Mama’s Risi e Bisi from Leon: ingredients and recipes by Allegra McEvedy

With thanks to Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of award winning healthy fast food restaurant chain Leon

"A perfect way of using up leftover roast chicken, onions and rice, this is a delicious dish – just don’t expect the brown rice to turn out like a risotto. This version is wonderful, better for you and much easier to get right. Best eaten as soon as you’ve made it.

This makes enough for four people with gargantuan appetites (the only kind I know), or six normal folk.

Download the Mama’s Risi e Bisi recipe - PDF (343k)

Ingredients

• Leftover roast chicken carcass with at least 300g of meat left on it

• Three smallish onions: one whole, two finely chopped

• One carrot

• A few sprigs of thyme or one of rosemary

• Two bay leaves

• A generous handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped (but keep the stalks)

• 100g butter

• A drop of oil

• Four cloves of garlic, finely chopped (optional)

• 200g bacon or pancetta, chopped

• 300g brown basmati rice, rinsed under the cold tap

• 375g peas – or more to taste

• 90g parmesan cheese, finely grated

• Salt and pepper

Method

Put the chicken, whole onion, carrot, celery, herbs on the branch, bay leaves and parsley stalks into a saucepan. Cover with two litres of water, bring to the boil and very slowly simmer for an hour.

After this time, strain it off, take the legs out and set them aside to cool; keep the stock in a bowl next to the hob.

Now melt the butter (plus a drop of oil to stop it burning) in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the chopped onions, garlic and bacon and fry gently over a medium heat so that the bacon fat melts and the onions turn translucent.

Add the rice and stir so that all the grains are coated in fat.

Pour in a cup or large ladle of the simmering stock, and once that has bubbled away add another 500ml or so. Cook gently, stirring occasionally and adding more stock every time it looks in danger of drying out. Brown rice is very thirsty and can take ages to cook – around 45 minutes.

Sometime around when the rice is eventually ready, you should be running out of stock.
Turn the heat off, stir in the peas, put a lid on and leave for five minutes.

Strip the chicken, leaving it in chunky pieces then mix it in with the parmesan, chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan on top, if you like it cheesy."