Ingredients
- 1 lemon , zest of
- 3 dried bird’s-eye chillies
- 4 cloves garlic , peeled
- 6 good-quality salted anchovy fillets in oil
- ½ large loaf ciabatta , stale if possible, cut into chunks
- olive oil
- risotto
- 700 ml organic vegetable or chicken stock , hot
- 50 g butter
- 1 small handful Parmesan cheese , freshly grated, plus a block for grating
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Whiz the lemon zest, dried chillies, garlic, anchovies and bread chunks in a food processor with a bit of oil from the anchovy tin until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
- Heat a large frying pan and add a splash of olive oil.
- Fry the breadcrumbs in the oil until darkened and crisp, then drain them on a piece of kitchen paper and allow to cool.
- Make your risotto.
- Place a large saucepan on a medium to high heat and pour in half the stock, followed by all your risotto base.
- Stirring all the time, gently bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer until almost all the stock has been absorbed.
- Add the rest of the stock a ladleful at a time until the rice is cooked.
- You might not need all your stock.
- Be careful not to overcook the rice, check it throughout cooking to make sure it’s a pleasure to eat.
- It should hold its shape but be soft, creamy and oozy.
- And the overall texture should be slightly looser than you think you want it.
- Turn off the heat, beat in your butter and Parmesan, check the seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if needed.
- Don’t be too generous with the salt because the pangrattato has salt in it too and you don’t want to overdo it!
- Place a lid on the pan and leave the risotto to rest for a minute.