Broad bean, bacon and spinach risotto

This recipe is one I made up after finding broad beans at the market and, having never cooked with them before, wanting to give them a shot.

The secret is either using broad beans which are young and only need to be removed from the pods, or removing older ones from the bods, blanching and then peeling the shell away, and then cooking the beans in salted water for about five minutes.

It’s fiddly and takes a while, but is well worth the effort. Canned beans can be used, but you wont get the same depth of flavour, or the same sense of satisfaction.

1. Prepare about 500 grams of broad beans as described above, place in a bowl, and put in the fridge

2. Put 4 cups of salt reduced chicken or vegetable stock (homemade is best) on to simmer slowly

3. Finely dice one onion, and sautee in a large pot with one tablespoon of butter, and one of extra virgin olive oil (the butter gives a really nice gloss and flavour, but olive oil alone is still fine)

4. Add two cups of aborio rice and stir through to warm and coat evenly with oil/butter

5. Before adding stock, I like to add about 1/2 a cup, or a decent splosh of whatever white wine I have hanging around (that’s still drinkable).By the time the risotto is ready the alcohol content will have been cooked away, leaving just the nice subtle flavour behind

6. Start adding your heated stock at about 1/2 a cup at a time, waiting until almost all of the stock has been absorbed before adding the next lot

7. Once you’ve added about 3/4 of the stock, dice and fry your bacon in a separate pan

8. Add bacon and broad beans with the final lot of stock

9. Once this is almost absorbed add the spinach leaves, some freshly grated parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper and eat!