Sweet Rosehip Risotto and a Wild Christmas Feast

Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods and Kather Marland of Kather’s Kitchen are doing a festive dem in the Market Hall ‘Wild about Rosehips‘ during our Christmas Food & Drink Fair (Sun 8 Dec). As a precursor they have asked us to share a recipe with you for Sweet Rosehip and Orange Risotto. Full recipe below.

It’s going to be a busy month for them. As well as preparing for our Fair, they are both running a special Christmas Party. There are still a few tickets left.

“The 19th December is going to be a bit wild in Monmouthshire! We’re  busy preserving, bottling, pickling and storing the best of 2013’s wild bounty for a very special, wild Christmas feast and party to be held at the glorious Treowen House near Raglan. Tickets are still available for the 4 course meal, which will be crammed full of delights such as rolled haunches of venison with damson & chocolate, wild boar braised with quinces, lime flower & cucumber sorbets and rose petal-infused syllabubs, to name but a few.  If you can stand up after all of the feasting you’ll be treated to a musical foray with the sensational and highly acclaimed Abergavenny-based band, Mabon. This’ll be a festive meal that’ll change your Christmas eating forever.”

For full details including ticket prices and booking information please go to Kather’s website.

SWEET ROSEHIP AND ORANGE RISOTTO

A fragrant and creamy, seasonal pudding incorporating
Arborio rice with orange blossom water, rose hip syrup, butter and milk

Serves 6
225g Arborio rice
20g butter
900ml full fat milk
2 oranges
120ml rosehip syrup
2 tsp orange blossom water
6 rosehips
dark brown sugar for sprinkling
• Zest one of the oranges then peel & segment both oranges and set aside.
• Top and tail the rosehips then halve and de-seed them, ensuring all the tiny hairs are removed from inside. Then slice the rosehips and set aside.
• Put the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the orange zest
• Bring the milk to just under boiling point then remove from the heat.
• In a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat, melt the butter then add the Arborio rice, stirring to coat the grains of rice in butter.
• Add about 300ml of hot milk to the rice and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, until the milk has nearly all been absorbed by the rice.
• Continue to cook, adding a little more milk at a time and stirring continuously until the rice starts to become tender but still has firmness to it.
• Slowly add the rosehip syrup, again stirring continuously.
• Use the remaining milk (you may not need it all) to get the risotto to the perfect final consistency – it should be smooth and creamy, whilst still retaining some bite.
• Stir 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water into the finished risotto.
• Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls (it should start creeping to the edge of the bowl), place some orange segments in the centre and drizzle with rosehip syrup.
• Place a few tiny slices of fresh rosehip on top of the orange segments and sprinkle with some dark brown sugar.