I love a cooking program and before Christmas I was watching Jamie Oliver and his Christmas recipes, one of them being his Turkey Risotto to use up left over turkey. As I had none left I decided to use chicken and tweak the recipe slightly. It was my first time cooking risotto and it turned out to be a pretty tasty dish!

:Ingredients

8 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 onion Brown Onions

1 leek Organic Leeks

300 g Arborio risotto rice

125 ml Prosecco

300 g chicken

50 g Parmesan cheese

25 g unsalted butter

1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese

olive oil

1.4 litres organic chicken or veg stock

Step 1

Remove the skin from the chicken and place the chicken breasts in the oven with a large knob of butter and garlic to season. Place the chicken skin in a pan with hot butter on a medium heat. Cook until it's nice and crispy.​ When it’s golden, strip in the thyme leaves to crisp up for just 10 seconds, then scoop the crispy skin and thyme on to a plate, keeping the pan of flavoursome fat to one side.

The crispy skin was DELICIOUS! It could be a nice snack on it's own...

Step 2

Peel the onion, wash the leek and then finely chop it all. Return the pan of fat to a medium heat, then add the veg and fry for 10 minutes, or until soft but not coloured, stirring occasionally, and adding a splash of oil, if needed.

Step 3

Pour the stock into a separate pan and bring to a simmer on a low heat. Stir the rice into the veg for a couple of minutes, then pour in the Prosecco. Let it cook away, then start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, letting each one cook away before adding more. Keep a close eye on it and stir constantly for 17 minutes, or until the rice is cooked but still retains its shape.

Step 4

Finely chop the chicken stirring it into the pan halfway through the 17 minutes.

Step 5

When the risotto is done, add enough extra stock to make it oozy, then remove from the heat. Finely grate over most of the Parmesan and beat it in with the butter and mascarpone, then taste and season to perfection. Put the lid on and take to the table. Divide between your hot plates, then crack and crumble the crispy skin and thyme over the top. Finish with a tiny extra grating of Parmesan.