Young Buck Risotto

I think I have been sleeping for the passed three days; I know that when I went to Dublin last Monday, I wasn’t feeling too hot and by Wednesday, I was migrating from bed to sofa. A simple bug, nothing serious, but all the fatigue I had accumulated in December finally got the better of me. In my diurnal oneiric deliriums, I had some pretty crazy adventures; I roamed far and wide, met interesting people and discovered wonderful lands only known to me. I travelled back in time revisiting simple moments of peace and happiness, the beach of Erdeven and the glistening of its ocean when the winds come from the East, an apple cake cooling on the kitchen windowsill of the old school we lived in, my little sister falling in a ditch while playing hide and seek in the forest of Broceliande… I woke up feeling temporarily restored, recharged like an I-phone after hours on life support, refreshed but hungry. While I was dwelling about the reality of the irrational, another memory came back to me. When I was a kid, and only if I was sick, the recovery dish was always rice, with butter and lemon juice. Sometimes with a bit of fish or ham, but often just like that; it made me smile and I started thinking.

My friend Martina gave me Carnaroli rice last June, I still haven’t used it; it looked a bit special, produced in a National Park, the Riserva San Massimo, south of Milan. I was actually craving some risotto, I knew it takes a bit of time, and since I was off and feeling a bit sorry for myself, this felt like an interesting challenge to undertake. I gathered what I could find, maybe an Irish twist to it when I found a small Savoy cabbage and a piece of Young Buck cheese from the North, lactic and fresh on the palate… This could work…

You’ll need:

• 4-5 Mushrooms quartered
• 2 shallots chopped finally
• ¼ of a Savoy cabbage thinly sliced
• 150g of Young Buck ( Wensleydale would work well too, or white stilton)
• 50cl of vegetable stock
• 10cl of white wine
• 100g of Carnaroli Rice
• a handful of peas
• 1 clove of garlic sliced

How To:

In a large pan, drizzle a good bit of good olive oil, and start frying your mushrooms and shallots together with a bit of salt.

Add the rice and stir to get all the flavours going. Put a little pinch of thyme in there, mushrooms like that.

Add a glass of white wine, keep stirring, and start pouring, little by little the stock over. Lower the heat, and repeat the operation until creamy and fully cooked. It should take about thirty minutes or so. Near the end, add the thin slices of Savoy cabbage, peas and before serving, a generous crumble of Young Buck for extra creaminess…

Keep Well and Eat Happy

Slán Tamall

Franck