Feta, Parmesan & Lemon Thyme Risotto

Those of you lovely people that follow my social media accounts would have seen a teaser for this recipe last week! I have a confession to make: I was actually making this risotto for arancini balls. However, after tasting the cheesy, lemony risotto on its own I decided that it was just too delicious NOT to share. So here it is. Don’t be afraid, this recipe isn’t tricky. Risottos have earned themselves the bogus reputation as ‘the death dish’ on MasterChef. If you stir it continuously and add the stock bit by bit you’ll have (delicious) risotto success!

Serves 4
Cook time: 20-30 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 litre organic chicken or vegetable stock
30g butter
Splash of olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 bunch fresh lemon thyme
400g Arborio rice (risotto rice)
120ml white wine
Zest and juice of a lemon
Splash of cream
100g crumbly Australian feta
75g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated with microplane
Salt flakes
Cracked black pepper

TO SERVE

Extra parmesan and thyme to garnish
Splash of olive oil

METHOD

1 Heat the stock in a saucepan.

2 Meanwhile, in a separate pan on medium heat, melt the butter with a splash of olive oil. Add the garlic, onion, and half the lemon thyme and sauté for about 5 minutes. You want the onion to be soft and translucent, but don’t let it brown.

3 Bump the heat up to high and add the lemon zest and the rice to the butter and onion mixture. Cook for about a minute or so, until the rice begins to look translucent, then add the wine and cream and stir.

4 Turn the heat down to medium again. Add a ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir. Allow the stock to adsorb before adding another ladle. Continue this process until all the stock has been added. Continuously stir the risotto until the rice is cooked al dente (has a slight bite to it).

5 Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the cheese, remaining thyme and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6 Garnish with a splash of olive oil, a few lemon thyme leaves and extra cheese. Serve immediately.

NOTES

As I was intending on making arancini I didn’t add any other ingredients to my risotto recipe. Add what you like, but I think that it would be extra tasty with some peas or asparagus.