This risotto is dotted with beautiful green spring vegetables and makes a lovely vegetarian lunch or dinner. Delicious with a roasted beet and arugula salad, it's simple to make. There is no arduous stirring; the rice cooker takes care of everything.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　1 cup medium-grain rice, such as Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone

　　Nonstick cooking spray

　　4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided

　　1 garlic clove, minced

　　1 leek, tender white part only, finely chopped

　　1 cup packed baby spinach, finely chopped

　　1 fennel bulb, wispy ends removed and finely chopped

　　1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, or dry vermouth

　　2 1/2 cups chicken broth

　　1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (see Cooks' Note)

　　1 cup shelled English peas

　　1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

　　Salt and freshly ground black pepper

　　

Step 1

Place the rice in a sieve and rinse under a steady stream of cool water, stirring the grains. When the water runs clear, stop rinsing and shake the sieve to drain off excess water.

　　

Step 2

Coat the inside of a medium rice cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Set the rice cooker to the regular cycle or to quick cook if it's a fuzzy-logic machine. Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter; add the garlic, leek, spinach, and fennel; and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the leek is softened. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the rice and chicken broth and stir to distribute the ingredients.

　　

Step 3

Cover the rice cooker and reset to the regular cycle. Set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, stir in the fava beans and peas. Cover and allow to steam for an additional 5 minutes on the keep-warm setting or with the machine turned off. (Many rice cookers, including all fuzzy-logic machines, do this automatically.) Stir in the remaining 2 Tbsp butter and the Parmigiano. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

　　Cooks' Note

　　To remove the tougher skin from fava beans, blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, drain in a colander, and when cooled, slip off the skins.

　　Many times in restaurants, you will get a risotto that isn't creamy; it happens when the cook is distracted and doesn't watch the rice. Well-made risotto has some thickened liquid along with the rice; that's what makes it creamy, rather than a gelatinous mass. As the rice sits on your plate, it is still cooking and will absorb the remaining liquid.

　　Reprinted from The Everyday Rice Cooker: Soups, Sides, Grains, Mains, and More, by Diane Phillips, copyright © 2015, published by Chronicle Books.