Hello, young Padawan,
Today we are celebrating the arrival of spring. What could be better than a recipe with beautiful asparagus?
The season is short; let’s take advantage of it!
Asparagus and pea risotto
For two servings
3 tbsp of olive oil
4 shallots
1/2 cup Arborio or carnaroli rice
34 fl. oz of water to make the vegetable stock (see recipe below)
1.8 ounces of fresh peas (about two handfuls)
1 nice bunch of green asparagus
1/2 bunch of parsley
1 baby carrot or 1/3 of a normal-sized carrot
Thyme, bay leaf
Malted yeast
Salt pepper
Optional: When I think about it, I add some sprouts for the topping. It’s classy, and above all, it brings a little more, nutritionally speaking. For this recipe, I usually add watercress sprouts.
Recipe
– First, let’s start with the broth.
Prepare the asparagus. Peel and cut the stems into rounds, and keep the tips. Cut the piece of carrot into very small dice. Mince the shallots and set them aside.
Boil the water. Put the thyme, the bay leaf, and the mini carrot pieces in a gas compress, make a small infuser bag, and immerse it in water. Add salt and pepper. When the water is boiling, first add the peas, and lower the heat to medium. After 2 minutes, add the asparagus heads, and 1 minute later, add the asparagus slices. Turn off the heat immediately, wait 30 seconds, then strain everything into a bowl to collect the broth. Pass the vegetables under cold water for 2-3 seconds to keep them very green, and set aside.
– In a pan with very curved edges (wok type) or a saucepan, pour the oil, and when the pan is hot, add the shallots. Brown them until they are slightly melted, then add the rice. Stir and wait for it to become transparent; when this is the case, add 1/3 of the vegetable broth made, and lower the heat to medium-low.
While the rice cooks, finely chop the parsley. A lot goes a short way, lol.
– Once the liquid is partially absorbed, taste it to estimate the remaining cooking time. If the rice is still very hard, add half of the remaining liquid (a second third — time to do the math!), or less if the cooking is more advanced. And so on until it is al dente. The goal is not to end up with cooked rice soup. Do you follow me? Cooked rice must not be soft. It must remain al dente.
– When our rice is cooked, add the vegetables that were waiting peacefully, and sprinkle as desired with malted yeast, salt, and pepper. Adding a little more broth is often necessary because all these vegetables take up some space, but the goal is to have more vegetables than rice. Your intestine will thank you.
Add the parsley, stir, and serve on cute plates, topping with a small handful of sprouted watercress seeds.
Bon appetit! 🍚
XO.
