Spring Green Risotto for SRC Bunnies and Leprechauns Reveal Recipe
It's almost Easter and St. Patrick's day and the Secret Recipe Club is doing a special 'reveal' called Bunnies and Leprechaun's.
This time round rather than sticking to our own group, in my case Group A, we get assigned a blogger from one of the other groups and have to find and make a recipe from their blog. And it has to fit in the theme of Bunnies and Leprechauns.
My assigned blog was Sew You Think You Can Cook. Lauren is a stay at home mom who left her other life as an aerospace engineer to focus on the equally, if not more challenging life as a MOM. I applaud her. Going from one lifestyle to a totally different one. And she's a Florida or former? Florida girl. Which just so happens to be the state I currently live in. I wonder if she grew to hate Yellow Flies as much as I do?
Got side tracked there.
I found a couple of recipes, one of which is bookmarked to be made at a later date, cause I don't have any cooked Corned Beef hanging around in my freezer.
I looked, really, in my freezer that is. Found some other stuff that needed to be either cooked, or chucked. The part that needed to be cooked made a great pot of chicken stock for the recipe I did make.
Lauren calls it Spring Green Risotto.
I call it delicious. In fact, I made it for one of our many food-centric gatherings.
What can I say, we like to get together around here, and there's always some great food brought and shared.
I did change up the recipe, just a little. I totally spaced getting a fennel bulb when I was in the 'big city' last week, but I had the rest. And I also added some Edamame cause it was part of the goodies I found in the freezer when I was looking for some cooked corned beef.
The title is Spring Green Risotto, isn't it?
Recipe: Spring Green Risotto
- 5 Cups Chicken Stock (you could substitute vegetable stock here if you want to make it vegetarian)
- 1 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Butter (I used some Home Made butter I'd made last week)
- 2 Leeks, sliced (reserve a Tablespoon of the leeks for decorating it later)
- 1 fennel Bulb, chopped I didn't have one, so I left it out.
- 1/2 lb. Asparagus, diced (I roasted mine for a few minutes, then chopped them up)
- 1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
- 2/3 cup White Wine (I had some Moscato in the fridge so I used that)
- 1 1/2 cup. frozen Peas, thawed but I subbed in some Edamame because I thought that the nuttyness of the Edamame went so well with the roasted Asparagus.
- Zest of one lemon
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1/3 Cup Mascarpone Cheese
1/2 Cup fresh grated Parmesan Cheese.
Salt and Pepper to taste. (I don't use salt, and with the addition of the Parmesan cheese, felt that there was enough salt.)
Bring the stock to a simmer. While that is coming to a simmer, saute the Leeks in the olive oil and butter in a large heavy pan. (add in the Asparagus here as well as the Fennel, if you are using them as well.)
I peeled the tough part of the asparagus stems and added them in with the leeks when I sauteed them.
Add the rice, stirring it in with the leek, cook just a minute or so, then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Once the wine has been absorbed, add the stock one ladleful at a time, stirring constantly, letting the rice absorb the stock. You may not need all the stock. At about the halfway point add the Edamame, Asparagus, and the lemon zest.
Season with salt and pepper. When the rice is nice and creamy, take off of the heat. Test one of the rice kernels to make sure it is cooked all the way. In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice and mascarpone, stir it into the risotto along with the Parmesan Cheese.
And...
Just cause I can, I bought some lovely Asparagus last week, and this is how I keep it in the fridge. I put it into a tall container, add a little water at the bottom and VOILA, lovely crisp Asparagus.