Mushroom Asparagus Risotto

Now that we have our kettle in hand, it’s time to load her up. I like to keep this over on
this side of the cook top. In goes one cup of white wine and six cups of chicken broth.
Homemade would of course be best but carton based would be okay too, right to the top.

Now, we activated the device. Now, time to apply some heat, medium heat in fact to our
pan. Then, we will add two tablespoons of unsalted butter, one cup of onion chopped
very, very fine I might add and last but not the least, a wee sprinkling of the white stuff,
kosher salt that is and we sweat. It is now to add our rice, two cups of Arborio straight to
the pan and we’ll stir to coat. We’re going to let this cook for three to five minutes.
Remember, we are technically still sweating here so if you see anything turned brown,
turn it down.

There, have a look. See how it’s kind of two-tone, all translucent around the edges? That
means we’re definitely ready to add the wet works. We’re going to add just enough of
our hot brew to barely cover the rice. There, that’s perfect. Put that back on and activate
to simmer and just give that a few shakes and a couple of stirs, there you go.

Now when you could pull the spatula across the rice and see the pan on the bottom, you
know that it is time to add more liquids. I’m adding another dose here. Again, the heat is
very, very low. I'm just stirring that in. Remember, you don’t have to stir it constantly but
often but whenever the bottom of the pot stays dry when you sweep the spatula through
the rice, you know it’s time to add just a little bit more, just to cover.

Now, when about three quarters of the liquid has been cooked in, I give it a taste. Still
little dry in the middle, sometimes it’s done at this point, sometimes it’s not. I can also
see the bottom of the pan clearly there, so I’m going to add the last dose of liquid. Don’t
force it. If it doesn’t need it, don’t give it. In this case, it’s definitely going to drink all of
these in. A few minutes later, we’re ready to taste for seasoning which is a little light and
yes, I got a clean spoon. If it needs a little bit of salt, then add a little bit of salt. In this
case, it doesn’t.

So, we’re going to add the finishing ingredients; five ounces of wild mushrooms, cooked
of course, seven ounces of the cooked asparagus straight into the pot still overheat here,
going to stir that in very nice. Then, we’ll follow that with the cheese, two ounces of
grated parmesan, very nice. Starting to get really creamy as that cheese begins to melt
and finally, a little bit of nutmeg and a little bit of lemon zest, about a teaspoon of the
later and a half teaspoon of the first.