Thursday, March 28, 2013

Lemon Cream Asparagus Mushroom Risotto


The first thing I ever cooked in my life was risotto. I think I was about 11 and my mom asked if I wanted to help with dinner, and we were having risotto. I remember thinking how easy it was, my job was the stirrer. The first meal my daughter ever cooked was today, and it was risotto. How special is that? 
She took the asparagus and mushroom out of the fridge of me, stirred the veggies (the oven wasn't on, but I wanted her to feel like she was really helping here), measured out the rice as well. She had a ball. She said she felt like a princess. 
One of my favorite meals is risottos. If I am at a restaurant I have a really hard time not ordering risotto. I find that it's really expensive at places...where at home, it's actually very inexpensive.
You'll need to exclusively use arborio rice, which is a short grained italian rice. It expands a lot and contains a high amount of starch so it creams well.


Recipe:

8 cups chicken broth
2 cups arborio rice
2 lemos
1 onion
bunch of asparagus
mushrooms
half and half 
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup parm cheese
olive oil
salt 



Dice onions and asparagus. Heat a pan with olive oil and add vegetables. Sautee until soft. Set aside.


Add a second pan with olive oil and heat. When heated, add your two cups of rice and stir until slightly golden.
At this point, you want to add 1 cup of chicken broth. Stir in chicken broth until absorbed, and add another cup. 


Add salt to taste.
Continue to do this until your rice is soft but still has the tiniest hint of a bite to it. It should have expanded & creamed nicely. 


When the rice is cooked add your lemon juice and your wine(let the wine heat and the alcohol cook out). I used two small lemons.


Add your cream


And cheese.



Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. My goodness, does this look mouthwateringly scrumptious! I love a good creamy mushroom risotto, too (and my husband would adore the inclusion of asparagus here, as it's one of his very favourite veggies, so it would be a big hit with both of us).

    Happiest Easter weekend wishes,
    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Jessica! If you try it out, please let me know what you think! Btw- I adore your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm going to have to try this, sans mushrooms! I love my old stand by for asparagus risotto, but it does not call for cream. Let's face it, cream may not be good for the hips, but it sure does make everything taste better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So true Toni! Cream makes everything better...and butter...my poor cholesterol haha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yum can't wait to try this one!!!!

    ReplyDelete