Recipes :Risotto of courgette & crab

Risotto of courgette & crab

Matt Tebbutt makes the most of summer ingredients in this luxurious risotto

Ingredients

  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion , diced
  • 1 garlic clove , smashed
  • 1 small fennel bulb , diced
  • 200g arborio rice
  • 125ml white wine or vermouth
  • 1½ l hot fish stock or light chicken stock
  • 10 small courgettes , with flowers if possible, sliced on an angle
  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 200g brown crabmeat
  • 250g white crabmeat
  • large tbsp crème fraîche
  • 1 lemon , to squeeze
  • 2 tbsp chopped dill

Method

  1. Heat a glug of olive oil in a large shallow pan or deep frying pan. Throw in the onion, garlic clove and fennel. Season with salt and cook for 5-10 minutes until everything softens.
  2. Add the rice and stir about to coat the grains in the olive oil. Give it 1 minute in the pan without any liquid, then add the wine and allow the rice to absorb it all before following it with one ladle of the hot stock. The mixture should be bubbling gently.
  3. Continue to add the hot stock, bit by bit, for about 15 minutes. at this point, taste the rice - it should still have some bite to it. Now add the sliced courgettes and stir through - if you're using the flowers, save these until the end.
  4. Just before serving, stir in the butter, crabmeat, crème fraîche and lemon juice. Check the seasoning, then stir in the chopped courgette flowers (if using) and dill.

PER SERVING

578 kcalories, protein 30,3g, carbohydrate 47,7g, fat 29,8 g, saturated fat 12,8g, fibre 3,6g, salt 4,95 g