LEMON & CHILLI RISOTTO WITH CHICKEN & PRAWNS

Confession time. I’ve never actually cooked a risotto before, I cook a lot of paella as it’s really easy and super tasty, but I guess they’re quite similar - the rice is essentially the same. The great thing about paella/risotto is that it’s a one pot dish – ideal for when you’re dealing with a two ring hob as I currently am, and less washing up!

What’s particularly great about this recipe is that it was thrown together with mostly store cupboard ingredients. A bit of left over paella rice, chicken stock pot, dried chilli flakes, a white onion, frozen chicken and prawns. The only ‘fresh’ ingredients, were a lemon, a few spring onions, a handful of rocket leaves and a slightly wrinkly yellow pepper I found at the bottom of the fridge. I think the beauty of rice dishes is that you can just throw in a bit of whatever you fancy, as long as you’ve got stock, and just hope for the best, they generally turn out quite alright, in my experience anyway.

If there’s one thing I insist on in this recipe, and similar recipes, it’s that you use a fresh lemon. I’m really into adding the zest and juice to meals like this, with a splash of white wine. It just adds a certain je ne sais quoi that a squirt of lemon Jiff (other bottled lemon juices available) can’t quite manage.

I apologise that there are no exact quantities but this was a completely improvised dish!

Ingredients

(Quantities depend on people cooking for, I cooked for 2)

• Chicken breast chunks
• A few frozen prawns (about 4 per person)
• Arborio/Paella/Risotto rice (quantities on pack)
• One chicken stock pot
• 500ml boiling water
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp garlic puree/ 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp chilli flakes (add/remove depending on desired heat)
• 1 lemon, juiced and zest grated
• A glug of white wine (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Handful of rocket leaves to garnish

Method

• Sweat onion, garlic and chilli in a pan with a little oil.
• Add chicken and fry until cooked through
• Add spring onions and diced pepper and fry off.
• Add rice to pan, with stock and white wine. Bring to boil and then turn down to simmer.
• Add lemon juice.
• Add prawns when rice is just about cooked, until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve with zest sprinkled on top, with a handful of scattered rocket leaves.

Generally, you aren’t supposed to stir paellas very often, I’m not familiar with risotto etiquette but I find it’s best to just give it a stir now and then to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. A large, deep non-stick pan is ideal for these sorts of dishes.