Asparagus Risotto

It's asparagus season and fresh asparagus is so good, I want to use it any way I can. There's a farm across the road from us and they have their fresh asparagus for sale. I had some for breakfast the other morning and wow. You forget what really fresh asparagus tastes like after so long! What a difference. If you're buying it now, here's one delicious way to use it. This risotto is a little different from a lot of vegetable risottos because instead of just adding the asparagus at the end, you puree some of it with the stock. This makes for a richer flavor. It's delicious!

Asparagus Risotto

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of asparagus
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup carnaroli or arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• zest of 1 lemon

Instructions:

Cut the tips from the asparagus and set aside. Cut the woody ends off the asparagus so you have just the nice stems left.

In a pot of boiling water, cook the tips for about one minute and then plunge in an ice bath.

In the same pot of water, boil the stems until they are soft, about 8 minutes. Drain.

Place the stock in a saucepan and add asparagus stems. Insert an immersion blender and blend. ( If you don't have an immersion blender, you'll have to do it in a blender). Bring the stock to a low simmer and just keep warm on the stove.

Heat the olive oil in a risotto pan or any heavy saucepan. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, but do not brown. Add the rice and cook for a minute. Add the wine.  Stir in a ladleful of the stock and stir, with a spatula. Every time the stock is absorbed, add another ladleful or two. Keep stirring so the risotto does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Keep adding stock and stirring until the risotto is cooked, about 30 minutes, to your taste.

Take off the heat and add the cream, parmesan cheese, lemon zest and asparagus tips and gently blend.

For a longer discussion about risotto, you can refer to my previous post about how to make risotto.

Farm Eggs

Look at these beauties! Remember my post back in February complaining about having to buy grocery store eggs? Well, the new hens over at Flying Goat Farms in Mason are finally laying! I've great fresh farm eggs again. What a difference. Take a look:

Can you see how orange the farm egg is compared to the paler grocery store egg? Well, that makes a very big difference in the taste. And if you look carefully at the picture, you can even tell a difference in the egg whites. The farm egg's white is much firmer and distinctive. Michael Pollan talks about this in his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? It should be required reading. If you are interested in the health differences of food like this compared with industrial food, or if you're at all interested in food and nutrition, put this book on your reading list.

Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup

This is a really simple soup, but you won't believe how delicious it is. I had made it and photographed it, but never posted it. Then I read the latest post from Cookiecrumb over at "I'm Mad and I Eat" and I had to post this. She's been pulling out her old cauliflower and broccoli plants (sigh - she lives in California. That's why her plants are already old). Anyway, it made me think of this soup, which is a great thing to make with leftover cauliflower and broccoli. Don't skip the step of roasting the cauliflower - it adds a depth of flavor you don't get otherwise.

Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 large head of cauliflower (or 1 small head), cut into large pieces
• 1/2 head of broccoli 
• 4 cups chicken broth
• couple handfuls of baby spinach
• parmesan cheese

Instructions:

On a baking sheet, spread out cauliflower and roast in oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until cauliflower starts to brown a little.

In a large saucepan, saute onions in a little olive oil for several minutes, until translucent. Add chicken stock, cauliflower and broccoli and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Make sure broccoli is soft. Add spinach and cook for a couple minutes more.

Using an immersion blender, puree soup in pot. (If you don't have one, transfer the soup to a blender and puree. But geez, if you don't have an immersion blender go out and get one right away - they're just too great not to have one).

Serve soup with a little grated parmesan on top.

Buon appetito!