We’ve come to the realization that summer ☀️ is finally leaving us… as we had a mild September 🍂 in Vancouver this year 😬. So we made this lemon 🍋 risotto with green and yellow zucchini along to use up all our summer produce! We served it with a delicious buttermilk roast chicken 🍗
Ingredients
For the Risotto
7 to 8 cups well seasoned chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup minced onion
Salt to taste
1 pound green or yellow zuchinni diced
1 ½ cups arborio or carnaroli rice
1 to 2 garlic cloves (to taste), green shoots removed, minced
Freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup dry white wine, like pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest
1 to 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
For The Butter Milk Roast Chicken
1 4-pound chicken (or chicken parts)
2 cups of buttermilk
1/4 cup plus 2 tbspns of vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic lightly crushed
1 tbpsn of crushed black peppercorns
1 tbspn of sea salt
2 tbspns of fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbspn of honey
Instructions
For the Risotto
- Put your stock or broth into a saucepan, and bring it to a simmer over low heat with a ladle nearby or in the pot. Make sure that the stock or broth is well seasoned.
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a wide, heavy nonstick skillet. Add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the squash and a generous pinch of salt. Turn the heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring often, until the squash is translucent but not too soft, about five minutes.
- Stir in the rice and the garlic, and stir until the grains separate and begin to crackle. Add the wine, and stir until it has been absorbed. Turn the heat back down to medium, and begin adding the simmering stock a couple of ladlefuls (about 1/2 cup) at a time. The stock should just cover the rice and should be bubbling, not too slowly but not too quickly. Cook, stirring often, until the rice is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock, and continue to cook in this fashion, stirring in more stock when the rice is almost dry. You do not have to stir constantly, but stir often.
- When the rice is tender all the way through but still chewy, in about 25 minutes, it is done. Taste now and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add another ladleful of stock to the rice. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley and Parmesan. Remove from the heat. The mixture should be creamy (add more stock if it isn’t). Serve right away in wide soup bowls or on plates, spreading the risotto in a thin layer rather than a mound.
For The Butter Milk Roast Chicken
- If using whole chicken - butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and using heavy-duty kitchen shears to cut along both sides of backbone. Discard backbone, turn chicken over and open it like a book. Press gently to flatten it.
- Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add buttermilk, 1/4 cup oil, garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary and honey. Seal bag securely and refrigerate overnight or up to two days
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a rack so excess can drip off. Line a roasting pan with foil and place chicken in pan. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Roast for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees. Continue roasting until well browned and until juices run clear when chicken is pierced where leg joins thigh, about another 20 minutes.
- Place chicken on a carving board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces. Place a portion on each of four plates, and drizzle each serving with pan juices.
