Spring arrives and the garden begins to fill up with vegetables. April is the month of artichokes, peas, broad beans, lettuce and spring onion. I'd say we're here: it's time for vignarola!
Vignarola is a typical Roman spring dish, and today I recommend a light version, without guanciale (the cheek of the pork), so I prepared a spiced turmeric risotto.
Everything is said about the vignarola. It is said that it takes its name from the vignaroli, the people who brought vegetables to the roman markets, but also that it was the dish that was prepared when the artichokes were about to finish and the peas were starting. Exactly in the short period of time in which the broad beans are harvested.
I used vignarola to prepare a risotto that I made a little more exotic by adding turmeric.
Recipe of ligth vignarola with turmeric rice
The first thing is cleaning the artichokes, a bit boring and you have to be careful not to dye your hands with the artichokes by soaking them in water and lemon. Cut them finely and put in a pan where I browned a head of garlic in oil. At this point I added the artichokes and when they browned, I added a little water and let them cook.
In a saucepan, blanch the broad beans and remove their first skin.
Once the artichokes are ¾ cooked, add the Roman lettuce, washed and cut into julienne strips, then the blanched broad beans and finally the peas and spring onion. We cook quickly to leave the vegetables crunchy.
In a pan, toast the rice with a little oil and start cooking by adding some vegetable broth.
Halfway through cooking the risotto, dissolve the turmeric in the broth and continue until the rice is almost cooked. Only at this point do we add the vegetables and mix everything together.
Turn off the heat and stir in oil, a little Parmesan and a grind of pepper.
The dish is ready, and I have chosen to accompany it with a vintage prosecco, the bubbles are perfect for celebrating a lunch with this rice.
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