The greenest of risottos! This silky risotto is packed full of greens, giving it a wonderful fresh and herby taste. The star of the show – broad beans. Broad beans are a sadly underutilised bean yet they are of my favourite varieties. They come in large long pods, not unlike pea pods, and yield fantastic bursts of tender green beans. They can be used in place of dishes where you would normally use edamame bean. However, I think the broad bean is much more versatile. I love broad beans with rice or grains as they offer a smooth counterpoint to chewy carbs.

Broad beans are often overlooked because of bitter tasting skin, but it’s very easy to remove these. After cooking you can simply squeeze the bean out of it’s skin to reveal a bright emerald inner.

When to eat

Broad beans and peas come into season from mid to late June and last well into September. If you are eating this dish outside these months I’d recommend going for frozen varieties. If you are looking for some winter swaps, why not try using broccoli and kale in place of the beans and peas.

Broad Bean And Basil Risotto

The greenest of risottos! This silky risotto is packed full of greens, giving it a wonderful fresh and herby taste. The star of the show – broad beans. Given this amazing recipe a try, you'll fall in love with these sadly under-utilised beans!

5 from 5 votes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Course Main Course

This meal is around 81% less polluting than the average UK meal.

Eating this recipe will save around 2.37 KG CO2e per person.

That’s equivalent to the emissions produced driving 19.6 KM in a modern car.

How do I calculate this?

Ingredients

• 300 g Risotto Rice
• 170 ml White Wine
• 2 Onion
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Litre Vegetable Stock
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Broad Bean Puree

• 200 g Broad Beans (par boiled and shelled)
• 150 g Peas
• 25 g Mint
• 25 g Basil
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 Lemon (juiced)
• 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast

Instructions

• Peel and dice the onion and garlic. Then heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pan over a medium heat. Toss in the onion and garlic and fry for 3 – 4 minutes until soft.
• Once the onion is cooked. Pour in your rice and then the white wine. Increase the heat of the pan and boil until the wine has completely reduced. Decrease the pan heat back to medium and pour in a few ladles of stock, just covering the rice. Simmer the rice, stirring occasionally, until the stock has reduced. Then ladle in some more stock and repeat the process for about 25 – 30 minutes until the rice is plump but aldente.
• Whilst the rice is cooking prepare the broad bean puree. Place your broad beans in a small saucepan and cover with boiling water. Simmer for about 3 – 4 minutes until the broad bean skins begin to wrinkle. Take the pan off the heat and drain the broad beans. Leave them to cool are cold enough to handle.
• Once the broad beans are cool. Take a broad bean and make a small incision on one side of the bean. Then gently squeeze the bean out from its skin. Place the de-skinned bean into a small bowl and repeat the process until all the beans skins have been removed. If you want to save on time you can skip de-skinning the beans. However the puree will be much more bitter. To counteract the flavour you can add a few teaspoons of caster sugar.
• Place prepared broad beans, along with the rest of the puree ingredients into a blender. Pour in 100ml of water and blitz until a smooth sauce.
• Once the risotto rice is cooked, stir the puree into the rice. Simmer gently for a few minutes to make sure the puree is warm. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve immediately.

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