Eden Project

Spelt risotto recipe from Mat Follas

To celebrate Eden’s Harvest Festival this October, we’re bringing you a selection of recipes, ideas and creations from the people who know all about harvest and its wonderful traditions. Today, MasterChef winner Mat Follas shares his locally sourced version of risotto.

This recipe for ‘Spelt risotto with confit wild rabbit’ contains two fantastic British products, organic pearled spelt and Old Winchester cheese. Spelt is an ancient grain and a distant cousin of wheat, introduced to England, it’s thought, by the Romans. I had been looking for a British alternative to rice for our restaurant, and the pearled spelt is as good as, if not better than, rice.

It doesn’t have the stickiness of risotto rice, but retains an al dente centre which gives a wonderful bite to the texture. Old Winchester is a vegetarian, hard cheese, with a delicious deep flavour which I use in place of Parmesan.

For the confit, I use vegetable oil or duck fat, with a few herbs to infuse a great flavour to the meat. The rabbit itself is seasoned with brine before slow poaching for a few hours to create a delicious flavoursome meat. Rabbit works brilliantly, as it is a lean meat and the method of cooking stops it drying out.

Ingredients (for four people)

Spelt risotto:

• 120g pearled spelt (available from Sharpham Park)
• two onions
• 75g Old Winchester cheese, finely grated (available from Lyburn Farmhouse Cheesemakers)
• 500ml stock (chicken or vegetable)
• 250g bag of spinach or 200g nettle leaves (if in season)
• knob of butter
• pinch of salt

Confit wild rabbit:

• one wild rabbit (cleaned and quartered by your butcher)
• 100g salt
• 1.5 ltr vegetable oil
• small bunch of thyme

Method

Spelt risotto:

1. Finely chop the onions and sauté in a pan with a little butter and salt until translucent.
2. Add the spelt and mix. Add about 1/3 of the warmed stock and bring to a low simmer. Stir while it’s simmering, until the liquid is absorbed.
3. Add another 1/3 of the warmed stock and stir. Once the liquid has been absorbed, you have a choice; it’ll only take 10 minutes to finish the dish, or you can store the risotto for up to 48 hours in the fridge.
4. Add the remaining stock. Simmer and stir until most of it has been absorbed, then add the finely grated cheese, and stir.
5. Add the spinach or washed nettle leaves, then stir until all the liquid has been absorbed and the leaves are cooked.

Confit wild rabbit:

1. Make a brine by mixing the salt with 1.5 ltr water. Place the rabbit pieces in a bowl and pour the brine over until the rabbit is well covered. Put in a fridge for 24 hours.
2. To make the confit, take the rabbit out of the bowl of brine, wipe off excess moisture and place in a suitable large pan (where the rabbit pieces have enough space to not be touching).
3. Pour the vegetable oil over the rabbit until it is covered, and throw in the thyme.
4. Bring the pan to a temperature of 80–90 degrees Celsius (this might be best to do in an oven). Leave at this temperature for four hours.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and take the rabbit out. Dry off any excess oil.
6. Flake the meat from the bones
7. To serve, spoon the risotto into a large bowl and place the rabbit meat on top. Decorate with a sprig of fresh thyme.

Mat Folas is passionate about using ingredients that are naturally delicious, whether foraged, farmed, or hunted. He uses traditional methods, from pickling to smoking, to imbue vibrant combinations of flavours. You can taste his creations at The Wild Garlic restaurant, Beauminster, Dorset, where he also offers wild food foraging courses, which include a lunch made with some of the ingredients.

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Category:

• Harvest

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Food, Harvest