Basic Risotto Recipe

Risotto is incredibly simple and easy and you can add pretty much add anything you want to it. It's a great base to get creative with.

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (Italian, short-grain rice)
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 DRY white wine (pinot gris or something)
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Ok, those are your base ingredients, now to that you can add any vegetable/protein combination that you want. Butternut squash and pancetta work together well. Any kind of small mushroom and grilled chicken. Tofu. Anything. But for this recipe I'm going to use asparagus because, for the most part, you can get it year round.

1/2 cup onion, chopped (shallots are good too)
X cloves garlic, chopped fine (3... 6... 12... how much do you like garlic?)
1 lb. asparagus

1. Put your chicken stock in a sauce pan on the back burner and bring to light simmer. Leave it alone for now.

2. Sautee your onion and garlic in half the butter and a splash of olive oil in a large pot until the onion is almost brown. Add your rice and cook it for a minute or two.

3. While you're doing that, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and keep your asparagus and a large bowl of ice water at the ready.  In the meantime...


4. Add your white wine (and pour yourself a glass while you're at it) and scrape up all your oniony bits. Let the rice absorb the wine. When the wine has reduced by about half start adding your simmering chicken broth, a ladle at a time. Stand over the pot and keep stirring it. When the rice has absorbed the first ladle's worth of chicken broth (there's no more standing liquid) add another ladle. Keep doing this until your chicken broth is gone.

5. When you have about a ladle or two left to go, drop your asparagus in the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Then drain them, and drop them in the ice water to immediately stop the cooking process and lock in the green color.  Chop them into bite sized pieces and set aside.  Stir in the rest of your butter, your Parmesan, salt, and pepper, and then fold in your asparagus pieces. It should be thick and creamy and wonderful and delicious.


Serve as a main entre or as a side-dish to something fancy. Great dish to make when it's really cold outside because you can just stand over a steaming pot of wonderful things. So good. Enjoy.