With a family  from Apulia and Veneto, where the 71% of Italian asparagus are produced, it was impossible not to find many recipes among our mother’s notes. And-as  I love rice-today we have  Risotto with asparagus.

INGREDIENTS

• 400 g ( 14 oz)of asparagus

• 200 g  (7 oz)of Carnaroli /Arborio/Roma rice

• 1/2 onion

• Hot vegetable broth

• parmigiano cheese

•          extra virgin olive oil

•          salt,pepper

Risotto with asparagus a typical Spring dish

Cooking risotto is a typical Italian preparation. In Italy, in fact, the rice  is cooked slowly with the addition of a little broth at a time. To cook risotto with asparagus we recommend using a good vegetable stock, possibly made at home( follow the recipe click here for  the link) Compared to that of meat, it is in fact more delicate in flavour.

Preparation

Chop the half onion

Cut off the asparagus tips, size of  2 or 3 cm ( 1 inch)

Steam the asparagus, the tips only for 5 minutes, the stocks for 15 minutes

Pour a spoonful of oil into a saucepan and let the asparagus tips flavor for 5 minutes and set aside.

 Cut the rest of the asparagus into rounds.

Pour 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan and cook the chopped onion  for 2/3min.

Add the rice, toast it briefly, then add the asparagus slices.

Stir with a wooden spoon then pour over a couple of ladles of hot broth.

Cook the risotto by cooking it as usual, adding a ladle of broth as the previous one has been absorbed

Almost at the end of cooking, season with salt and pepper, add the asparagus tips and stir in the grated cheese. Be delicate with the pepper as risotto is a delicate dish.

 

Mix very delicately and let it rest covered for a couple of minutes, then serve the asparagus risotto hot.

Tips

It is possible to add 1 glass white wine. However, the result will certainly be excellent, slightly more aromatic.

It is possible to add a spoonful of butter to the beginning in the saucepan with the oil and, if desired, a spoonful at the end.

The most important moment of the risotto is la mantecatura ,the creaming and that’s the reason to add butter and parmigiano at the end of the cooking but as you can see from the photos when using steamed asparagus they produce the creaminess by themselves.