Oh my this was good! My husband is the risotto maker in the house – he has patience!

This can be a vegetarian meal, or you can add prawns.

Preparation Time:  10 mins

Cooking Time:  40 mins

Serves:  2

Calories per serving:  518.6

Ingredients

Fennel bulb – 160g

Butter, Salted – 5g

Oil, Olive, Average – 8ml

Onions – 125g

Garlic – 1 Clove/3g

Rice, Arborio, Dry – 140g

White Wine, Dry – 175ml

Stock Pot, Vegetable, As Sold – 1 Pot/28g

Water – 750ml

Lemon, Zest – 1 Av Lemon/5g

Cheese, Grana Padano or Parmesan – 25g

Prawns, King, Cooked & Peeled – 170g

Method

Chop any green leafy fennel fronds and set aside.

Cut off the stalk-like fennel top, remove the outer layers and finely chop. Slice remaining fennel. Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion, garlic and chopped fennel until soft but not coloured.

Add the rice and stir for 1 min. Pour over most of the wine and simmer until evaporated. Make the stock with the stock pot and boiling water. Add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring between each addition until it is absorbed.

When the rice is cooked, stir in the lemon zest, Parmesan and some seasoning. Take off the heat and set aside, covered, for 2 mins.

Serve in bowls, topped with the fennel fronds (stirring the prawns through if using).

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal)518.6

Protein (g) 24.9

Carbohydrate (g) 63.6

Fat (g) 11.7

Fruit & Veg 1.9

Fibre (g) 3.9

Alcohol 8.0

Oh, and desert was caramelised banana with custard (slice banana, roll in sugar, fry in butter turning slices over once and being careful not to burn!)