This is a great recipe for making risotto. You want it to be smooth, creamy and oozy, not thick and stodgy. stage 1 Heat the stock. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15... read recipe
This is like a Waldorf salad! The combo of strong cheese with apples and walnuts just works. If you can get hold of quality gorgonzola, please do - the sweetness of the apples really offsets it. I've used marjoram here, but thyme works just as well. First... read recipe
Even though artichokes are a really everyday ingredient in Italy, in the UK and Australia they do feel very luxurious. This is a basic risotto bianco with very thinly sliced artichokes added to it, which give it a wonderful perfume. You need small artichokes... read recipe
This is such a simple, clean and delicious risotto. When buying asparagus, have a look around because there are lots of varieties available now - purple-tipped, white, thin straggly Japanese, wild Spanish and dozens of good locally grown English. In this recipe,... read recipe
This is an absolutely delicious recipe. It's quite unusual, and the best thing about it is that it makes a hero of the much-underloved everyday cauliflower. If you're down the farmers' market, or at the supermarket, have a look around for a Romanesco cauliflower... read recipe
To me, fennel is a really tasty, classy and under-used vegetable. It works really well with the ricotta in this recipe and has a fantastic sweetness. Please don't buy the crappy ricotta that a lot of the supermarkets have - make sure it's light and crumbly... read recipe
A mushroom risotto can be taken in many different ways, depending on what kind of mushrooms you have and whether they are introduced at the very beginning of cooking or just added at the end, as I'm going to do here. The inspiration for this recipe came when... read recipe
A classic Italian dish that's hard to beat. Heat the stock in a saucepan. In a separate pan, heat a knob of the butter, then add the onion, bacon and thyme and fry for about 8 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured. Add the rice and turn up the... read recipe
Cotechino or zampone sausage is the big hero in this dish. You should be able to buy these, or order them at least, from any good Italian deli (and if they can't get them for you then they're not a good Italian deli). They come already cooked in a vacuum-sealed... read recipe
If I could pick a load of ingredients that just shout out 'Bonfire Night! Christmas! Cosy!' it would have to be all the ones in this risotto. It's so damn good — cook it whenever the ingredients are in season. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Carefully... read recipe