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Asparagus Risotto

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Risotto is now considered a specialty dish often featured on menus in upscale eating places. It has, however, been a common everyday food in Italian homes for many years. Cooked in different ways to satisfy various tastes, it is almost as popular as pasta in the Mediterranean diet.

It can be prepared as a simple, meatless, light lunch or as an accompaniment to meat or fish for a fuller multi-course meal.

This time of year, spring asparagus especially lends itself to this creamy, cheesy dish to make it an exceptionally flavorful culinary experience.
Asparagus Risotto

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Asparagus Risotto
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50mins.
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Blanch the asparagus
  2. In a 3 or 4-quart saucepan, heat 1 Tablespoon butter on medium heat.
  3. Add the shallots and cook until translucent.
  4. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring until nicely coated.
  5. While shallots are cooking, bring the stock to a simmer in another saucepan.
  6. Add the wine. Slowly stir, allowing the rice to absorb the wine.
  7. Once the wine is almost completely absorbed, add 1/2 cup of hot stock to the rice. Stir until the liquid is almost sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  8. Continue adding 1/2 cup of hot stock to the rice at a time, and cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed each time.
  9. You will stop adding stock when the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 20-25 minutes.
  10. With the last ladle of stock, add the asparagus. Turn off the heat. Keep the risotto loose. It thickens a lot while it sits.
  11. Gently stir in the Parmesan cheese and the remaining 1 Tablespoon of butter. Add onion salt and pepper to taste.

Stacked Apple Salad with Frisee and Belgian endive

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It is officially Autumn. Lots of pumpkins and apples at farm-stands, color coming in the trees, leaves falling, and that nip in the air that reminds us that summer is at an end. I love fall. I love the colors, the crisp air, the clear light. And the food! Summer was great and I enjoyed all of the fresh food, but who doesn’t welcome back hot soups and stews, butternut squash, and apples? I recently was looking for a fall salad and thought apple, frisee, and endive would be a good combination. I decided to stack it! Not only does it look great, but it also tastes amazing with the crunch of apples and greens and the subtle hints of maple and bacon.

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Stacked Apple Salad with Frisee and Belgian endive
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4people
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people
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Core and thinly slice apples, place in a bowl with water and a dollop of lemon juice.
  2. In a small bowl combine shallots and vinegar. Set aside.
  3. In a heavy frying pan over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp and brown, drain on paper towels. Pour off all but 3 Tablespoons of the bacon fat and return pan to low heat.
  4. Remove shallots from vinegar and reserve.
  5. Add vinegar to hot bacon fat, whisking until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Break frisee into sprigs and mix with endive. Dress lightly with bacon fat vinegar combination, reserving some dressing to drizzle on salads.
  7. On salad plates arrange 2 apple slices, then some of the dressed greens and some shallot slices.
  8. Repeat using single apple slice, then the other components 2 times more ending with an apple slice. Drizzle with warm dressing, sprinkle with bacon and serve.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

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I grew up in an agrarian area with a mother who appreciated the seasons and food that came with them. We lived next to a highly farmed area. I remember fields stretching as far as the eye could see. Hadley produced mostly tobacco, but also lots of asparagus, and of course butternut squash and apples in their season. Every spring, about this time, my mother would go looking for wild asparagus, since she had noted where the fronds were the previous summer. I think I am a little spoiled, because I have tasted asparagus when it was harvested the same day, and there is nothing like it. We can get asparagus any time of the year now. I love it just blanched, with some butter and salt and pepper. Below is my favorite recipe for soup, which celebrates the intense flavor of the asparagus itself.

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Cream of Asparagus Soup
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COOK TIME
50mins.
PREP TIME
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Trim the tips from the asparagus.
  2. Cut the woody stems ends from each spear and reserve.
  3. Cut the remaining stalks into 1/2 inch pieces. In a medium pot, bring the stock to a boil.
  4. Add the woody stems and lower heat to simmer, cook 20 to 30 minutes.
  5. Remove with a slotted spoon and discard, reserving the stock.
  6. Add the tips to stock and blanch until tender about 1 minute.
  7. Remove with a strainer, and plunge directly into an ice water bath.
  8. Drain on paper towels and reserve for garnish.
  9. Reserve the stock.
  10. In a medium stock pot, melt the butter over medium high heat.
  11. When foamy, add the shallots and leeks, and cook until just tender.
  12. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, then add the chopped asparagus stalks and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes.
  13. Add the reserve broth and simmer until the asparagus are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
  14. Remove from heat. With an immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor, puree until smooth, adding salt and pepper to taste.
  15. Return to medium heat and add the half and half and reserved asparagus tips.
  16. Cook, stirring, until warmed through, about 3 minutes.