imple Vegetarian | Recipe of the Month: Asparagus-Mushroom Risotto

According to the calendar (and the climate file, that's predicting snow flurries later nowadays), spring isn't formally here however. But symptoms and signs of it are anywhere. Yesterday, for the number one time this 12 months, I have become able to grasp out a load of laundry...

...And select a gaggle of wildflowers (although they're supposedly weeds) for the vase in the kitchen.

And on a contemporary enjoy to Aldi, we noticed asparagus on sale for just $1.Forty nine a pound. Normally, I like to revel in every meals in its right season, however I genuinely couldn't skip up a good buy like that. Maybe if I'd felt assured that our asparagus patch could provide us with a very good deliver of the green stuff in just a month or , I'd have held out for that, but its normal performance last year changed into so disappointing that I can't ensure we are going to even get a unmarried meal's well worth out of it this 12 months.

After we got it home, Brian started hunting online for asparagus recipes, and he hit on one at Life's Ambrosia for asparagus and mushroom risotto. This was kind of similar to another dish we'd already made several times, the polenta with mushrooms and asparagus from Better Homes and Gardens' Easy Vegetarian Dinners, so he knew this flavor combo worked for us. And since we'd also happened to pick up some mushrooms on sale on that same trip to Aldi, we had nearly everything we needed.

As normal, Brian made some changes to the recipe. First, he halved it, so we ought to keep half of our pound of asparagus for later. We did not have any arborio rice, so he determined to attempt it with plain antique lengthy-grain white rice, and he substituted 1 / four-cup of chopped pink onion for half of a shallot. In addition to the cup and a half of of undeniable sliced button mushrooms, he added 1 / 4-cup of dried shiitake mushrooms, soaking them in warmness water till they softened and then dicing them. (This is what he normally does for the polenta recipe, which requires a combination of awesome mushrooms that we're not generally prepared to splurge on.) And in location of waste the cup of water the mushrooms were soaked in, he substituted it for 1/2 of the vegetable broth the recipe known as for. So his model of the recipe ended up searching like this:

Asparagus-Mushroom Risotto

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

? Pound asparagus, snapped into 1-to-2- inch pieces

1 ? Cups sliced mushrooms

? Cup dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water until mild, then diced

1 cup water wherein the shiitake mushrooms have been soaked

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch black pepper

1/2 tablespoon (vegan) butter

1/four c. Red onion, finely chopped

half of of cup rice (arborio favored)

half cup dry sherry (or white wine)

1. In a pan or Dutch oven, heat a half tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute until they begin to release moisture, then add asparagus and saute until the stems turn bright green. Remove vegetables to a bowl and keep warm.
2. In a separate saucepan, heat broth over medium heat with the mushroom water. Keep hot while preparing risotto.
3. In the same vessel used to cook the mushrooms and asparagus, heat butter and remaining olive oil over medium heat. Once butter melts, stir in onion and cook just until softened. Stir in rice just until it is coated in the butter. Do not brown. Pour in sherry and cook until it is absorbed. Add the hot broth mixture gradually to the rice, one ladle-full at a time, until all of the liquid has been absorbed.
4. It may be necessary to heat up additional water to add if the broth mixture is not sufficient make the rice soft and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Stir in asparagus and mushrooms. Serve immediately.

This experiment was reasonably successful. Making risotto is a bit of a lengthy process under the best of circumstances, and Brian found that the long-grain rice took up even more liquid than the recipe said the arborio rice would (hence the addition of step 4 in the recipe above). All in all, it took about half an hour to cook. But by the time it was done, it had more or less achieved the tender, creamy texture risotto is supposed to have. And between the asparagus, mushrooms, red onion, and sherry, it was loaded with umami.

I suggested that probable if we make this dish once more, he ought to try it in the pressure cooker. I've heard that may be a terrific device for making risotto, because the liquid can not boil off, so all of it soaks into the rice like it is supposed to. The rice takes much less time to cook dinner, and it's lots less artwork, because of the truth you don't need to stand there over it constantly ladling more liquid on.

So maybe next time, we could do the rice according to this recipe at Hip Pressure Cooking. We might even spring for some real arborio or short-grain rice to make sure it comes out properly. With this change, the recipe should only take about twenty minutes to make, so it will be a light, savory, and quick meal for spring.