Pea and Ham Risotto with Goats Cheese

Pea and ham risotto, true comfort food heaven, wonderful flavours, and the simplest of old-fashioned cooking techniques.

Sweet peas offer the high notes, the ham offers a wonderful, meaty, salty vibe, and the delicious goat's cheese provides the foundation flavour to build it all on.

Bacon and Pea Risotto

I love coming up with risotto recipes; they do a boatload of heavy lifting in my kitchen.

If I am a little lost on what to cook for dinner, I will root through the fridge and almost always be able to make a risotto; many of them end up here!

Recipes like my chicken and bacon risotto and tomato and mascarpone risotto, to my pea and asparagus risotto and nduja and cherry tomato risotto are all a result of me floating around my fridge looking for something to make.

I have waxed lyrical about the combination of core ingredients in this easy pea and ham risotto before.

Pea and ham just work together, whether they be in my pasta e piselli or a classic pea and ham soup.

They are flavours that just work, and this recipe wraps them up in a soft and perfectly textured risotto.

Like all of my risotto recipes, I cook this in the traditional way of adding stock little by little, stirring as I go.

Don't worry, it is easy, and you can even do it with a glass of wine in hand. In fact, it is the law that you must do it with a glass of plonk in hand!

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of ham should I use?

You should use something local and delicious! It would be easy to reel off a list of "famous" types of ham and bacon that will be imported in mass quantities and vary in quality depending on where you are.

But realistically, no matter where you live, you will have some glorious local ham or bacon, speak to a butcher, and they will point you in the right direction.

Do I have to use goat's cheese?

No, not at all, this dish works well with Parmesan or Pecorino Cheese. Do try and find some aged goat's cheese because the salty, acidic combination is genius in this recipe.

Many supermarkets will have a cave-aged British goats cheese. Or you could look for something like garrotxa, an aged goat gouda or Ardsallagh.

How do I get a perfect creamy risotto?

Cooking a perfect creamy risotto is all about patience!

At the start of the process, you need to stir constantly once the first 2 or three ladles of stock have gone in, just give it a good stir every 45-60 seconds.

But be there, and look after the risotto! Take some time, put everything else aside and pour and stir, and if wine is your thing, have a sip or two!

Cooking the rice to the perfect texture should take around 25 minutes; temperature is key, you want a slight bubble.

Finally, don't forget to let it sit; this fixes up the final texture and is often overlooked.

Can I make this in advance?

It is safe to do this, but it doesn't result in the same creamy and luxurious texture.

There are ways to partially cook a risotto and finish it later; it is often used in the hospitality industry. But it has little utility in a home kitchen.

Serving Suggestions

A bowl of risotto is glorious comfort food that needs no sides as far as I am concerned, and this foxy pea and ham number is no different.

Having said that, I quite often serve risotto with bread, mainly to mop up that wonderful starchy residue from the bowl when I am finished.

My wife usually insists on adding garlic bread or cheesy garlic bread... and who am I to complain?

Equipment Used

I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

• Hob/stovetop.
• 15cm or 6" saucepan.
• 25cm or 10" frying pan with a lid, you can improvise a lid with tin foil if needed.
• Chopping board.
• Kitchen knife.
• Stirring, serving spoons and a ladle.
• Sieve if you need to defrost the peas.
• A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.