It wasn’t a real risotto because I was out of Arborio rice, but Jasmine rice stood in. I used what I had in the house — onions, garlic, smoked chicken stock, mustard, and the asparagus that our friends Andre and Elsa gave us.
You might also enjoy:
- Rosemary-crusted lamb and asparagus risotto* The lamb was a boneless leg that we coated with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and sea salt (the rosemary was ours). Kevin grilled it to a nicety. The asparagus risotto...
- Eggs in lobster spaetzle, with asparagus It was Every Other Friday, on Saturday, and Kevin made lobster spaetzle. He got a 2 1/2 pound lobster, cooked it and removed the meat. He made a stock with...
- Bay leaves in braised cabbage Kevin and I must both come from peasant stock, because we love cabbage. I had half a head in the fridge, and I braised it with onions, bay leaves, and...
- Deviled eggs Our friends Andre and Elsa hosted their annual lamb roast, and our contribution to the festivities was a batch of deviled eggs. Eggs were courtesy of our chickens. I did...
- Collard green “risotto”* We harvested the first of the collard greens today. The leaves are big and hardy, and they need to cook for quite a while. If you use more tender greens...
That’s a little eerie. I made a risotto with our first and only asparagus harvest this year (year 2 of asparagus growing), and mine was smoky-themed too. I had canned chicken-turkey broth made from last year’s Thanksgiving turkey, which was smoked on the grill with rosemary. Onions and garlic, of course. But also a touch of the smoked lardo I made earlier this year. In fact, I substituted the melted lardo for the butter to cook in. Yeah, I’m decadent that way. It was eaten too fast to blog it though.
Next year I get to harvest all the asparagus I want!
Kate — I could have used your lardo! As I was sauteeing the onions, I was thinking that a nice piece of preserved pork would be just the thing. Alas, there was none in the house. But the smoked chicken stock helped. We smoke a lot of chickens around here, and the stock is a great by-product.
I envy you your asparagus head start. We just got ours in this year, so we should have a spear or two next year and maybe a dinner’s worth the year after. The friends who gave us some of theirs have a 35-year-old patch that’s about 20 feet by 30.