Cook with Jamie
By Jamie Oliver
About the recipe
This is such a simple, clean and delicious risotto.
Recipe From
RISOTTO BASE
1 litre organic vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
4-5 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
600g risotto rice
250ml vermouth or dry white wine
RISOTTO
2 bunches of asparagus, woody ends removed and discarded
700ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
50g butter
1 small handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus a block for grating
1 bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
zest and juice of 2 lemons
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
When buying asparagus, have a look around because there are lots of varieties available in late spring - purple-tipped, white, thin straggly Japanese, wild Spanish and dozens of good locally grown English. In this recipe, the stalks are finely sliced to an inch below the tips - this will give you lots of flavour from the stalks and you'll then have those whole beautiful tips as a bit of a prize!
There are variations on this risotto that I love to do, like sprinkling in a little picked crab or lobster meat or fresh, peeled prawns or sliced scallops - all of these work particularly well with asparagus if you fancy a little upgrade. (If you do decide to add any of these seafood suggestions, then reduce your Parmesan by half.)
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