Salmon and Broccoli Risotto

With the events over the past six months or so zapping my energy, amongst other things happening I’ve not been cooking from scratch as much as before, or indeed blogging many of my own recipes.. . However, recently I’ve started to enjoy being properly back in the kitchen again and this is one of my new favourite risottos.

Unfortunately I didn't exactly measure anything, as I wasn't expecting this to be so good, though I will of course update properly when I re-make it! If you're a bit like me and tend to go more by eye, rather than actual quantities it will hopefully make perfect sense to you! If not, then apologies, and I will try and update the exact ingredients shortly!

Firstly, I really liked the appearance of this dish, the soft pinkness of the salmon against the vivid greenery from the broccoli and green beans, it gave it a lovely summery feel to our dinner. Even D who isn’t that much of a salmon fan rather enjoyed this dish too!

Secondly, whilst this dish sounds a little luxurious, it was in fact rather a cheapish dinner using frozen salmon fillets and frozen mixed vegetables!

And thirdly, its delicious!

Served 2, would probably stretch to 3 lesser greedy persons!

Ingredients:

2 frozen salmon fillets/ pieces, cooked in microwave as per packet instructions until just cooked through (around 3-4 minutes)
A cereal bowl or so of frozen broccoli, along with mixed farmhouse vegetables such as peas, sweetcorn and carrot mix, steamed
160g Arborio risotto rice
1 small diced white onion
1 tbsp garlic butter (or butter + separate garlic, I was lazy!)
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp vermouth I.e. a good splash!
About 1.5 pints light vegetable stock
3 tbsp or so freshly grated parmesan
Fresh basil leaves – around 5-6 finely chopped, plus a couple to make it look pretty at the end
S&P to taste

1) Gently melt the oil and butter together, sauté the onion until softened, but not coloured, add the rice, mix well, add the vermouth, stir well uncovered for a couple of minutes to evaporate. Add a ladleful of hot stock, allow to gently cook away and when the stock has evaporated, repeat this stage until your risotto rice is cooked, and has a creamy texture – anywhere up to 30 minutes or so. Grab yourself a glass of wine and a favourite cookbook to help the process along!

2) When the rice is soft and cooked, break the cooked salmon fillets into small chunks and gently stir into the rice along with the vegetables, being careful not to break it up, gently cook for a couple more minutes to warm through.

3) Remove from the heat and stir the in parmesan to taste and season with salt and pepper, and the shredded basil leaves. The risotto should be creamy consistency.

Serve immediately, garnished preferably with fresh basil leaves