Spring Risotto with Asparagus

Spring Risotto with Asparagus uses a one-pot cooking method that’s quick and easy. Its lush, creamy flavor, however, belies this risotto’s 30 minute start-to-finish preparation.

Care must be taken not to overcook risotto—the Arborio rice grains should be soft yet slightly resistant to the tooth.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound asparagus
3 tablespoons grated onion
1½ cups Arborio rice
1/3 cup white wine, room temperature (optional)
4-6 cups hot chicken or vegetable broth
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper
Kosher salt to taste

Cut off asparagus’ rough ends and cut stalks into 1-1½” pieces.
In heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil.
Sauté asparagus over medium-high flame, stirring often to make sure they don’t burn. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and continue to sauté until they soften but still retain bite—about 3-4 minutes.

sauteed asparagus

If you are a lazy cook like me you will use one pot for this dish. So remove and reserve the asparagus, scraping the Dutch oven with a rubber spatula to capture asparagus juices. You may wipe the pot with a paper towel to remove all remaining traces of moisture.
If you are a purist, use a separate heavy pot for the next step.
Pour remaining oil into pot and heat. Throw in grated onion, lower flame and fry onion for 2-3 minutes until soft but not brown, see photo below.

Try to gently fry—not brown—onion.

Pour rice into pot with onion and stir to coat. Lower flame and cook rice and onion another 4-6 minutes until rice becomes slightly translucent, see photo below.

Stir in rice and gently cook until grains soften.

If using wine, pour over rice and stir. Lower flame and cook gently until wine almost evaporates. If your children are like mine and don’t like food to taste “winey,” skip the wine when making risotto for family diners and go to next step.
Add 1 cup broth—I use Knorr’s Bouillon Cubes and boiling water—and stir risotto. Lower flame to keep risotto at bare simmer, watching carefully and stirring often to avoid scorching the rice, see photo below.

Here

When rice has almost absorbed the broth, pour in another cup of broth and stir. Again, watch the rice so it doesn’t dry, and stir often. Continue adding broth—1 cup at a time—and cook until rice is done. Don’t overcook: rice should have some bite.
Stir in Parmesan and a few grindings of pepper.
Gently stir in asparagus and their juices. Serve immediately, passing extra cheese at table.