Lemon & Thyme Chicken Risotto

I love risotto. I'm a huge fan of seafood risotto, and a basic pancetta and pea one.

Today, I picked up a chicken on reduced and cooked it off in the trusty Ninja Foodi.

My daughter is excellent at stripping a carcass so I set her to do that. Then the carcass and all bones, half a lemon, a few sprigs of thyme, a couple of chicken stock cubes, and three litres of water into the pot and brought it to the boil, turned it to a simmer, and let it cook down for a few hours to produce a nice stock about half the volume I started with.

With the stock ready I put some butter and olive oil in the pot to heat up, chopped a sweet Spanish onion finely and sweated it in the oil and butter. When the onion was translucent I added the rice and let it warm together.

While that was heating I put more butter and olive oil in anothe pan with some lemon skin and thyme. When the butter was brown and gently bubbling I removed the lemon and thyme and added the chicken and peas to gently cook in the flavored oil.

With the onion and rice gently coated in oil and warmed it was time to start adding in the stock, a little at a time, and when it is absorbed a little more, stirring almost continually.

When the last of the stock was in it was time to add the chicken and peas and leave on a gentle heat.

Now it was time to prepare the garnish. Finely chop the lemon peel. Add thyme and seasalt to a mortar and pestle and grind them together.

Finally, time to serve. A nice healthy portion of the risotto, a sprinkle of the lemon peel and ground thyme. A drizzle.of balsamic vinegar glaze, and serve.

Totes delicious