Lemon and Asparagus Risotto

'Tis asparagus season here in Ontario, and it makes me feel good inside to support local farmers and buy what's in season. So, I've been splurging on asparagus over the last few weeks. It's not my absolute favourite but I enjoy it quite a bit. I had this Lemon and Asparagus Risotto lying around, didn't know until just know it was from Martha Stewart (oooh fancy), but either way, I figured it was a good way to eat asparagus, use up my white wine before going on holiday and try a new risotto recipe - I just keep making the Cheddar Cheese Risotto I posted earlier. Nice to get some veggies in there once in awhile.

First step with risotto is always to warm up your stock. This recipe called for 6 cups - I used one carton of chicken stock (4 cups) and it was plenty. Bring it up to a boil then turn it off and leave it covered. In a large pan, cook 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped shallot for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup arborio rice, and cook 2-3 minutes to toast the grains. Throw in 1/2 cup white wine, and stir until liquid is gone. Then ladle in the warm stock, a little bit at a time, waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more, stirring, always stirring, for about 20 min.

Now the healthy, colourful additions: Chop up one bunch asparagus, and throw that in near the end (with last addition of stock) and 1 cup peas (yay freezer peas) in the last minute. Take off the heat, and stir in 1/2 c parmesan cheese, zest of one lemon, juice of 1/2 lemon, and 2 Tbsp olive oil. I left out the parsley and added some torn basil leaves instead - I had them in the fridge, so might as well use them!

The end result was quite good - lemony, but not a lot of flavour otherwise. Not as cheesy as I usually make risotto, and not a lot of strong flavours... if I had added 1 cup parsley I suppose it would have made quite the difference but the basil worked well. It's a very classic risotto so I'm glad I tried it, though I may stick with adding in lots of grated cheddar cheese - just maybe with some green vegetables next time.