Ingredients

1/4 cup pine nuts
5 cups vegetable stock
2 fennel bulbs, with leafy greens still attached
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, diced
1-1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
4 ounces fontina cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cooking Instructions

Heat a small, dry pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast them until they are golden brown and fragrant (this should take just a few minutes). Set aside.

Place the vegetable stock in a medium pot. Bring to a simmer, cover and keep simmering while you prepare the risotto.

Remove the leafy greens from the top of the fennel and set them aside. Peel the outside of the fennel bulb with a vegetable peeler, cut off the bottoms, and then dice it. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the onion and the fennel and cook for about 10 minutes until the fennel has become slightly tender and the onion is translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat evenly with the oil. Add the white wine and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine is almost completely absorbed. Using a measuring cup, measure out approximately 1/2 cup of the simmering stock and add it to the rice. As with the wine before, stir constantly while the rice is absorbing the stock. When the stock is nearly absorbed, measure out another 1/2 cup of stock, add it to the rice, and repeat the steps as before. Continue this process until all of the stock has been used or until the rice is cooked through.

Cut the fontina cheese into cubes and add them, along with the grated parmesan cheese, to the risotto. Stir until the cheese has fully melted. Chop the reserved fennel greens coarsely and stir about half of them into the risotto. Serve the risotto garnished with a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts and the remaining fennel greens.

Makes 4 servings

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recipe courtesy of elliemay.com