will seize up and no risotto should be able to support its own weight) remove it from the heat and stir in the cubed butter, Monte Enebro cheese and the peas and broad beans. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately.
Links
Cambridge Wine Merchants - http://www.cambridgewine.com/
Alex Rushmer - http://justcookit.co.uk/
Cambridge Edition - http://www.cambsedition.co.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment