- 300ml/10fl oz vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 300g/10oz risotto rice
- 175ml/6fl oz white wine
- 400g/14oz shelled garden peas
- 400ml/14fl oz double cream
- 200g/7oz parmesan, freshly grated
- 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
- 2 tbsp finely chopped flatleaf parsley
- 1x 500g/1lb 2oz skate wing, skinned both sides
- 1 x bunch asparagus, stem trimmed and lower buds discarded
- 50g/2oz butter
- 6 small morel mushrooms
- 1 handful baby spinach leaves
- ½ lemon, juice only
- 1 x punnet pea shoots
- 1 x punnet purple cress
- For the risotto, place the vegetable stock into a saucepan and warm through.
- Heat a frying pan until medium hot, add the oil, shallots and garlic and gently fry without browning. Add the rice to the pan and gently stir.
- Add the white wine and cook until reduced by half.
- Gradually add the vegetable stock, a little at a time as the rice starts to cook, adding more as each ladleful is absorbed, until the rice is cooked and all the vegetable stock has been absorbed.
- Blend the peas in a food processor until they become a purée.
- When the risotto rice is nearly cooked, remove from the heat and add the double cream and a few good spoonfuls of the pea purée.
- Add the grated parmesan, check the seasoning, then stir in the chopped herbs.
- Meanwhile for the skate, gently remove the skate meat off the bone with a sharp filleting knife and lay onto a piece of cling film. Season with a little salt and roll as tightly as possible.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the skate parcel and simmer for about eight minutes until the skate is just cooked through.
- Remove the skate from the water, then add the asparagus to the same water and cook for two minutes until nearly tender.
- Drain the asparagus and pat dry.
- Heat a frying pan until medium hot, add the butter and asparagus and sauté with the fresh morels and the leaf spinach for a minute.
- Gently unwrap the skate wing and drizzle with some fresh lemon juice.
- To serve, spoon the risotto into the centre of a serving bowl and sit the skate cannelloni on top. Arrange the asparagus, morels and spinach around the skate and garnish with the pea shoots and cress and serve straight away.