Elderflower, Pea & Asparagus Risotto
A sweet and luxurious risotto that captures the best of the seasons elderflower and some delicious early peas to create a delicious meal!
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6-8 heads of elderflower (+ 1-2 additional heads to serve)
- Vegetable stock
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 250g Arborio rice
- 100ml elderflower cordial
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
- 400g asparagus, stalks chopped into 1-inch pieces, tops set aside
- 150g frozen peas
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
- Place elderflower heads in a medium sized saucepan. Boil 1 litre of water and pour over the flowers. Cover the saucepan and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Then remove the elderflower heads, return the pan to a simmer and use this to make up your vegetable stock (adding stock cubes/powder). Keep this stock on a low simmer.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and garlic for around 5 minutes until the onions start to turn translucent.
- Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute. Add the elderflower cordial and white wine vinegar to the pan and cook until reduced by half.
- Add the remaining stock gradually, allowing most of the liquid to be absorbed before the next addition. After about 10-15 minutes add the asparagus stalks. Then after another 5 minutes or once the stock is nearly all used up and the rice is almost tender, add the asparagus tops and frozen peas. Cook for a final 5 minutes or so until tender.
- Remove from the heat. Add the lemon juice and zest, season to taste and then final scatter with the remaining elderflower (and any other seasonal edible wild flower – here I’ve used mallow, annual honesty, broom and chive flowers). Enjoy!
Written by Forager Hannah
For more Elderflower recipes and inspiration click here