Nettle Risotto

Ingredients

1 onion - finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
250g Risotto rice (like Arborio - sometimes I use Baldo if that's what I have to hand)
500ml Stock (vegetable or chicken)
A couple of hand-fulls of young nettle leaves (stingers or a mix of stinging nettles and white dead nettles) - leaves picked off the stems and soaked in salted water for roughly an hour, then rinsed.
Chilli flakes to taste (optional)
Parmesan or grana padano cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Option: fried crispy nettles to garnish

Nettle leaves (soaked and rinsed as above - pat as dry as you can with a clean tea towel)
Oil - I used olive, but suspect a mild-tasting vegetable or nut oil would work well. I've heard of butter being used... it sounds delicious.
Salt

Method

Heat a large saucepan over low heat until hot and add some oil (approximately 2 - 3 tablespoons).
Cook the onion slowly for approximately 10 minutes, until soft but not burnt.
Add the garlic and the rice, stirring to coat in oil for a couple of minutes.
Now is the time to add chilli flakes if you're using them - I tend to opt for a teaspoon for some oomph.
Stir a ladle-full of stock into the rice until absorbed. Continue to add liquid, a ladle at a time, until the rice is still slightly firm (roughly 15 - 20 minutes) - then add the nettle leaves and stir.
Continue to cook for 10 more minutes or until the rice is soft to taste and the dish is creamy. You may find you have a bit too much stock or not quite enough - if you need more liquid, a bit of water can be added at the end.
Stir in some grated parmesan, grana padano, or another firm cheese of your choosing, if you wish.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

If you would like to garnish this dish with some crispy nettles, it's quite simple but messy. (Do be careful - hot oil likes to spit.)

Make sure your leaves are as dry as possible - this will stop the oil from spitting quite so much.
In a frying pan, heat roughly half a centimetre of oil until it is very hot.
Add individual leaves.
Fry until crispy (roughly 2 minutes) - turning from time to time to make sure both sides crisp.
Transfer to a paper towel to let some of the oil drain away and sprinkle with a little bit of salt.
Eat as a snack or use as a garnish on your nettle risotto.