This is a very simple recipe that could well save your bacon sooner or later. I assume that you have white wine aboard your campervan? Then you’ll be fine with this recipe.
by Martin Dorey
All the ingredients will keep well in any cupboard – especially chorizo – so it’s a good one to pack away and forget about before you go. If nothing is open when you get there you can always fall back on this. And if there is fresh stuff available, replace the chorizo with chicken and use real peas and some fresh parsley.
Ingredients / Serves Four
- 1 200g stick of chorizo
- 50g of butter
- 1 x medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 x large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- Large glass of white wine
- 300g of risotto rice
- 1 litre of water
- 1 chicken stock cube
- Small tin of garden peas
- Parmesan cheese
- Dried parsley
Method
Firstly make a stock by dissolving the stock cube in 1 litre of boiling water. Add a bay leaf. Then cut the chorizo into small chunks about 1 cm big. Fry it in a large sauce pan for a few minutes until it starts to get crispy. Put aside and discard the bright orange fat. Using the same pan, melt the butter and soften the onions over a medium heat. Then put the risotto rice into the pan and stir it into the butter so every grain gets coated. Add the white wine and allow to bubble for a few moments.
Then add the stock a ladle at a time. When the rice has absorbed it, add some more until the stock is all gone. Simmer the rice for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the chorizo, a few pinches of the parsley, the tin of peas and check for seasoning and simmer for a few minutes more until the rice is deliciously creamy but still a little firm in the middle.
Take off the heat and grate a generous amount of parmesan into the risotto.
Serve.
Martin Dorey is a writer, surfer, VW owner and keen shrimper (he was also the presenter of a BBC2 TV show called ‘One man And His Campervan’ and the author of ‘The Camper Van Cookbook’. Martin is a surfer first and an authority on the apostrophe second. He can often be found eating out of rock pools.
martindorey.com