After about seven years of writing this blog, I’m hope you’ll excuse me if I sometimes repeat myself. Really, I try not to. But since I’m one person, doing all the thinking and the writing (and most of the eating and all of the cooking) I’m bound to repeat myself every so often.
So when I decide to share a recipe with you the very first thing I do is search on my own blog to make sure that I’ve never published the same thing in the past. These days, nine times out of ten, I have (it’s bound to happen with almost 1000 posts up there).
But sometimes the opposite occurs. I’ll avoid writing about something because I am SURE I have written about it not once, but many times in the past. This happened last week.
How in the world have I never shared my recipe for fresh pea risotto with you before??!!
I’ve shared other risotto recipes in the past, here and here but never my favorite. When peas are in season this is my go to recipe. Getting the sweetest peas and shelling them is the most difficult part about it.
One of the things that makes in so easy (and especially delicious) is that I do not precook the peas. A lot of risotto recipes using peas call for at least blanching them before hand. Not me. I just throw them in raw, about 6 minutes before the risotto is done. This means that all the different sized peas cook as the risotto finishes. The small ones obviously cook faster, but the big ones retain a bit of crunch. It’s this texture that I love. And what makes the dish super easy.
The main ingredients that stay the same are rice (make sure you get either arborio, canaroli or another short grain Italian risotto rice) and fresh peas. After that it’s up to you what kind of cheese and herbs you use. This time around I had two types of goat cheese in the fridge, so that is what I used. One was a marzolino, a type of aged goat cheese from just outside of Rome that is perfect for grating. The other was a soft goat cheese that Sophie brought back to me from the goat farm last week. I like to use a mixture of hard and soft, but love playing around with flavors. If you can’t get the goat cheese then parmigiano works perfectly and for the soft cheese either mascarpone or even brie is perfect.
I ran up to the terrace and grabbed a handful of mint. But if you can’t find mint, tarragon is lovely, and of course parsley will do too.
The bright green and white rice is pretty enough, but if you have edible flowers, this is the time to use them. I had borage blossoms which I had bought at the farmer’s market and although they didn’t have a lot of taste, they looked gorgeous. A few geranium petals would work too. Let me know how you end up making it.
pea risotto
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4 -6
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh peas
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 1 small onion
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tblsp butter
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- 1 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup grated marzolino (or another hard cheese)
- 1/2 cup cubed soft goat cheese (or another soft cheese)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
- 1 1/5 liters of light broth
- Borage blossoms
Instructions
- Pour olive oil into a pot with the butter. As soon as the butter melts. Add the chopped onions and salt, and cook over low heat until the onion is wilted (about 6 minutes)
- Pour the broth into another pot and bring to a low simmer.
- Add the rice to the onions. Stir it well, over medium heat, until the rice turns a bit glossy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the white wine, stirring and let that evaporate.
- Now start adding ladles of broth to the rice, stirring as you go. At the beginning you can add a couple of spoonfuls at a time, stirring. But as the rice cooks, add less each time, waiting until the previous ladle has been absorbed.
- After about 13 or 14 minutes, add the peas. Stir and add another ladle or two of broth, stirring. Let cook another 6 minutes or so, stirring and adding more broth as needed.
- Taste the rice to make sure it is just about done (it should be)
- Turn off heat and add the soft cheese, stirring so that it melts. Then add the grated cheese, stirring. Add the mint, stir and taste for seasoning. I add freshly ground black pepper at this point, but find that I don’t need to add any salt since both the cheese and the broth are salty.
- Server and garnish with borage petals.
this looks beautiful and delicious–I’m going to try it! My risotto tends to end up with a small puddle of thick liquid (broth, etc) that surrounds the “island” of risotto, I guess a “looser” risotto. The recipe I use is from someone (an Italian) who told me I should always have the liquid but I am seeing plenty of recipes that look more like yours — with no puddle anywhere. I suppose if it tastes good it’s okay, but do you know if there are regional differences to do with this?
Happy Spring, Camille
Indeed, there are many regional differences. In the Veneto they tend to do it much looser, while in other parts of the north it is more stiff. It has to do with the type of risotto (what is the main ingredient) as well as the type of rice used. But even when you do a looser risotto you shouldn’t end up with a puddle of liquid. The rice itself should be just looser. Kind of hard to explain. But if you google Risotto di Go, made in Burano, that is an example of the loose style and you can find many videos of it being made.
thanks – this is so helpful! I will check out some videos and Risotto di Go online. C
Thanks for the morning treat on this sunny & bright spring day in CA! My husband loves risotto with corn and I love risotto with peas. So we “discuss” that topic a lot 🙂 Dinner tonight if I can find the fresh peas at the store.
This looks wonderful … and I’m in ‘serious dish envy’ with ALL of your beautiful place settings.
My chives are just starting to blossom so their purple flowers would look nice too.
Perfect!
So pretty!
If you repeat yourself — you are totally forgiven. At my age it is a common occurrence. So I sometimes start my sentence ” I don’t know I f I told you but …” That way the person I’m speaking with can stop me and say — yes you did. Posts are interesting because you get new readers all the time, if you have new photos I don’t think they’ll do a search to see if you posted once before 🙂 I love the recipe. New or old it is great!! buona serata.
And I guess since most of my readers are our age, they won’t notice anyway!!! 🙂
Love the recipe but I’m puzzled by the borage flowers with so little flavor. I wonder if it’s a particular type of borage that’s Italian? I grow borage in my garden in California because it attracts bees and because it tastes so strongly like watermelon, a favorite fruit.
The leaves taste very strongly, but the flowers are very faint.
Interesting. I’ll have to ask my nursery guy about varieties. I like to float whole blossoms in iced tea or lemonade – pretty and delicious.
Loved your Snapchat overview of this recipe!
I just had the most amazing risi e bisi in Venice at al Covo It was a deep green soup with a little rice and whole peas then studded with strawberries and tiny meatballs. It was euphoric! Now I am on a quest to make it and your post has given me added inspiration
Sounds delicious!