At this time of year I love using chestnuts

Fran Blackmore, Settle

Risottos are a fairly easy dish to make but they do need looking after, so don’t go wandering off and doing your shopping online whilst trying to cook your risotto! At this time of year, I love using chestnuts and I like to pair them with sprouts, but in this case I am going to use sprout tops. Very cheap but a great taste. To make 4 portions, finely dice 1 medium sized onion and cook in 25g butter with 1 clove of crushed garlic. Soften the onion and garlic for about 3-4 minutes, trying not to colour the onion. Add 300g of risotto rice, I prefer to use carnaroli, it’s a bit more forgiving than arborio and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add 150ml white wine, continue stirring until the wine has evaporated. You will need about 1200ml of hot vegetable stock ready to finish cooking your rice, adding a ladleful at a time, stirring until evaporated, then adding another ladle. Whilst you are cooking the rice, you need to prepare the chestnuts and the sprout tops. Cut up the sprout tops into large pieces and blanch in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes. Roughly chop the chestnuts and sauté in butter for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked spouts tops and combine. Once all the stock has been added to your risotto, remove from heat, add 50g grated parmesan and 50g grated butter, it should make the rice very creamy. Serve in a large bowl with the chestnuts and sprouts tops laid over the top and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil”