pancetta

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Baked Risotto with Pancetta & Sugar Snaps : Dinner Express – George Georgievski

Dinner Express

George Georgievski

Plum

Pan Macmillan Aust

ISBN: 9781760988463

“Chuck it in, it’ll be right! This is the attitude I take whenever I make this risotto. I’ve tweaked
the recipe a few times since first eating it at my sister Suzy’s place many, many years ago. The
pancetta is the secret: the smell and crispness is next level and I highly recommend you add
a few extra slices for yourself while no one else is looking. Let’s get crackling, I mean cracking.”p88

Grab all of this
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
440 g (2 cups) arborio rice
1 litre (4 cups) vegetable stock
1 tablespoon Vegeta stock powder
300 g sliced pancetta
100 g (1 cup) sugar snap peas, trimmed
50 g salted butter
75 g (¾ cup) grated parmesan
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
60 g baby rocket



Dinner Express by George Georgievski, Published by Plum, RRP $26.99, Photography by Nikole Ramsay

SERVES 4
It’s time to do this
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Heat the vegetable oil in a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the rice and give it a good stir for about 1 minute, then add 250 ml (1 cup) of the vegetable stock and let it simmer until the stock has almost disappeared. Pour in the remaining vegetable stock and the Vegeta, then cover with the lid or foil and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, place the pancetta on the prepared tray and bake in the oven for the last 15 minutes of the risotto cooking time, until crisp. Keep an eye on it as the thickness of the slices will determine just how quickly they cook.


Now blanch the sugar snap peas in boiling water for 1–2 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Remove the risotto from the oven and stir through the butter, parmesan, olive oil, sugar snap peas and half the rocket. Scatter the remaining rocket over the risotto and position the pancetta
on top (making sure you eat a few slices while no one is looking). Divide among shallow bowls and serve.

Did you know?
If you’re vegetarian, replace the pancetta with finely sliced tofu sprinkled with smoked paprika and salt. Cook for the same amount of time and scatter over the top before serving. You could also use ‘facon’ (fake bacon) instead, along with vegan cheese and butter to make the risotto
entirely vegan.


Some people say that you need to add dry white wine before the stock for it to be a real risotto, but my little peeps simply don’t like the taste, so I exclude it and add the Vegeta stock powder instead.


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Broccoli Carbonara: Joe’s Family Food – Joe Wicks

BROCCOLI CARBONARA

SERVES 4 – PREP 15MINS – COOK 15MINS

Ingredients

Salt

1 head of broccoli, stalk removed

250g linguine

200g cubed pancetta (you can use either smoked or unsmoked)

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 egg yolks

Freshly ground black pepper

50g parmesan, finely grated, to serve

Bring a large saucepan of generously salted water to the boil over a medium to high heat. Place the trimmed broccoli crown in the pan and cook for 3 minutes, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Leave to steam dry for a minute.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in the same pan you cooked the broccoli in, to save time and washing up.

While the pasta’s cooking, put the broccoli in a food processor and blitz on pulse mode until finely chopped (or chop by hand).

Place a large frying pan over a medium to high heat and cook the pancetta for a few minutes until golden and its fat has been released. Lower the heat a little, add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.

Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water, and add the pasta to the frying pan. Continue heating and stirring for a minute to allowing the pasta to soak up the flavour of the pancetta and garlic.

Remove the pan from the heat and add some of the reserved pasta water (about three-quarters of a cup) and the egg yolks, and stir to create a creamy sauce. Don’t be tempted to put it back on the heat or you will end up with scrambled eggs – the residual heat will gently cook the egg, creating a lovely glossy sauce. Add a little extra pasta water if it seems too dry.

Stir in the blitzed broccoli and season with plenty of black pepper (you shouldn’t need to add any salt as the pancetta and parmesan are both salty). Sprinkle over the grated parmesan and serve.