My favourite type of food is Italian and here is a lovely Italian dish. In the UK, Italian food is associated with beef like in spaghetti bolognese or lasagne. However after spending some time in Milan I got to learn that fish was used in the majority of the dishes.

This will serve 2 people, but if you want more just add more rice and 500ml of stock per person when adding half a cup of rice.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil, drained from the preserved lemon jar
300 g courgette, diagonally sliced
240 g responsibly sourced salmon fillets, roughly chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
1 onion, finely chopped
2 rings of preserved lemon, drained & finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
300 g or 1 cup of Arborio risotto rice
100 ml white wine
2 tbsp finely chopped chives

To start

For this we are going to use salmon and prawns for the fish. Prepare the courgette and salmon.

Slice the courgette, add the salmon and cover with olive oil in a baking tray.

Put this in the oven for about 20 mins.

Next chop a large onion,  crush or chop finely 2 cloves of garlic and put the onion in a large pan or a wok with a splash of olive oil on a medium heat.

Here I have added a few slices of lemon. It is better to use preserved lemon and cut this up finely however if you don’t have preserved lemon you can add normal lemon but try not to cook it for too long or chop it and add it towards the end of cooking the onions.

After a few mins of cooking the onions, add the garlic.

After 2 minutes of cooking the garlic add in a cup of Risotto or Arborio rice. Do not use long grain or any other rice.  Cook this for 1 minute.

Add in 1/4 of a bottle of white light wine. Here I have used sauvignon blanc but any other white wine will be fine.

While the wine is simmering make some vegetable stock, about 1 litre for 2 people. Add 500 ml of stock + half a cup of rice per person if there are more people. You may want to add more fish too.

When the wine has nearly gone, pour in about 100 ml of the stock. Keep stirring and let the stock soak up into the rice before adding the next 100 ml.

As you add more stock the rice will begin to swell more and more. Remember keep adding 100 ml at a time and wait until it is nearly absorbed before adding more. Repeat this process until the stock has nearly gone.

Next check the oven and take out the salmon and courgettes. They should be slightly golden in colour.

Remove the salmon skin and put everything else in, including the prawns. Make sure the last of the stock is added and keep stirring, until there is no more liquid left and the rice is all thick and sticky. Test the rice to make sure it is not hard still. This should take about 40-50 mins in total.

Once complete, serve and enjoy.