Slightly sweet from homemade pea broth, with lovely tender sweet peas, plus all the flavor enhancers like onions garlic and chives turn a simple pea risotto into something amazing! Give it a try!

The inspiration

Hitesh had bought a bag of sweet peas from the Farmer’s Market and I had them in the fridge for a few days wondering what I could make with them . These peas were sweet and gorgeous.

Then a few days later I got a recipe in my in box for a brown rice pea risotto that looked enticing! Brown Rice Risotto with Peas and Potatoes from The New Vintage Kitchen.org

The New Vintage Kitchen

This recipe comes to you from fellow blogger Dorothy’s New Vintage Kitchen. A fabulous blog with loads of delicious wholesome recipes with produce inspiration from her hometown of Vermont.

Really a wonderful blog that I encourage you to subscribe to especially if you’re looking for traditional American recipes that are re-recipefied for today’s healthier modern cook.

The New Vintage Kitchen – A Vermont innkeeper’s collection of seasonal vintage recipes, reimagined for today’s cooks.

About the recipe

What an original recipe I found this risotto to be! A risotto made with sweet homemade pea broth with trimmings from the shucked peas.

Think delicious pea risotto that’s sweetened with pea broth, then enhanced with leeks, chives and Parmesan cheese. On top of that it’s made even more wholesome with brown rice instead of the usual white arborio rice.

The amazing pea broth!!

Can I just say that this pea broth tastes amazing!

While it’s simmering the smell of the wonderful pea broth is divine! Truly a comforting aroma on a cloudy chilly June day like we were having when I was cooking.

The broth is mildly sweet and aromatic.

And just as Dorothy suggested I used some for my risotto and saved some to drink as a sweet flavorful broth.

Amuse bouche anyone?

A little cup of homemade sweet pea broth makes a wonderful amuse bouche before dinner 🍵.

An awesome use of throw away pea skins!

Normally I would have thrown all these trimmings of sweet peas in the garbage. Now I know I can make a delicious sweet broth with all these trimmings! Dorothy, truly thank you for such a fabulous idea!

Did it my way

I absolutely love this recipe but truth be told I’m not a big fan of brown rice. I followed Dorothy’s instructions for the homemade pea broth and then made the risotto my way.

I used arborio rice, homemade pea broth, added in carrots and onions and finished off the risotto with Parmesan cheese. The risotto is mildy sweet from the pea broth and wonderfully fragrant!! A super delicious risotto that taste’s like it came from a gourmet restaurant!

Green Pea Risotto with Sweet Homemade Pea Broth
Recipe from New Vintage Kitchen with a few modifications

Ingredients:

2 lb green peas with the skin. I had 2 cups of fresh peas from my bounty and used the skin for the broth
1 large onion or 2 leeks. Use the skin in the broth and finely chop the onions or leeks
2 carrots – peeled and cut into small pieces about 1 – 1/2 cups
4 – 6 cloves garlic – use the skin for the broth and finely mince the garlic cloves
2 tbsp finely diced chives
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Chili flakes if you want
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
Olive oil

Directions:

Make the broth: In a large pot place all the pea skins, garlic skins and onion skins and pea trimmings. Pour 8 cups water, add 1 1/2 tsp salt plus 1 tsp black pepper. Bring to a low boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Your kitchen will smell divine of the pea broth! Strain and place broth back on the stove to simmer on low heat.

Make the risotto: In another large pot warm 2 tbsp olive oil. Add garlic and onion and lightly saute until onions are tender. Then add in the chili flakes, carrots, and pinch of salt to taste; cook carrots until they are almost tender. Add rice and gently stir in. Shallow fry the rice for a minute or two then start adding the warm pea broth 1 cup at a time.

Wait for the pea broth to get absorbed then add more broth, keep doing this until the rice is cooked. This will take about 6-7 cups pea broth and about 30 minutes for the rice to cook. Once the rice is cooked to your liking add the peas and stir in. Taste and add more salt if needed. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Then dd 1 cup Parmesan cheese and stir in.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with more Parmesan and chives. Serve warm.

For a delicious naturally sweet pea risotto give this outstanding recipe a try.