Chicken, Prosciutto and Sage Risotto

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I'm back! I've been away in the US for a month travelling with hubby and the little chefs, and we had a great time. I am pleased to be back though - living out of a suitcase and seeing a new town each day or two is fantastic, but when the holiday is over, it's nice to come back to our own place, shampoo in the right spot, clothes hanging in the wardrobe, trampoline out the back, and buckets and buckets of Lego. AND my kitchen! oh how I've missed thee, I unashamedly stand up straight, my shoulders broad, hand on heart and say "I LOVE TO COOK!"

Whilst I didn't cook on holiday (short of stir frying a pack of frozen PF Chang's noodles - which were OK mostly), We ate out most nights in the States, and I found some real gems, so I'm going to try and re-create my version of the stars.

We started in Houston visiting friends, and I must say I had the very best smoked pork ribs ever at our friends house, I would try and re-create it, but SP had the most impressive smoker I'd ever seen, so I don't think I'd come close.

Our next stop was New York! It blew me away, more than I ever thought it would, who knew such a big touristy city had so much character, from amazing scenery in Central Park, awe inspiring views from the Empire State Building, fantastic drama and musical productions to shopping and most importantly, the fabulous New York people. We ate bagels at a lovely cafe each morning, had cheesecake most nights, we dined sans little chefs in the infamous gangster ridden (probably not now) suburb of Hells Kitchen at a lovely Italian restaurant. I had a wonderful asparagus, sage and prosciutto risotto. Hubby's not a fan of asparagus so to re-create it I made a chicken, leek, sage and prosciutto risotto - the sage and prosciutto are the heroes. It's a flavour combination that goes together so well.

So here's my version of the one I ate in New York.

Happy Cooking
Gill

Chicken, Sage and Prosciutto Risotto
  • 600 grams chicken breast, cut into 1cm slices
  • 1 medium leek, sliced finely
  • 1.5 litres chicken stock
  • 1 cup white wine (or water if cooking halal)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 40 grams butter
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 cups arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons shredded sage
  • 6 rashers prosciutto

Method

1.   Heat the grill and place the prosciutto on an oven tray, grill for two minutes each side until the prosciutto is fairly crisp, it will crisp up a bit more on standing. Cool and crumble.



2.   Put the chicken stock in a pot and bring to a gentle simmer, keep simmering whilst cooking the risotto.  Stir fry the chicken and leek in the olive oil for 5 minutes until leek has softened and chicken is cooked, remove from the pan.


3.   Add the butter to the pan with the garlic, and fry for 1 minute and add the rice, stir to cook and stir fry for a few minutes for the rice to toast nicely in the butter and garlic.



4.   Add the wine and stir until the wine is absorbed. Add the hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly until each ladle is absorbed before adding the next. Keep adding, and stirring until the rice is tender. It will take about 20 to 25 minutes.


5.   Add the chicken and leeks back in, a squeeze of lemon and cook for a minute to warm the chicken, remove from heat, add the Parmesan and sage, stir and serve with the prosciutto crumbled over the top and top with some slivers of shaved Parmesan.