Name: Fennel Risotto (Risotto di Finocchi)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 1 oz (25 g) unsalted butter; 3 heaped tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese; 1 handful parsley, chopped; 2½ pints (1.5 litres) hot chicken or vegetable or beef stock; 11 oz (300 g) small, tender fennel bulbs, trimmed; 2 oz (50 g) pancetta or unsmoked bacon, chopped; ½ clove garlic, peeled and chopped; 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped; salt and pepper; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 12 oz (350 g) risotto rice

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Italian Regional Cookery

By Valentina Harris

Published 1990

About

If fennel is not your vegetable, this delicious Venetian risotto can also be made with the same quantity of courgettes or asparagus tips following the same procedure. The beauty of risotto is that there is absolutely no limit to the combination of ingredients. The strangest risotto I have ever eaten was made with sour cherries!

Ingredients

11 oz (300 g) small, tender fennel bulbs, trimmed
2 oz (50

Method

Slice the fennel into quarters with a sharp knife, then slice again into thin strips. Fry the pancetta or bacon, onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is softened. Add the fennel, cover and stew together slowly for about 10 minutes. Now put in the rice and season with salt and pepper. Add the stock, 1 ladleful at a time, always waiting for the first lot to be absorbed before you add