I love my greens and this risotto is definitely full of the green stuff. Lemon, parsley and broccoli is a match made in heaven and sneaking those ingredients into a comforting risotto makes for the perfect warming winter meal.

Can we just talk about how good a squeeze of lemon juice is on things? or in things. A glass of water is instantly fancier, a salad is more flavoursome and it’s so good in risotto and pasta. One of my favourite lazy person (or hung over person) pastas to eat as a teen was just parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and parmesan whisked together then tossed through spaghetti or linguini.

This is the vegetable laden risotto version of that. The lemon and herbs add freshness but the whole thing is really delicate for a risotto.

I just reread that and started laughing that teenage me was making that when hungover. So fancy, I’d even grab the parsley from the garden. I’d actually eat it whenever I was feeling a bit meh. And I think it’s the cheese and carbs thing. Eating them together is meant to help with serotonin production, or tryptophan production which in turn helps with serotonin. And I was so lacking in the serotonin area as a teen.

This dish is also then happy mood boosting food, that you can feel good about and that tastes fresh and light. We all need a bit of a mood boost in winter right? Perfect, let’s eat.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Tbs olive oil

1 cup finely diced celery

1/2 cup finely diced spring onions (or 1/2 a white onion)

3 cloves garlic

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped

1/2 cup basil leaves, finely chopped

1/2 cup parsley leaves

1/2 cup basil leaves

1 cup freshly grated parmesan

2 tsp lemon zest

2 Tbs lemon juice

black pepper

Directions

In a food processor, process the broccoli stalks until finely diced. Remove, set aside and then pulse 2 heads of the florets until roughly chopped. Break the remaining head of broccoli into bite sized florets.

Put the stock in a pot and bring to a boil. Steam the broccoli florets (the single head of them) over this for a couple of minutes until bright green. Remove and set aside. (You can do this step at any stage before serving).

Heat oil in a large heavy based pan. once hot add celery, onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat until soft. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil and cook for a few minutes. Add the wine and stir, cook until absorbed.

Add the finely chopped broccoli stalks and a ladle of warm stock. Stir, and once liquid is absorbed add more stock. Keep doing this until rice is al dente, about 20 – 30 minutes. At this point add the finely chopped 2 heads worth of broccoli florets, and the finely chopped herbs. Stir in, add one more ladle of stock. Cook for two minutes.

Take off the heat, add zest, parmesan and lemon juice. Taste, add salt. Serve with bite sized broccoli florets on top, a generous crack of black pepper and a little parmesan.

HH. x