Risi e Bisi is a traditional Venetian risotto dish made with a good chicken stock and early summer peas. I find that frozen ‘petit pois’ do the trick just as well - but a risotto must be built on a proper stock, not a cube. Typically, Italians would add smokey prosciutto to this dish but I suggest smoked chicken breast instead.

Ingredients - serves 2-4

1 onion, peeled and chopped
75g unsalted butter
chopped, cooked, smoked chicken breast
100g small peas
250g arborio rice
900ml - 1ltre good chicken stock
glass of dry white wine
30g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt, pepper
handful of chopped parsley

Method

Melt the butter in a sauté pan and add the chopped onion, cook over a low heat until softened and translucent. Add the risotto rice and stir until coated with butter and season with salt and pepper.

Turn up the heat to medium and pour in the glass of wine, cook until it has been absorbed by the rice then add half of the stock, stir, lower the heat and cook again until the liquid has almost all been absorbed. Now add the peas and stir them in then add more stock and continue to simmer. Feed the rice like this until it is suitably tender (a case of personal preference really, I like my risotto unctuous and sticky, others like it to have ‘bite'; likewise you may want your risotto to stand on the plate or you may prefer it to be soupy - the way to eat risotto is as you like it). When you feel that the rice is almost cooked to your liking, add the chopped, cooked, chicken breast together with the Parmesan and fold in to the rice so that the chicken has time to heat through. Add more stock if you need to and taste - adjust seasoning if necessary.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve in large bowls.