I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with asparagus. When well prepared it’s a versatile side dish that goes well with many different types of proteins. But when poorly prepared you’re bound to get a mouthful of wooden, fibrous, hard to eat asparagus. With this dish the risk of getting poor asparagus is minimized, since the stalk is cut into smaller pieces. Even with that, it’s important to trim the asparagus properly, so that you don’t get any fibrous asparagus. Most of the time trimming around 2-3 cm will be enough, but that will vary slightly.
Preparing risotto is basically pretty simple, the most important parts being stirring it frequently enough, and cooking the rice perfectly. The tricky part is timing the cooking of the rice with having enough broth to get the right consistency. Because of that, it’s important not to add too much broth to the risotto. Especially at the end of the process, adding just a ladle or two of broth at a time is advised.
Asparagus risotto
A creamy, healthy risotto, that makes a fantastic side for fish
- 400 g Asparagus
- 1-2 Shallot (diced)
- 4 clove Garlic (diced)
- 3 dl Arborio rice
- 5-7 dl Chicken stock (warm)
- 2,5 dl White wine
- olive oil
- Butter
- Parmesan
Trim the tough ends off the asparagus and discard. Cut the tips of the asparagus, and set them aside for later. Cut up the rest of the asparagus to about the same size as the rice.
Sautee diced shallot and garlic in olive oil. Once translucent, add in the chopped asparagus and continue sauteing for a couple minutes.
Add a knob of butter and rice in with the asparagus. Once rice turns slightly translucent add in the wine.
Stir the rice occasionally until the wine has mostly evaporated. Start adding the warm stock in batches. Reduce the heat so that the rice is simmering and continue stirring occasionally, adding more stock to keep rice covered.
Once rice is almost cooked, heat up a separate pan to high heat. Fry the asparagus head with some butter, and season with salt.
Once the risotto is cooked grate a small amount of parmesan on top and garnish with fried asparagus heads. Serve with fish.
Nordic Nick Recipes 