Pea Risotto with Flaked Salmon

In an attempt to eat more fish, I decided to cook salmon on Thursday evening. You're meant to have two portions of oily fish per week but normally I struggle to eat one, I'm not sure why as I love salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel. I suppose it's because fish isn't something I'd normally pick up for a quick and easy dinner and it can often be quite expensive. Whenever I make the effort it's always worth it, so I'm going to try to post a few fish recipes a month in a bid to help get some more tasty fish into my diet!

This is a recipe of my own devising, but I'm sure it's hardly original! It's just a basic risotto, with the addition of peas, courgette, lemon and creme fraiche. It's worth using petite pois rather than garden peas, as they're so much sweeter. It would also have been nice with a little pancetta, but Sainsbury's in Stokey was sadly lacking.

Serves 2
2 skinless salmon fillets
100g arborio rice
1 small onion/3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic gloves, crushed
1 courgette, chopped
200g frozen petite pois
100ml dry white wine
500ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp creme fraiche
1/2 a lemon, juiced
25g grated Parmesan

Method:

1. Heat some oil in a pan and slowly cook the onion and garlic until golden. Add the courgette and allow to soften. 
2. Meanwhile put 3/4 of the peas, the creme fraiche, seasoning and a little stock into a food processor and whizz until smooth. 
3. Stir the rice into the onions and allow to cook for 1 minute. Next add the white wine and wait for it to be absorbed by the rice. Gradually add a ladleful of the stock to the mixture, stirring continuously.
4. Continue adding the stock to the rice until it is tender. When the rice is almost done, mix the pea puree, whole peas and Parmesan into the rice. Turn the heat off and put a lid on the rice, leave to steam for 3 minutes; this should help to make the risotto creamy (according to my madre).
5. Flake the salmon over the top, either using pre-prepared roast salmon or cooking it yourself. Serve with a green salad.

Risotto cooking:

The finished article: