 Risotto's one of those comforting savoury foods which bring floods of memories of my time in Italy where I would regularly be put to stir the risotto. It's a very responsible role because forget to stir it for a second and it will stick to the bottom of the pan. And I love making risotto: the calm, repetitive stirring is very centring. It is an art form, but it is very easily mastered. There are certain little tricks, which once learnt and implemented, reward your patient stirring with excellent results. Asparagus risotto is one of those delights which mark the start of Spring. Today I made it for the first time this year, with asparagus from the Isle of Weight, which we buy from the Garlic Farm's stall at Borough Market (the best garlic around - no excuses please, they do mail order for garlic and asparagus). Totally delicious. Just like soup, the key starting block is good stock. Make the stock in the morning by boiling a large pan of fresh water with an quartered onion, a few peeled garlic cloves, a carrot or two, a stick of celery, a couple of leeks, and the tough ends of the asparagus. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1/2 to 3/4 hour, it's very forgiving, and strain it into a bowl, discarding the flaccid cooked vegetables.
Lightly steam the asparagus, for maybe 3-4 minutes, so that they are softened, if you don't want them to be too crunchy and woody. Cool under a running tap of fresh water.
About 10 minutes before you're due to start making the risotto bring the correct amount of stock to the boil in a saucepan next to the ring on which you will be making the risotto. Keep it just boiling; you don't want it boiling too fast otherwise you'll lose a lot to evaporation. - For 2 people you need 6oz of risotto rice (( love Arborio) and 1 and 1/2 pints of hot stock. For 4 people 12oz and 3 pints, and so on. More than 8 people gets hard going: to have a pan large enough and a ring big enough.
 When you're ready to start the risotto place a large knob of ghee (clarified butter) in the heavy bottomed shallow pan. Make sure that the pan you use is big enough to accommodate the rice when it has expanded, and the asparagus. Finely chop an onion and allow it to soften in the butter, it's best to have the heat not too hot and put the lid on. Just make sure it doesn't stick. Meanwhile, make sure you have everything ready: chop the asparagus into chunks, keeping the bottom 2/3 of each stem separate from the tips. When the onions are softened (about 5-10 minutes depending how gentle you're being), squish in a few cloves of garlic through a garlic press, or have them very finely chopped. Stir and make sure that none of the garlic and onion browns.
Now, here's the trick. Add the rice and stir until it just starts to stick. Immediately add a ladleful of the hot stock into the risotto pan and keep stirring, ensuring you cover all the pan and no area gets left out to be a sticky hot spot. Keep the heat constant, not too hot that it bubbles like some extra on the old Dr Who episodes, and not so sedate that it reminds you of an old lady driving ahead of you in a country lane. From now it's going to take 25 minutes. As soon as the rice begins to stick again, because it has absorbed all the liquid, then add the next ladleful of hot stock. After you've been stirring constantly for about 10 minutes add the chopped asparagus stems (keep the tips to add later). Keep stirring and adding the hot stock, one ladleful at a time. About 5 minutes from the end, add the asparagus tips and add seasoning (black pepper will show up as black spots, so use white pepper if you can). Bite a grain of rice to make sure that it is cooked through (there will be no white spot in the middle if it is). Even if it looks cooked, you may still have some stock left over. Add it and boil vigorously to reduce it if necessary. Grate in some parmesan. Stir it thoroughly one last time. Put the lid on and leave it for 5 minutes to absorb the final liquid and for the creaminess of the rice starch to come through.
Today we had a mixed leaf, chopped tomato and crumbled feta salad, dressed simply in olive oil and lemon juice while the risotto was resting. We finished lunch with homemade stewed apples and pears, with immortal yoghurt and granola. A veritable feast. :)
This is just one of the many recipes from Club 15CC which I have posted on the Be the Woman You were Born to Be... Inner Circle. Find out more here. |
