This risotto was put on Twitter by David Beckham when he cooked it for his family. I looked at the pictures of him proudly cooking it, and I checked out the ingredients and worked out it was a risotto Milanese. I have recreated it so you can try a bit of the Beckham. It’s a really rich, creamy risotto that would work well with a crisp lettuce salad dressed with my vinaigrette to counterbalance the richness of the risotto which would be a delicious dinner for two on a date night.

Recipe

Serves 3 as a starter or 2 as a main meal.

Ingredients:
1 cup of risotto rice
½ medium onion finely chopped
75g butter
200ml of white wine
500ml of hot stock, David used beef stock, I used chicken (Knorr stock pots are fantastic) or you can use vegetable stock
4 fresh sage leaves, or a pinch of dried sage
Saffron, a big pinch
1 ½ cloves garlic very finely chopped
50g Parmesan grated
A small bunch of parsley
Lemon zest

How:
Firstly, very finely chop the parsley and add the zest of the lemon and half the chopped garlic. Mix together and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed pot on a medium heat, gently fry the a clove of the chopped garlic and onions in half the butter with the saffron and the sage for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, put the stock and wine in another saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Add the rice to the frying onions and stir through for a minute or two.
Now start to ladle the stock, a ladle at a time, until each ladle has nearly been absorbed by the rice. This will take about 20 minutes and shouldn’t be rushed, so keep the heat very low.
Once the stock has been absorbed take the risotto off the heat, it should be wet and not dry, like porridge, then vigorously stir in the Parmesan and the rest of the butter with a spoon. Check for seasoning, it probably won’t need salt.
Serve straight away sprinkled with the parsley mixture, which the Italian’s call gremolata.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl