On Wednesday evening we hosted our first virtual, volunteer hangout with Fooditude.
Matt Byne, Food Director at Fooditude cooked in real time, showcasing seasonal produce with handy tips on how to use surplus food, upscaling and how to limit food waste. Our volunteers tuned in on Zoom to come together and get their weekly FoodCycle cooking fix while many of our projects are closed.
Here’s Matt’s delicious risotto recipe:
Ingredients
- 25g butter
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 150g risotto rice
- 150ml white wine
- 0.75 litre hot vegetable stock
- 50g frozen garden pea or petit pois
- 25g mascarpone cheese
- 50g parmesan (or vegetarian substitute)
- 15g butter
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- Small handful of mint and parsley
- Seasoning
- Spring vegetables i.e. sprouting broccoli, asparagus, chard
Method
- Prepare the vegetables, dress with olive oil and seasoning. Grill them on a griddled pan or roast in a hot oven until tender.
- Heat a large saucepan over medium heat, add the butter and then add the onion and garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rice, stir to coat the grains with the butter, add a pinch of seasoning.
- Add the white wine and reduce until all absorbed by the rice.
- Add 1 ladleful of hot stock at a time and stir until absorbed. Continue to do this until the rice is almost cooked and stock is absorbed, about 20 mins.
- Stir in the peas and herbs and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the two cheeses, butter, lemon juice, zest and seasoning, then stir.
- Serve immediately, topped with the grilled veg and an extra grating of lemon zest
Matt’s Tips
- Chop your herbs at the last minute to retain flavour.
- To remove the skins from the hazelnuts, cook on a dry tray in a hot oven until lightly golden. Throw the nuts into a colander and rub them around with tea towel to loosen the skins.
- Crush the hazelnuts on a board with the bottom of a saucepan.
- If you have no herbs then you can use some chopped rocket or watercress.
