Curly kale risotto for winter’s last gasp

When I first got to London I was told: “If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes.  It’s bound to change.”

Although the ten minutes bit was a little optimistic, it certainly is true that the weather here seems to have no concept of consistency.  The one minute (i.e. last Saturday) it truly is spring, with daffodils nodding their heads along every road, kids riding their bikes and adults snoozing in deckchairs in the park.  The next minute (this week) it’s as if somebody opened the big fridge door in the sky and all the penguins cam marching out on a blast of cold air, pushing us straight back into winter.  Somebody told me there may be snow coming this weekend. I mean, really!!  How am I supposed to plan a menu??

When the weather turns cold, I turn automatically to comfort food and there is surely little that is more comforting than a risotto.  One recent chilly evening I came home in need of a quick comfort fix and found a bowl of leftover sauteed curly kale in the fridge.  Kale is one of winter’s joys – a green vegetable amidst all the root vegetables!  When people complain that by February they are thoroughly sick of parsnips, carrots and celeriac, I just smile secretly to myself because I know that it’s the season for kale.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is a member of the brassica family (like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage) with very dark green frilly leaves.  Its high resistance to frost makes it the perfect vegetable to get your winter greens, and it contains

• vitamins A, C and E
• a substantial mineral content including manganese, iron, calcium and potassium
• phytochemicals such as sulphoraphane (linked to cancer prevention).

  Oh yes, and it’s delicious too…  I had made this eariler in the week, hence the leftover kale.  I had never tried kale in a risotto but I figured there wasn’t much that could go wrong – and it was the right decision!  This risotto strikes the perfect balance between the creamy comfort of rice and the slightly chewy green goodness of the kale.  In fact, it’s worth making extra kale just to have leftovers so that I can repeat this 🙂

  CURLY KALE RISOTTO (serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter)

  Ingredients:
  2 shallots, finely chopped
  20g butter, plus 20g cubed for later
  2 Tbsp olive oil
  300g short-grain risotto rice (I used arborio)
  100ml dry white wine
  750ml vegetable stock
  about a cup of finely chopped sauteed curly kale
  100g grated Parmiggiano
  salt and pepper to taste

  Method
  Melt the butter together with the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Add the shallots and saute until translucent and soft but do not let them brown [as you see from the photo, I failed to follow my own instructions – aaarrrgh!].

  Add the rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly stir so that each grain is well-coated with oil/butter.  Add the white wine and keep stirring until the liquid has been absorbed almost completely.

  Add the stock (I used Kallo organic) a ladleful at a time (probably about 150-200 ml per ladle).  Keep stirring until each ladleful has been completely absorbed, but do not let the rice dry out and stick to the pot.  Once each ladleful is absorbed, add the next until the stock has all been added.  The rice should be soft but each grain should retain some bite in the centre, perfectly al dente.

  Stir in the cooked kale, Parmiggiano and remaining butter in cubes and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve either in wide, shallow bowls as a starter or (as I did) in individual ceramic ramekins as an amuse bouche.

  I’m submitting this post as my entry to this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, the event started by my friend Kalyn and now administered by the lovely Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once.  This week’s edition is kindly hosted by Anna at Anna’s Cool Finds.  The deadline is Sunday 29 March, so get moving if you want to take part!