Recipe blogging: Mushroom/Asparagus Risotto

I’ve been making risotto lately by slavishly following some of the recipes in this book, which is a marvelous compendium of simple italian cooking (I particularly recommend the unexpected and weird but delicious strawberry risotto). Now that I’m a bit more experienced and confident with risotto, I decided to try a recipe of my own. Setting aside any pretense to modesty, I must say my first attempt was a pretty impressive success. If anything, this borders on too rich, so you could probably cut back on the cream (or use 1/4 c cream, 1/4 c whole milk) or the butter or maybe the cheese. I didn’t exactly measure all the ingredients too carefully, so some of these are estimates. This is a large recipe; given how rich it is it should serve 6-8.

3-4 Tablespoons butter
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2/3 or so lbs. asparagus
2/3 or so lbs. button mushrooms
2 c risotto rice
6-7 c vegetable broth
1 c white wine
1/2 c half and half
3-4 oz. fontina, grated
2-3 oz. swiss (I used ementaller)
1 smallish shallot
a little lemon juice (the juice from about 1/8 a large lemon, in my case)
salt, pepper, parsley (ideally fresh)

1) Remove the stems from the mushrooms; and snap off the tip of the asparagus spears.

2) Finely dice the mushroom stems and the tender part of the asparagus stems and the shallot.

3) Melt the butter in a large pan (if you have a stove with hot spots, like I do, a cast iron pot is a wonderful thing) with a splash of olive oil.

4) Put in the diced shallot, cook for about five minutes over medium heat

(during this time, put the vegetable broth in a separate pot and heat it up. Once it’s hot, keep it on low heat–it shouldn’t be boiling)

5) Add the diced mushroom stems and asparagus spears, cook for another 3-4 minutes.

6) Add the rice. Cook for 1 minute or so, stirring constantly until all the rice is coated with butter/oil mixture.

7) Add about half the white wine. While stirring contantly making sure none of the rice sticks, cook until liquid is absorbed.

8) Constantly stirring, add a ladleful of broth. When the liquid is absorbed, do it again. Add splashes of the rest of the white wine occasionally as well, until it’s gone.

9) in the meantime, slice the mushroom caps and mix with the asparagus, toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and finely diced or pressed garlic. Wrap in aluminum foil and place under a low broiler. Check regularly until it’s done, maybe 10 minutes with a low broiler but I didn’t really keep track of the time on this, so watch it closely.

10) Also in the meantime, grate the swiss and fontina.

(note–unless you have an accomplice you may want to do 9 and 10 in advance, since you need to be constantly stirring. If you forget, turn the risotto down to low heat for a while so it won’t stick while you take short breaks from stirring)

11) Keep on incorporating the broth until it is gone. If the rice is not soft and done, use more vegetable broth or hot water until the texture is right.

12) Finally, when the rice is done or very nearly done, incorporate the half and half, the cheese, the roasted vegetables and their juices, and parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Cook a few more minutes until cream and all liquids are incorporated. The total cooking process, from the addition of the white wine until the cream is incorporated, took me about 35 minutes, but don’t worry about how long it takes, just keep going until the rice is done.

13) Serve with a bit of grated parmesan.