Yellowfin Whiting and Asparagus Risotto

by Callum Hann

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Download recipe card (PDF 358.3 KB)

Ingredients

• 1.5L good quality fish or vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons extra
• 1 brown onion, finely diced
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 lemon
• 1 ½ cups arborio rice
• 8 x 80g fillets yellowfin whiting
• 2 bunches asparagus, woody ends snapped off, sliced into 2cm pieces, tips left whole
• 1 bunch broccolini, sliced into 2cm pieces
• ½ cup frozen peas
• small handful fresh dill, roughly chopped

Method

1. Bring stock to the boil in a saucepan, set aside and keep warm.
2. Fry onion, thyme and garlic in a large pot with one tablespoon olive oil, stirring, until translucent. Add rice and stir for 30 seconds to toast the rice. Zest the lemon and reserve. Add the juice to the pan, then add a ladleful of hot stock and bring to a simmer. Add more stock as required throughout the process to make sure the rice is just covered with liquid. Stir occasionally. The risotto will take about 16-18 minutes to cook, so if you run out of stock before this time use a little hot water.
3. Heat a second non-stick pan over high heat and add the remaining olive oil. Add whiting and cook for 1-2 minutes, skin side down, until almost cooked through. Remove fish from pan and rest skin side up to finish warming through. It’s worth noting the fish will continue to cook even once it’s removed from the pan! Add asparagus and broccolini to the pan the fish was cooked in. Stir regularly for two minutes or until vegetables are bright green and almost tender. Add the frozen peas and stir for a minute to defrost them. Remove from heat.
4. When the rice is al dente, stir in the vegetables. Stir through dill. Divide among bowls, top with whiting then serve.