Cooking
One day it's pouring rain and the next it's sunny and bright. Trees are already blooming with cherry blossoms, the delicate pink petals sometimes getting washed away in a sudden downpour. The hills all around the Bay Area are green and lush. And in the store you can find fresh strawberries, artichokes and asparagus.
I think one of the reasons I love the Spring so much is the tender delicious fruits and vegetables. After eating hardy root vegetables and cabbage, chard, potatoes and leeks, the vegetables of Spring are a welcome change of pace. They are a wonderful reminder of new life and fresh beginnings.
Asparagus is available much of the year but in the Spring it is at it's best. My favorite way to serve asparagus is in risotto. I make a broth from the stems and add the tips and the tender stems to the rice at the last moment so it stays tender-crisp. While Winter vegetables are wonderful cooked in soup or mashed somehow Spring vegetables seem too delicate to manhandle in that way.
I have been loathe to share a risotto recipe because I truly believe it is one of those dishes you have to have tasted perfectly cooked to understand. Watching someone make it is also an excellent way to learn. But don't let my foibles keep you from mastering it.
Asparagus Risotto
Serves 4 as a first course or 2 as a main course
Ingredients
About 4 cups chicken stock or broth, vegetable stock is ok too
1 bunch asparagus, about 1 pound, thick or thin, either is fine
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium cup onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup Fontina or Jack cheese, grated (I've even used brie)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
Simmer the stock with the tough ends of the stems of the asparagus. Season the stock with a couple teaspoons of salt. Remove and discard the stems after 5-10 minutes. Slice the asparagus into 1/4 inch thick diagonal slices.
Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, and cook until soft but not brown, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the grains become opaque and white, another 2 minutes.
Add the wine, if you desire, and cook until it evaporates. Add 1/2 cup of the stock at a time, stirring and cooking until the rice is nearly dry. Add another 1/2 cup of the stock and continue to stir and cook, adding stock as necessary, until the rice is almost cooked, about 15 minutes. Stir in the asparagus slices. Continue to cook until the asparagus is just barely cooked, about 3 minutes or so. Risotto should take 18 minutes total cooking time.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cheeses. Let the risotto sit in the pot for a couple of minutes before serving. It should be soft and runny, not firm. If it is too dense, add a spot more liquid. Taste for seasonings--salt if necessary. Serve with more Parmesan cheese to top. Risotto should be al dente, not as soft as regular rice.
Enjoy!
- Roasted Asparagus With Green Garlic & Panko Recipe
This past Saturday at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market I found lots of harbingers of Spring, all green--asparagus, green garlic, artichokes and even obscure ones like wild radish rapini. I bought a bit of each. The rapini I will blanch then probably...
- Spring Omelette: Recipe
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- Cream Of Broccoli And Pesto Soup Recipe
I often skip online blogging events these days. But the idea of inviting bloggers to dinner is a very nice one indeed. Too bad my apartment is so small and my table virtually impossible to get more than three chairs around. Truth be told, other than...
- Spring Vegetables
Typically the arrival of thistle shaped green vegetables such as asparagus and artichokes signal that Spring has sprung. But last week I was seduced into buying some exotic looking white asparagus and violet artichokes, each of which are much more common...
- Revisiting An Old Friend
It has been a very long time. At least a year. More than a year since we've made risotto? How can this be? Well, with an ounce of saffron kicking around, it was time to correct that. Risotto is one of Matt's specialties, so I'll let him...
Cooking
Asparagus Risotto Recipe
One day it's pouring rain and the next it's sunny and bright. Trees are already blooming with cherry blossoms, the delicate pink petals sometimes getting washed away in a sudden downpour. The hills all around the Bay Area are green and lush. And in the store you can find fresh strawberries, artichokes and asparagus.
I think one of the reasons I love the Spring so much is the tender delicious fruits and vegetables. After eating hardy root vegetables and cabbage, chard, potatoes and leeks, the vegetables of Spring are a welcome change of pace. They are a wonderful reminder of new life and fresh beginnings.
Asparagus is available much of the year but in the Spring it is at it's best. My favorite way to serve asparagus is in risotto. I make a broth from the stems and add the tips and the tender stems to the rice at the last moment so it stays tender-crisp. While Winter vegetables are wonderful cooked in soup or mashed somehow Spring vegetables seem too delicate to manhandle in that way.
I have been loathe to share a risotto recipe because I truly believe it is one of those dishes you have to have tasted perfectly cooked to understand. Watching someone make it is also an excellent way to learn. But don't let my foibles keep you from mastering it.
Asparagus Risotto
Serves 4 as a first course or 2 as a main course
Ingredients
About 4 cups chicken stock or broth, vegetable stock is ok too
1 bunch asparagus, about 1 pound, thick or thin, either is fine
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium cup onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup Fontina or Jack cheese, grated (I've even used brie)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
Simmer the stock with the tough ends of the stems of the asparagus. Season the stock with a couple teaspoons of salt. Remove and discard the stems after 5-10 minutes. Slice the asparagus into 1/4 inch thick diagonal slices.
Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, add the onion, and cook until soft but not brown, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the grains become opaque and white, another 2 minutes.
Add the wine, if you desire, and cook until it evaporates. Add 1/2 cup of the stock at a time, stirring and cooking until the rice is nearly dry. Add another 1/2 cup of the stock and continue to stir and cook, adding stock as necessary, until the rice is almost cooked, about 15 minutes. Stir in the asparagus slices. Continue to cook until the asparagus is just barely cooked, about 3 minutes or so. Risotto should take 18 minutes total cooking time.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cheeses. Let the risotto sit in the pot for a couple of minutes before serving. It should be soft and runny, not firm. If it is too dense, add a spot more liquid. Taste for seasonings--salt if necessary. Serve with more Parmesan cheese to top. Risotto should be al dente, not as soft as regular rice.
Enjoy!
- Roasted Asparagus With Green Garlic & Panko Recipe
This past Saturday at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market I found lots of harbingers of Spring, all green--asparagus, green garlic, artichokes and even obscure ones like wild radish rapini. I bought a bit of each. The rapini I will blanch then probably...
- Spring Omelette: Recipe
The addition of fresh herbs breathes life into dishes. Herbs are vibrant, bright and introduce flavor that is so startlingly different from dried herbs that I can never understand recipes that imply they are interchangeable. In Italy I learned to make...
- Cream Of Broccoli And Pesto Soup Recipe
I often skip online blogging events these days. But the idea of inviting bloggers to dinner is a very nice one indeed. Too bad my apartment is so small and my table virtually impossible to get more than three chairs around. Truth be told, other than...
- Spring Vegetables
Typically the arrival of thistle shaped green vegetables such as asparagus and artichokes signal that Spring has sprung. But last week I was seduced into buying some exotic looking white asparagus and violet artichokes, each of which are much more common...
- Revisiting An Old Friend
It has been a very long time. At least a year. More than a year since we've made risotto? How can this be? Well, with an ounce of saffron kicking around, it was time to correct that. Risotto is one of Matt's specialties, so I'll let him...