Ingredients
1½ litres of stock, in a pan keeping hot, I like chicken but vegetable also works well
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
300g risotto rice
200g frozen petit pois, defrosted
1 tbsp fresh mint, very finely chopped
60g butter
50g Parmesan, grated
Salt
Pepper

Method
Take half the peas and cook with half the butter and a ladleful of stock and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Purée this mixture with a small food processor.

Heat the oil in a large pan (I use my le creuset pot but a large frying pan would also work). Cook the onion on a medium heat and cook for 5-7 minutes until cooked and translucent.

Put the rice into the pot and thoroughly mix to ensure all the grains are coated with the oil.  Turn up the heat to high medium and add a ladle of the hot stock. You now need to just agitate the pot and stir again - the agitation stops the need to use the spoon as much and there is less risk of breaking the grains.

Add a ladle of stock when the liquid all goes, the tricky thing is you don’t want it to go too dry as you don’t want it to stick.  The mixture should be just bubbling continuously.  Keep going - this process will take anywhere between 20-30 minutes depending on the rice and the heat.  It should be done when there is no stock left and the rice is just cooked through, it should not be chalky at all.  If you run out of stock and the rice is not done you can add a little boiling water, you should not need it but if you do just add a little at a time, the water will obviously reduce the flavour so you don’t want to add more than you need to.

Add the whole peas, pea purée and the mint and give the rice a very good stir. Take the risotto off of the heat and stir through the butter and 40g of Parmesan and put on the lid for just a minute or so - enough to warm the peas. Check the seasoning, it should be perfect but if it is not, add a little salt.  Serve topped with a little extra Parmesan and a crack of black pepper.

Enjoy hot, risotto waits for no man ;-)