Wild garlic risotto with peas & pine nuts

I'm back with another wild garlic recipe. I can't seem to get enough of the stuff! I love spring because fresh and delicious food starts appearing all over the supermarkets. You can also forage for so many ingredients and produce like asparagus, rhubarb, wild garlic and new potatoes just make this time of year so special. 

Spring is my favourite season. After winter, I love seeing all the bulbs pop up and flowers like daffodils and tulips making their appearance along the canals here in Leiden. Its also the time to start cooking lighter dishes and to stop cooking meaty stews and hearty winter soups.

If you love spring as much as I do, then I'm sure you'll love this wild garlic risotto!

Ingredients 
Serves 2 

120g risotto rice (60g per person) 
750ml vegetable stock 
1 small white onion, finely chopped 
Half stick celery, finely chopped 
Small clove garlic, finely chopped 
100g frozen peas 

150g wild garlic, rinsed 
50g parmesan, grated 
1 tbsp butter
25g pine nuts
Olive oil, as required
Salt & pepper to taste
Chopped parsley to garnish


Method

• First, prep the wild garlic. Remove the leaves and flowers from the stems. Finely chop the stems and set them aside. Roughly chop the leaves but leave the flowers whole. 
  
  
• Take a large saucepan and pour in the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and then let it simmer whilst you work on the remaining part of the risotto,  
  
  
• Next, make the risotto base. In a another large pan, preferably non-stick, add a good glug of olive oil. Add the chopped celery, chopped white onion, wild garlic stems and the chopped clove of garlic. Saute on a medium heat until translucent. 
  
  
• Once translucent, add the risotto rice. Turn the heat to low, mix well and saute for 1 minute. 
  
  
• Next, add your first ladleful of hot stock. Mix well and allow the stock to absorb.
  
  
• Add the remaining stock, 1 ladle at time. Keep stirring to ensure that the starch from the rice gets released, this will make the risotto deliciously creamy. Allow each ladleful of stock to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 20 minutes on a low heat, so be patient here. Important at this stage is to also check the rice as you go - if it is not yet cooked and still has a hard centre, keep on adding stock until the rice is soft. If you happen to run out of stock you can just use boiling water.
  
  
• With the last few ladlefuls of stock, add the peas. This will ensure they cook!
  
  
• When the risotto base is ready, turn of the heat and mix in the wild garlic leaves and flowers. You can reserve some of the flowers to garnish at the end if you prefer. 
  
  
• Allow the garlic leaves to wilt, this takes around 2 minutes.
  
  
• Next, add the parmesan, butter and salt & pepper to taste. You may find you need less salt as the stock will have concentrated during the cooking process and depending on the brand of vegetable stock used, you may have enough salt in the risotto already. Mix well and then cover the pan with a lid. Leave the risotto to rest for 5-10 minutes. This concentrates all the flavours and makes the risotto even more creamy. This is an important step so do not skip it!
  
  
• Whilst the risotto is resting, toast the pine nuts. In a dry frying pan on medium heat, add the pine nuts. Toast until golden brown. Be careful as they go from golden brown to burnt within a matter of minutes! 
  
  
• Garnish the risotto with the pine nuts, parsley and some more grated parmesan. Serve straightaway whilst the risotto has the perfect texture!
  
  

Recipe notes 

Risotto usually contains white wine or vermouth.  If you like you can add 1/2 cup white wine at the same time you add the risotto rice. Just the alcohol cook away and the liquid to reduce before adding the first ladleful of stock. I did not have white wine or vermouth, so did not add it in this recipe! The risotto tastes just as delicious without it.