Food with Passion: Scrumptious Turkey Risotto
John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook and an avid fan of collecting cookery books with a passion for good old-fashioned home cooking.
His passion for proper family cooking stems from his Grandmothers, who were both excellent cooks, one of whom was a trained chef.
JP promises to bring us plenty of family-inspired recipes and tasty treats while showing us how to get the basics right.
I am always looking for new ideas and recipes for left-over Turkey over the Christmas period and this Turkey risotto is the perfect dish for just that.
While Christmas is over; I am a huge fan of cooking turkey not just at Christmas as it’s low in fat, lean and good for you and if cooked properly is full of delicate flavour.
You don’t need to have left-overs to make this recipe, but it is a great recipe for using leftovers – you could also swap out the Turkey with Chicken if your prefer, either way this is one of my new go to recipes that I will be making not only just after Christmas but throughout the year as it’s packed with flavour and deliciousness.
I made this for my sister-in-law and niece who were visiting from London during the Christmas break and my niece who is notoriously fussy about food, absolutely loved this dish!
Ingredients: (feeds 4-5)
- 1 cooked Turkey breast cut into small chunks
- 1 litre of hot vegetable stock
- 8 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
- 100ml of white wine (if like me you don’t have wine to hand, use 100ml of water instead)
- 2 stick of celery finely chopped
- 1 leek roughly chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 300ml of warm turkey or chicken gravy
- 300g or arborio (risotto) Rice
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 100g parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Method:
- In a large casserole dish on a medium heat, place the oil and butter along with the finely chopped onion, celery and leek and cook off for about 10 minutes until nice and tender.
- Add the rice and fresh thyme; mix around to ensure each grain is coated well in the melted fats.
- Then add the 100ml of wine / water (if you don’t have wine) and cook off for about 5 minutes until all the liquid has been soaked up.
- Then a ladle at a time, add the vegetable stock, letting each one cook away before adding the next ladle. Always with risotto keep a close eye on it as it could burn or stick quickly if you step away even for a minute! This whole process will take about 25 minutes.
- Then add the chunks of cooked turkey breast / chicken and stir to heat through.
- Then add the parmesan cheese, season well and serve in large bowls.
- Make a well in the middle of each bowl and pour over some of the turkey / chicken gravy. Finish with a tiny extra grating of parmesan cheese and enjoy.
There are a few additional extras you could add to elevate this delicious risotto even further!
If you have any cooked turkey / chicken skin left over pop onto a baking tray and roast in the oven until nice an crisp, break it up and scatter across the top of the risotto.
Alternatively you could crumble over some leftover sage and onion stuffing for some crunch and texture and you have a mini roast in risotto form that is creamy, comforting and delicious!
I can’t wait to make this dish over and over again throughout 2024!
It went down a storm when I served it for supper after Christmas!
Happy New year everyone and I look forward to continue to share more delicious recipes with you throughout the year.
Next week, it’s my Rosemary Irish Soda Bread. Super easy to make, healthy and delicious to eat!
