Tomato Risotto, Summer Vegetables
After recently delighting in this dish at the restaurant home of its creator I just had to take a shot at reproducing some of its loveliness. Our tomatoes were ripe and ready and all but one of the other vegetables to be used were available for picking from the garden.
The first task is to make the essence. Using the recipe's weight of fruit, I extracted at least 100ml more than suggested so I had plenty for the risotto and enough for tomato jelly, sorbet and granita. If they pass muster you might see them here soon. If you do see too much red 'bleed' into your extract you might try passing the liquid only through a double muslin again.
Here is the selection of vegetables ready for addition to the risotto and for final dressing. Those home frozen peas are almost back to room temperature!
It was now time to trust our chef's instructions and, for my first time at least, intrepidly abandon the usual twenty-five minutes constant stirring. In the end the 'single bubble' simmer worked a treat and it was rewarding to have come close to reproducing the special course we had enjoyed so much from Le Manoir's kitchen.
Our initial experience of this recipe was a small portion, perfectly cooked and presented. My version for dinner at home was larger and full of all the right flavours but could not quite match the indulgence of that first pleasure.
If you are not familiar with the disarming, intelligent and infectiously enthusiastic Monsieur Blanc I urge you to make his acquaintance. He has more joie de vivre than many people find in a lifetime. There is plenty of that on show in this episode of 'Kitchen Secrets'. Flip to around 5min 45seconds for Raymond’s explanation of his tomato essence and risotto dish.
Most of the tomato recipes from that programme, including the risotto, are here. They vary from those in the 'Kitchen Secrets' book but in any case the risotto must rely on whatever is seasonal, ripe and to hand... be prepared to adapt but, above all, don't compromise on the quality of your tomatoes.
A few more photos are here for you.