Support your local fishmonger with this tasty meal

Charlotte says this dish will serve two people and takes about 45 minutes to prepare.

Charlotte, who reached the semi-finals of this year’s MasterChef competition, said: “This is always my go to dish if I have forgotten to get something out of the freezer or I haven’t been to the shops as I generally always have these ingredients in. Although when I mentioned this to my friends they laughed and said they didn’t have any of these ingredients in so maybe this doesn’t apply to everyone. I always make sure I have a bag of king prawns in the freezer they can be expensive buying at first but last for ages and work out cheaper in the long run. Plus, if you need to defrost them quickly you can do this in a matter of minutes by running them under cold water and they will defrost as normal.

“I cannot stress how much better quality the fish is from a local fishmonger and in these times especially its important to support small local businesses. My favourite supplier is Bebbington & Williams just outside of Chester. This dish can be easily salty so compared to most of my recipes hold off on the seasoning and keep tasting along the way.

Ingredients:

• 110g raw king prawns

• 110g chorizo

• 1 large shallot (around 50g)

• 1 clove garlic

• 100ml white wine

• 1litre fish stock

• 175g arborio rice

• ½ lemon

• Knob of butter

Method:

1. Cut the chorizo into bite site sized pieces

2. Heat a frying pan over a medium to high heat with a splash of olive oil and add the chorizo and cooked until it has started to the release the oil and started to brown

3. Once cooked remove from the pan and put it on a plate on the side

4. Return the same pan to the heat and add the prawns and cook for 3-4 minutes until just cooked through

5. Once cooked remove from the pan and put them on the same plate

6. Finely dice the shallot and mince the garlic

7. Bring the fish stock to boil in a saucepan and then reduce to a simmer

8. Heat a large frying pan or sauté pan on a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil

9. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes until just translucent and not brown

10. Add the arborio rice and mix well with the shallots allow the rice to cook for 2 minutes

11. Add the white wine and it a stir until all of the wine has been absorbed into the rice

12. Next add a ladle full of fish stock and stir the rice until it has all been absorbed

13. Keep adding the stock one ladleful at a time, making sure each time the stock is absorbed before adding the next until the rice is cooked. Its important to keep stirring the risotto regularly as this is what makes is creamy. Once its ready it will normally stop absorbing any more stock and should taste al dente (cooked but still have a bit of bite) which should take around 20-25 mins. You might not need all your stock, if you run out of stock you can add a bit of water.

14. Add the butter, prawns and chorizo to the risotto and stir through until the butter has melted and the prawns and chorizo have warmed back up

15. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the risotto and season to taste