Risotto with artichokes

Artichoke Risotto

original recipe from Waitrose

Preparation time : 25 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes to 25 minutes
Total time : 55 to 60 minutes plus 10 minutes sitting

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

6 Small artichokes
½ Lemon, juice
750ml (3/4 quart) chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 smallish onion, finely chopped
225g (.5 pound) Arborio, Carnaroli or vialone nano rice
24 Salted capers, soaked and drained or jarred capers, no soaking required– minced
4 tbsp Chopped flat-leaf parsley
Optional 4 Hard-boiled eggs, shelled and sliced

Preparation:

First prepare the artichokes: strip off all the leaves and remove the hairy choke, if any, inside. Trim and peel the stalk. Thinly slice the hearts and stalks and place in a bowl of water with the lemon juice.

Put the stock on to heat until it is just simmering. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large frying pan or a heavy casserole with a close-fitting lid and cook the onion and the thinly sliced artichoke until they are just beginning to color. Add the rice and stir well, so each grain is coated in oil and the rice looks opaque white. Add a ladleful of stock, stirring as the rice absorbs the liquid. When it has all but been absorbed, add the next ladleful, and continue in this way until the rice is almost al dente – with a definite bite (the rice will continue to cook slightly while it sits). Add one final ladleful. (For a more sophisticated dish, add some threads of saffron to the final ladleful, which is what I did, but if you do, omit the hard-boiled egg.) I frankly saw no difference I could attribute to the saffron.

Scatter over the capers and the chopped parsley and cover tightly. Leave to sit in a warm place for ten minutes.

Scatter with the hard-boiled egg if you want it. I did not. While the egg would make this into a one-dish meal, I suppose, I couldn’t see the imposing of egg flavor on top of this spritely risotto. I’m still convinced it doesn’t belong there.