Asparagus Risotto

“This was very good and uncomplicated.I don’t understand why some people don’t just publish their own recipe instead of publishing a novel critiquing others?”

“This was my first attempt at risotto and it was fabulous.Thanks so much for another recipe to use my backyard asparagus in :)”

“Delicious but I did make 2 minor changes to this recipe:
I used vegetable broth instead of chicken.
I put the stock in a pot to heat and kept it warm while I used it to add to the risotto.I will be using this regularly for one of our non-meat meals!”

“Delicious Risotto!! I have only made risotto one other time – so this is new to me – this was easy and came out lovely! I substited olive oil for the butter and I used 1 cup of white wine in place of 1 cup of stock.I did not add the basil – personal preference.I did add cracked fresh black pepper and quite a bit more asparagus – I added some as directed in recipe – but then steamed the remaining and added it to the finished dish.I will make this again!”

“mmm this risotto was sooooo delicious!!I could make a meal of just it.The asparagus was perfectly cooked, nice and crisp, I used roasted garlic cus that was what I had and 2% milk, the milk worked just fine.Had to use dried basil but will be sure to have fresh in next time.Would be great to serve to guest, thanks for posting!”

“Oh my god!It’s fantastic. Very simple to make, was a huge hit and made me look like a good cook. Definitely a keeper!”

“This was my first time making risotto and it was so easy!!!The results were outstanding and my hubby asked “Why did you make a main dish? I’ll just have the risotto.”Thanks Gay and I’m cooking it for his birthday dinner tomorrow!”

“We love this recipe and every time I make it there are no leftovers. I’ve even passed it along to some of my family and they love it as well. Thank you for this wonderful and delicious version of risotto!”

“I have never made risotto before because I thought it was too complicated to make…I was so wrong!This is an amazing dish.The ONLY change I made was that I used 2 fresh sprigs of rosemary instead of the basil.I threw them in whole while cooking my onions.The rosemary flavor was now infused with my onions.It was absolutely heavenly.I can’t wait to make this again but I think next time I will toss in some grilled shrimp and make a complete meal out of it.Thank you so much for posting this recipe.I will never be intimidated to make risotto again.”

“I made this recipe tonight and everyone loved it! It was very easy and I followed the directions although I did make a few changes. I ended up needing more than 4 cups of broth (probably closer to 6) and I chose to add more than the suggested parmesan. I didn’t add basil either.It is definitely a keeper!”

“Great risotto, so easy and tasty. I reduced the basil, to suit my tastebuds, but that’s the only change I made. “

“I followed the recipe as directed and my family really liked it a lot. My daughter who doesn’t care for asparagus (unless it is drowning in ranch dressing) really liked it. This is going into my personal cookbook. Thank you for posting, I will be using this one again.Rachel Castle”

“I have never made risotto before and found this recipe to be very nice and relatively easy to make.You kind of have to babysit the pot, but I guess that goes with the territory concerning risotto.The flavor was very nice, except next time I’ll omit the basil.It WAY overpowered the dish and was much better without it, but that could just be a personal preference.I doubled the cream (didn’t want to see it go to waste..heehee).Thanks for posting. I’ll definitely make it again.”

“I have made risotto many times in my life and this recipe is something that I have also tried many times.My opinions are very subjective but I do believe that it is posible to improve on what Gay has published here… With all due respect, of course… [OK, eventually I will publish my recipe for asparagus risotto.]1) I don’t use butter for this recipe and stick to virgin olive oil (I tried mixing olive oil with butter for the sofritto… The results are good but why add more fat?)Here, it was not mentioned that the goal was to make the onions translucid and not to brown them. Ah! whenever I feel like changing things I also orange pepper to the sofritto.But that’s just another way of playing with the recipe…2) After the sofritto is done this is the right time to add the herbs and spices.The reason for this is that some esential oils from the herbs are released while water soluble components are released when the broth is added. In fact, this is the very reason why some cooks season by stages and tasting as they cook.I am much more liberal with the herbs than what is published here and believe that chopped fresh parsely, basil, and oregano add a lot.3) Two of the crucial steps (in my humble opinion)that I didn’t see in the recipe, are to defaten the stock and to heat it while cooking the risotto so that it is easier for the rice to absorb the liquids.The risotto will be as good as the broth you used.4) Gay didn’t mention adding white wine or another suitable alcoholic beverage before adding the broth to the rice (I use a Pinot Grigio.) This is done after coating the rice with the sofritto and it makes a huge difference.5) In regards to the asparagus I save the tips for garnishing and steam the 1″ pieces separately and afterwards I save the asparagus broth that I use for cooking fungi risotto.The advantage of this little step is the added benefit of having a great defatened broth from the asparagus that can be used for other recipes.This was a fantastic discovery… Ah! I refrigerate the asparagus stock so that the next day it becomes pink.Since it is difficult to control temperature, consistency of the rice and seasoning, I only add the asparagus at the end… Right before the montecato step…6) I understand the need to make the risotto creamy with heavy cream but it really isn’t necessary.The montecato step is something that only adds more fat to the dish and doesn’t improve the flavor noticeably.I have seen that a laddle of broth and the addition of Parmesan cheese helps to adjust the creamy texture of the dish.I also add the juice of one lemon to break the protein from the cheese a little bit and enhance the flavors… [I also add a little lemon peel at the end but that’s just me…]7) Also, I believe that the risotto should rest for five minutes with the lid on before serving…”