Recipe: Asparagus Risotto

Hey, welcome to my first recipe. I will be either writing up my own or copying one I have found on the net and adding my comments to the steps.

I love cooking and food, hence the weight issue! I worked as a cook and manager at a chalet in Austria for over a year and even though I am no professional, I have a great passion for cooking and believe I am quite good at it. I though find that people are scared to experiment and to be honest I always try new things and mix things up and always have an opinion, as my friends all know. So I will try adding comments for those of you that see cooking as a chore or don't feel confident as well as those of you that want to try new things and just want to see what I did.

I also want to add that I am not the biggest fan of vegetarian cuisine, so I decided this week I will try a couple new recipes with vegetables and no meat!

But enough of me blabbering, lets get to the recipe:

Dietary info:
Cals: 420 kcal
Fat: 12g
Salt: less than 1g

Ingredients:
600ml/21fl oz water/vegetable water
1 reduced-salt vegetable stock cube
12 young asparagus spears
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
150g/5oz risotto rice (wholegrain if available)
2 tablespoons of petit pois (fresh or frozen) (Peas ;) )
20g/¾oz roughly grated parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper

Pierre's tips and mumblings:
Risotto is one of the coolest (yes I used this word) things to cook. Even though it takes a while to cook, it is not one of those annoyingly long recipes. The thing is that you are constantly tending to it and stirring and watching the rice absorb the stock, then you add more and so forth. You are always busy with the cooking and the time flies past in a flash. It is not like the dishes you need to put in the oven and have to wait 30 mins to an hour. The problem with those is that you need to find something to do and those 30 minutes and they feel longer than they are. 


Also, when they say wait until the water is fully absorbed, they mean it. The rice becomes a sticky sort of mess, at that point add more stock.


Regarding the stock, vegetable stock, I find, misses a certain kick in taste. If this is a little bland for you, try using chicken stock, the god of all stocks.


Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring half the vegetable stock to the boil and blanch the asparagus spears for a couple of minutes. (Literally 2 minutes. Especially if you have the thin asparagus tips that you get off season)
2. Drain the asparagus, saving the stock for use later. Run some cold water over the asparagus so that it stops cooking, then drain fully, chop on the diagonal into 1cm (½”) pieces and leave to one side.
3. Wipe out the saucepan and put back on the heat. Measure out the olive oil and add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion is transparent. (Onions should be in nearly anything you cook. At least that is what I believe ;) )
4. Add the risotto rice and stir on a medium-to-low heat for a further two minutes, stirring to coat the rice with the oil.
5. Start adding the stock, a ladle at a time, stirring constantly and only adding more when the stock has been fully absorbed.
6. After about 20-25 minutes, when there is just a ladle of stock left, add the peas and stir in the chopped asparagus stalks, keeping the tips as a garnish. Cook for a further 5 minutes, until the rice is soft but with a little ‘bite’. (Note: cooking times will increase if using wholegrain rice.) (Only add 2 table spoons of peas. Otherwise you are making Asparagus and pea risotto as I did)
7. Serve in warmed bowls. Sprinkle with a little coarse grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper, and top with the heads of the asparagus.

There you have it. Simple eh? And it is rewarding, very healthy and tastes quite good! The picture is of the one I made.

Let me know if you liked it.
Pierre