It’s difficult to beat a roast chicken; I make them frequently. With two of us, though, having eaten the breasts hot, we have the legs left over. This is our favourite way of making use of the legs when it isn’t really salad weather.
I prefer not to add parmesan cheese to this – it seems to taste cleaner without – but that’s personal taste. Go ahead and use it if that’s your preference.
Planning
| serves: | 2-3 |
| preparation time: | 15 mins |
| cooking time: | 40 mins |
Ingredients
- 2 roast chicken legs
- 250g mushrooms
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1 modest onion, finely chopped
- 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 140g carnaroli rice
- 75ml dry vermouth
- 500ml chicken stock, hot
- Salt & pepper
Method
Strip the skin off the chicken legs (it goes soggy), remove the meat from the bones and cut the meat into 1cm dice.
Similarly, cut the mushrooms into 1cm dice. Melt about half the butter in your chosen risotto pan over medium high heat and sauté the mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Add 1 chopped garlic clove to the mushrooms, stir and sauté for another 2 minutes. Decant the mushroom mixture into a bowl and reserve. Mushroom flavoured liquid will accumulate with the mushrooms.
Melt the remaining butter in your risotto pan. Sweat the onion and celery in the butter to soften. Add the remaining 2 cloves garlic and sweat for 2 minutes more without colouring. Stir in the rice and cook over gentle heat to make the grains glossy and get the edges translucent. Throw in the vermouth and stir, letting it evaporate completely.
Add the mushrooms and their liquid to the rice and stir. Allow the mushroom liquid to be absorbed. Now start adding the hot stock over medium-gentle heat. Start with a quarter of the stock, stir frequently and let it be absorbed. The stirring releases starch and makes the risotto creamy. Keep it at a gentle simmer.
Add two further quarters of the stock separately, stirring and allowing it to be absorbed with each addition. With homemade (unseasoned) stock, I season this as I go.
Now stir in the chicken meat and add the final quarter of stock. Keep the gentle simmer going and stir frequently. When this liquid is almost completely absorbed, the rice should be tender. A risotto should end up slightly wet, though.
If you would like to add about 50g of freshly grated parmesan, now is the time do it. Stir the risotto to let the cheese melt. Adjust the seasoning.
Cover the pan and let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving with a fresh green salad.
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