Crème Fraîche & Corn Risotto
with Prosciutto & Basil
This summery delight has hardly any ingredients so make sure you buy quality! Instead of stock you will be using the liquid from cooking the corn to make the risotto. Use vegetable or chicken stock if you prefer though. Get the prosciutto out of the fridge before you start so it comes to room temperature. This means when you lay it over your hot risotto at the end it will warm nicely and melt a little of the fat. MMMMMMM melty prosciutto fat.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Risotto
4 corn cobs, husk removed & halved
1 brown onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp butter
250g Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup crème fraîche
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
To Finish
8 slices of prosciutto
1 big bunch of basil, leaves picked
more Parmesan is always good
Prep It
Remove husks from corn, break in half and place in a large pot. Cover with water and lightly season. The water from cooking the corn is going to be the stock for making your risotto. So make sure there is plenty of water in the pot. You will need about 1 litre of liquid to make the risotto. Place the pot on medium heat, bring to the boil and cook for about 10 minutes, until corn is tender. Remove corn from liquid and set aside to cool. KEEP THE LIQUID for cooking the risotto later.
Finely chop your onion and set aside. Once the corn is cool remove all the kernels. Set half aside for serving and the other half aside for cooking the risotto.
Cook It
Place the corn cooking liquid on medium heat and bring to a simmer. Once simmering remove from heat and put a ladle in it.
Melt butter with a good drizzle of olive oil in a large fry-pan on medium-high heat. Add onion and half the corn kernels and cook for 3-4 minutes, until onion is translucent and soft. Add rice, a good pinch of salt and stir to coat through the oil. Add white wine and cook for about 1 minute stirring, until all the wine has absorbed into the rice.
Start adding your corn broth about 1 ladle full at a time and cook, stirring often and only adding more stock once the previous addition has absorbed. It’s important to stir often as this helps the rice release its starch, resulting in a thick and creamy risotto. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until rice grains are just tender. They should have a little bite to them but not get stuck in your teeth. Your risotto should end up being a similar consistency to porridge. If not add a little more corn broth and stir it in.
When rice is tender remove from heat and stir through crème fraîche and Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Eat It
Serve risotto in bowls and give the bowl a wiggle to flatten the risotto out. Lay slices of prosciutto over the hot risotto and sprinkle over reserved corn and basil.