Spring Vegetable Risotto
A luxurious Italian rice dish featuring fresh spring vegetables including fava beans, peas, fennel, and spinach, cooked with white wine and finished with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Made easy using a rice cooker method.
Ingredients
- •1 cup medium-grain rice, such as Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone
- •1 spray Nonstick cooking spray
- •4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- •1 clove garlic clove, minced
- •1 whole leek, tender white part only, finely chopped
- •1 cup packed baby spinach, finely chopped
- •1 bulb fennel bulb, wispy ends removed and finely chopped
- •½ cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, or dry vermouth
- •2½ cups chicken broth
- •1 cup shelled fresh fava beans and English peas
- •⅓ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- •1 to taste Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Instructions
- 1.
Place the rice in a sieve and rinse under a steady stream of cool water, stirring the grains. When the water runs clear, stop rinsing and shake the sieve to drain off excess water.
3 min
- 2.
Coat the inside of a medium rice cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Set the rice cooker to the regular cycle or to quick cook if it's a fuzzy-logic machine. Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter; add the garlic, leek, spinach, and fennel; and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the leek is softened. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the rice and chicken broth and stir to distribute the ingredients.
5 min
- 3.
Cover the rice cooker and reset to the regular cycle. Set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, stir in the fava beans and peas. Cover and allow to steam for an additional 5 minutes on the keep-warm setting or with the machine turned off. (Many rice cookers, including all fuzzy-logic machines, do this automatically.) Stir in the remaining 2 Tbsp butter and the Parmigiano. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
20 min