Letter R The A to Z of TV Cooking

For years, this was my dinner party staple. This is a wild rice risotto.

Which is totally different from a traditional risotto.

It shouldn't really be called a risotto,

but it's made in the same way as a risotto.

It's stovetop, it's fed, it's a mixture of rices.

I've got red rice, wild rice, and brown basmati.

No arborio rice,

so I think it would make an Italian turn in their grave.

In here, I have two leeks, a red onion, and two cloves of garlic,

and, to that mixture, I'm going to add one grated carrot,

one courgette, a good handful of wild mushrooms.

Roughly tear them.

I think the reason this recipe is so good for a celebratory meal is

it's beautiful to look at,

you've got lots of different things going on,

so three different kinds of rice, all these lovely vegetables.

Next, you're going to add brown basmati. It's 500g.

Yes, it might be the brown rice that will finish the Italians off,

but, just like a traditional risotto,

now is the moment where you can add a good glug of wine.

Absolutely love that smell of the wine hitting the bottom of the pan.

So, once that wine has been guzzled up by the rice,

this is where the patient ladling bit begins.

So, really, the trick with risotto is to just keep feeding it,

the moment it looks thirsty, another spoonful of stock.

I used to love my mum's dinner parties when I was little.

The feeling of total fascination,

watching her as she put on her make-up and her earrings.

And, then, getting tricked into laying the table

-and thinking it was a great treat.

-CHUCKLES

Then there's that very specific smell of a party,

sort of wafting upstairs.

Very politically incorrect now, but the smell of cigarettes and perfume,

and, sort of, whisky, and just... Brilliant.

Brilliant smells.

So, the rice has puffed up, I'm going to add to it

what I cooked earlier, which was some wild rice and red rice.

This is both a flavour thing and a texture thing,

because the rice that's been cooking in the pot with the stock is creamy,

the wild rice, you've got that slightly nutty, bitter taste.

It just works really well as a combination.

Mm.

It feels really filling and moreish.

You could have that as a main course if you were vegetarian.

Also, really good cold for the next day for lunch.

Some salt.

Some pepper.

Grated Parmesan.

And then, lastly, a decent sized bunch of parsley.

Coriander. Not remotely a strict combination.

You could use basil, you could use chives,

you could use a bit of tarragon.

The thing that's lovely about this

is you've got that sort of freshness of the coriander,

the cleanness of the parsley,

and it just works well with that sort of nutty rice.

So, what I'm going to do now... I've got this mould.

Please don't imagine that

every night I'm going to the trouble of putting my food in moulds.

I'm not.

I'm serving it in a cake mould

because it's going to set in the fridge,

and then you turn it out and it's like a sort of risotto cake.

Beautiful if you've got people coming over,

and it's celebratory, and that's what the whole spirit of tonight is.

All that needs to happen with this now, is it cools

and then it goes into the fridge for a couple of hours to set.

It's so easy.

The good news is you get to have a bath,

be relaxed, and not answer your door a fraught, kind of, manic mess.