4 hearty or 6 dainty portions
A creamy pea risotto is one of my favourite summer treats, but it does tend to spike my blood sugar and takes a good deal of stirring. By replacing the rice with white beans, you get all the creaminess without the simple starch that can mess up your blood sugar, it's super quick and makes a wonderful meal for your gut microbes too! I love Bold Bean Co organic white beans for this, but it works with any cooked cannellini beans, flageolet beans, borlotti or haricot beans. Ideally use a can or jar and include the bean broth to make things even creamier. Use good quality frozen peas for the freshest flavour.
800g frozen peas
2 medium brown skin or white skinned onions
Olive oil
25g butter (or olive oil)
Zest of a lemon
2 medium courgettes (or 2 large calabrese stalks, or a mixture)
A large jar of white beans (700g or 500g drained weight)
15g dill fronds or fresh mint leaves
Put the peas into a bowl and cover with boiling water from the kettle. Use plenty of water, so that the peas defrost. As soon as they are defrosted, refresh them by draining the hot water away through a sieve and covering in cold water. Set aside for a moment.
Finely dice the onion. Cover the base of a largish saucepan with olive oil and throw in the butter, add the onion and a few pinches of salt and sweat until sweet and translucent.
While the onion cooks, finely dice the courgettes or lightly peeled calabrese stalks – slice lengthways, pile up a couple of slices and slice along the length again into strips before cutting crossways into small dice. The smaller your dice, the more risotto-like the texture will be. Take a moment over this if you have the time. If using calabrese stalks, add them to the onions and sweat for 5 minutes more. The courgette dice only need a minute, so leave them until later.
Drain the peas and add half to a blender with a splosh of the bean stock from the jar, or water if the bean stock is too thick – not too much though or you will end up with soup and not puree. Add a couple of pinches of salt and blitz the peas to a velvety smooth puree, only adding water or bean stock if the mixture is too thick. It wants to be the texture of a slightly sloppy hummus.
Add the lemon zest and courgette to the onions and sweat for a minute then add the peas and beans and just heat through, don't allow to boil or bubble as the peas will overcook.
Add the pea puree and finely chop the dill or mint, adding 2/3 of this at the very last minute. Stir and taste for seasoning, adding salt and maybe some lemon juice if the flavour needs brightening.
Serve right away scattered with the remaining herbs, an optional zesting of lemon and/or grated parmesan if you like. It doesn't keep its colour once you add lemon, so if you want to keep any over, add lemon at the table not to the pot.