Risoni with broad beans and crisp prosciutto

I have a special fondness for risoni. It’s an ingredient I turn to for comfort yet it has a lovely lightness to it. In this dish, the risoni becomes almost risotto-like, with the broad beans adding a fresh green flavour and the iceberg lending hints of crispness.

Risoni with broad beans and crisp prosciutto Credit: Sharyn Cairns

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 thin slices of prosciutto, about 80 g
• 2 small brown onions, thinly sliced
• 7 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 250 g risoni (orzo)
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 280 g (1½ cups) double-peeled broad beans (about 900 g unpodded, see Cook’s tips)
• 2 cups shredded iceberg, cut into 1 cm shreds
• ½ cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 lemon, rind finely zest
• 40 g finely grated parmesan
• olive oil, for cooking
• robust peppery extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• river salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Drying time: 2 hours

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 80°C. Lay the prosciutto onto a rack on a baking tray and place in oven for 2 hours or until the fat on the edges looks almost translucent and although it may not feel quite dried, it will crisp once it cools. Set aside.

Place a large wide-based frying pan over medium heat, allow it to warm a little, then add a generous glug of olive oil. Add the onion and garlic, season, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes or until the onion has softened nicely and starting to caramelise.

Add the thyme, bay and risoni and stir well to coat.

Add the stock, bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, allowing it to simmer gently for 5 minutes. Stir regularly as risoni has a tendency to stick.

Add the broad beans and give them a few minutes with the risoni, stirring as you go.

Add the iceberg and continue cooking until it just starts to wilt. Once this happens, remove the pan from the heat and stir through the parsley and lemon zest.

Divide the mixture among shallow bowls - it should look like a puddle of wet risotto.

Sprinkle over the parmesan, drizzle over your robust oil and add some extra black pepper. Break the prosciutto over the top into appealing looking shards and eat immediately.

Cook’s tips

• This dish can easily and very happily become vegetarian - use vegetable stock instead of chicken and replace crisp prosciutto with dried black olives.

• To prepare the broad beans, peel them from their thick outer pods. Blanch the beans in boiling water, then refresh in iced water. Peel the outer skins. 800 g whole broad beans yields about 200 g (1 packed cup) double-peeled broad beans.

Photography by Sharyn Cairns. Styling by Lee Blaylock. Food preparation by Tiffany Page.

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This recipe is part of The seasonal cook: Broad beans column.

View previous The seasonal cook columns and recipes.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.