Tomato and Mascarpone Risotto With Garlic Butter Prawns
This summery tomato and mascarpone risotto with garlic butter prawns is so incredibly good, you have to make it! Ready in less than half an hour, it’s incredibly simple and unbelievably delicious.
Servings: 2 servings
Ingredients
For the risotto:
- 800 ml vegetable stock approx
- 2 tbsp olive oil approx
- 250 g cherry tomatoes
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely grated
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 150 g arborio rice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 lemon
- Knob of unsalted butter
- 1-2 tbsp full-fat mascarpone
- Fresh basil leaves roughly torn
For the prawns:
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 150 g raw peeled king prawns
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 squeeze of lemon
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
To serve:
- A handful of fresh basil leaves
- 2 tsp full-fat mascarpone
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Lemon
- Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Pour the stock into a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a simmer over a low-medium heat.
- Meanwhile, add a generous drizzle of olive oil into a large non-stick pan set over a medium-high heat. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until nicely charred and blistered, but not completely falling apart. Tip into a bowl and set aside.
- Add another generous drizzle of olive oil to the pan, reduce the heat to low-medium and add the finely chopped onion. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until starting to soften.
- Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring, or until fragrant. Add a splash of water if it starts to stick.
- Add the arborio rice and cook for a few minutes, stirring until the grains are lightly toasted and translucent.
- Pour in a ladleful of the simmering stock and stir until almost all of it has been absorbed. Keep the heat low - you don’t want to rush this stage. Gradually repeat this process until all of the remaining stock has been absorbed and the rice is al dente. This should take around 18-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, for the prawns: melt the butter and olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan placed over medium-high heat. Add the prawns, followed by the garlic and smoked paprika. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sauté for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the prawns are blushing pink and just cooked. Take care not to overcook them or they will turn rubbery. Remove from the heat, squeeze over lemon juice, to taste and stir through the chopped parsley.
- Once the rice is cooked, stir the reserved jammy tomatoes into the risotto. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Add lemon zest, to taste (I use about ½ a lemon) plus lemon juice, if desired.
- Stir in a knob of butter, followed by the mascarpone, until combined. Sprinkle in most of the basil leaves and fold through. Taste and adjust the seasoning, as necessary.
- To serve: spoon the risotto onto serving plates. Top with the prawns and a tsp of mascarpone. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Squeeze over a little extra lemon juice and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!
Notes
Scroll up for a helpful step by step guide with images to help with this recipe.
To store: any leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days. Or leftovers can be used to make arancini.
To reheat: when you want to serve, pop the rice back in the pan and set over a low heat, slowly adding hot stock until it is ready. Finish with the butter, mascarpone and more cheese and serve. Any leftovers can also be used to make arancini. Stir in the jammy tomatoes when ready to serve as that keeps their texture a little better.
To freeze: you can freeze this tomato and mascarpone risotto for up to 3 months in an airtight tupperware. Defrost fully in the fridge before reheating as above.
Make ahead: risottos are always best straight after they are made if you make the full recipe. However, when I worked in a restaurant, we often prepared them ahead by cooking the rice until it was 90% done (you want it to still have some crunch). You then remove it from the heat, cool quickly, cover and chill. When ready to serve, then you can finish it with the extra stock, add the butter, mascarpone and cheese as well as the jammy tomatoes.
Warm stock: one of the many secrets to a good risotto is to make sure the stock is kept warm as you gradually stir it in. This helps the rice cook evenly and stops the temperature from dropping.
Umami: if you have any leftover Parmesan rind, pop it into the hot stock to infuse even more umami flavour.
Wine: for extra flavour and acidity, you can add white wine to the base of your risotto. Just swap 150ml of the stock for your choice of white wine and add it after toasting the arborio rice.
Low and slow: don’t be tempted to rush the risotto cooking process. It should take between 18-20 minutes for the rice to cook ‘al dente’ (e.g. it has some bite but isn’t ‘chalky’ in the centre).
Stir, stir and stir again!: one of the best things about a risotto is the deliciously creamy texture. This is achieved by continuous stirring as it helps encourage the rice to release its starch. It might seem a bit faffy, but it is well worth the effort. I actually find it quite mindful and just stir away whilst listening to music or a podcast.
Make it plant-based: you can make this tomato and mascarpone vegetarian by omitting the garlic butter prawns. If you want to make it vegan, swap the mascarpone for plant-based cream cheese and use vegan butter. Boursin plant-based works well.
Added texture: if you want to add a bit of crunch, sprinkle with a pangrattato (toasted breadcrumbs often infused with olive oil and herbs) or some roughly chopped toasted nuts.