This is a wonderfully simple, honest sort of dish – by which I mean you can really taste each ingredient. It’s perfect for a chilly spring day when sorrel will be unfurling its bright green leaves. Adding this lemony herb to an earthy lentil risotto has an amazing lightening effect. If you don’t have sorrel in your garden (and it’s very easy to grow), you may find some growing wild, or in a supermarket or greengrocer if you are very lucky.
Serves 4
1 tablespoon olive oil
50g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
100g Puy lentils
About 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
250g risotto rice
150ml dry white wine
A good bunch of sorrel leaves (about 75g), stalks removed, shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the olive oil and half the butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and sweat gently for 7–8 minutes until softened.
Meanwhile, put the lentils into a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 5 minutes, then drain. Bring the stock to a simmer in a small pan and keep it hot over a very low heat.
Add the rice and drained lentils to the soft onion in the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often. Add the wine and simmer until it is all absorbed. Now add the stock, about a quarter at a time, keeping the risotto at a low simmer and stirring it often. Let each batch of stock be fully absorbed by the rice before you add the next. Continue until the rice is tender. This should take 20–25 minutes; you may not need quite all of the stock.
Stir in the sorrel and cook for just a minute or two, so it wilts into the risotto. Take off the heat. Season the risotto well with salt and pepper and dot the remaining butter over the top. Cover and leave for a couple of minutes, then stir the melted butter through the risotto. Taste to check the seasoning, then serve.
PLUS ONE If you are making this in the spring and you happen to come by some wild garlic leaves, shred them finely and add with the sorrel. A sprinkling of snipped chives or garlic chives will have a milder but similarly delicious effect.
SWAPS Instead of, or as well as, sorrel, you can use nettle tops (the top 4 or 6 leaves of young, early spring nettles). Wash well, blanch in boiling water for a minute, then drain and squeeze out most of the water. Roughly chop and add to the risotto 5 minutes before the end (or 2 minutes before the sorrel).