Instant Pot Fennel & Leek Risotto

5 from 4 votes

Instant Pot Fennel & Leek Risotto

Seasonal, delicious and on your table in just over half an hour! This Instant Pot Fennel & Leek Risotto is perfect for mid-week dinner! With its delicate flavour, subtle hint of aniseed, this risotto is a true celebration of Spring!

Course Main Course, Risotto

Cuisine British, Italian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Resting time 5

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories

Author Jo Allison

Ingredients

300 g short grain risotto rice I used arborio
2 leeks cleaned and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 fennel quartered and thinly sliced
1 ltr hot vegetable stock from cube is fine
25 g unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter)
50 g parmesan grated
1 lemon (zest of whole lemon and juice of half a lemon)
parmesan rind optional
salt & pepper
fennel fronds saved for garnish

Instructions

Instant Pot

Melt butter in the Instant Pot using Sauté function (it should be set on High, 30min) and fry thinly sliced leek and celery for couple of minutes until they start to get soft and translucent but not coloured. Make sure you stir now and again to prevent them from catching.
Add sliced fennel and garlic and let these fry for another minute or so before adding rice. Once rice has been added stir everything really well as we want for the rice to be coated in buttery veggies mixture. Turn the pot off by pressing Keep Warm/Cancel button.
Pour in a little bit of stock at first to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Give it a good scrape with the wooden spoon to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. Add all of the remaining stock and stir well.
Put on the lid and lock it in place making sure that the black, steam releasing valve is pointing to "Sealing". Set your Instant Pot to "Manual" on High setting for 7 min.
When the time is up turn the pot off by pressing Keep Warm/Cancel button and move the black, steam releasing valve to "Venting" which will release the pressure straight away (QPR - Quick Pressure Release). Take care not to scald yourself with hot steam when moving the valve.
Take off the lid and add juice of half a lemon (or to taste),lemon zest and grated parmesan. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Let risotto stand for 5 minutes before serving it with crusty garlic bread and some fennel fronds as garnish!

Traditional "on the hob" cooking method

Follow the instructions for frying vegetables as above.
Add rice and stir it well making sure it's well coated in buttery veggies mixture.
Slowly start adding your stock (ladle at a time) for approx 16-20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Make sure you stir your rice well each time you add the stock. You want the rice to have slight bite to it.
Once you are happy with consistency of your risotto add juice of half a lemon (or to taste), lemon zest and grated parmesan. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Let risotto stand for 5 minutes before serving it with crusty garlic bread and some fennel fronds as garnish!

Notes

I find the consistency of finished risotto perfect especially after it had a chance to rest for 5 min before serving. However, if you find it too "wet" for your liking, try stirring it first and if you still find it a bit "sloppy" turn on the Sauté function and let it reduce slightly.
I'm a huge fan of ghee (clarified butter) when sautéing vegetables for risotto as unlike regular butter it doesn't burn. However, if you don't have ghee simply use regular, unsalted butter with a teaspoon or so of oil to prevent butter from burning.
I always keep my leftover parmesan rinds in the fridge to add to soups, stews and risottos when cooking for added flavour. Feel free to leave it out!

Nutrition