Ham and Snap Pea Risotto

Happy Easter! I hope you and your family had a wonderful celebration of Christ's resurrection. If you had a delicious ham dinner yesterday, and have leftover meat, this would be another great use for it. I've said it before, risotto screams "spring" to me, and I think I've made one version or another once a week for the last couple of weeks.

Basically, all risotto recipes are the same - the add ins are different, but the process is the same - saute onions and garlic and rice, add broth, and stir, stir, stir.

For this recipe, chop up the onions and halve the snap peas.



Drop the peas into boiling water



and cook for 1 minute. Immediately drain, then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.



Now heat up the broth in a medium saucepan and keep it warm. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat, then add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic



and cook for another minute. Then pour in the rice



and stir and cook for another minute. Add a ladleful of broth



and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir constantly until most of the broth is absorbed. Continue this process, adding broth by the ladle and stirring, until the broth is gone and the rice is tender but still firm. This will take about 20 minutes.

Now, at the end, add the ham



and the peas,



and stir for a minute or so until the peas and ham are heated through. Then add the pepper and the Parmesan



and stir it up so the cheese melts a bit. Leftovers have never tasted so good!

One year ago: Greek Chicken Pasta
Two years ago: Pesto Pasta Salad with Peas
Three years ago: Banana Oat Bread

Find more great inspiration at Mangia Mondays, Menu Mondays, Mouthwatering Mondays, Mop it up Mondays, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday at the Table, Tasty Tuesday (#2), Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Made from Scratch Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday (#3), A Little Birdie Told Me, Talent Show Tuesday, Hearth and Soul, These Chicks Cooked, Food on Friday: Ham.

Ham and Snap Pea Risotto

1 1/2 cups halved snap peas
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup diced ham
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Cook peas in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then reduce heat to low and keep warm.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions for 2 minutes then add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Pour in the rice and cook and stir for 1 minute until rice is slightly toasty.

Reduce the heat slightly then add a ladleful of broth, and cook and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. Keep adding the broth, one ladleful at a time, and cook and stir until the broth is absorbed before adding more. This process will take about20 minutes and rice should be tender but firm.

Add in peas and ham and stir until heated through. Sprinkle with pepper and add the parmesan cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Serves 4.