Busy busy on Saturday morning doing groceries and visiting family members. Did a lovely cooking workshop on Saturday afternoon, on how to make koffiekoeken (Google that, please!). And then all of a sudden found out we were having people over for dinner immediately after the workshop. Minor (or major) crisis avoided after rescheduling the dinner double date for an hour later - thank f'ing God.
On Sunday I went for brunch with a friend, over to my parents after (work time), food market after and a dinner I didn't have to cook myself - how awesome is that.
However, back to the actual topic here. Food, as usual. Especially the koffiekoeken and Saturday night dinner were highs. YES I JUST SAID THAT MYSELF. The Saturday night recipe I wanna share with you is awesome, otherwise I wouldn't put it on here! It's a mix of a Jamie Oliver recipe and a recipe by Jeroen Meus (Belgian TV chef). Here we go!
Oh and before we go: the recipe is a lemon - mint - green asparagus risotto.
Ingredients (4 people - and then you don't need a starter or anything)
- Butter - no specified quantities, cause the more butter the better
- Grated parmigiano - same thing about the quantities
- 3 ladles of risotto rice, I mostly use arborio or carnaroli (there's also vialone nona, never tried it)
- An onion
- Green celery
- 200 ml of dry white wine
- 6 ladles of stock (chicken, vegetable... whatever you like. there are no rules for this)
- Juice and zest of 2 lemons
- Bunch of mint
- 2 bunches of green asparagus
For risotto I never use quantities in grams or litres. I always use ladles: 3 ladles of risotto for four people. You always need double the volume of stock, so 6 ladles of stock. Most risotto rice needs to cook for 18 min: when you put in the rice, you add 2 ladles of stock. 6 min later you add the next 2 ladles. After the next 6 min (in total: after 12 min) you add the last two ladles and let cook for another 6 min.
Preparation
- Heat the stock.
- Chop up the onion, 4 stalks of celery and the mint.
- Discard the bottom of the asparagus. I never use a knife for this. I'll try to explain: take an asparagus and use your fingers to tip off the bottom 3 cm or so (the more white/light green part). It's as if you "crack" the bottom off.
- Put the asparagus, bottom down, in cold water and try to keep them standing for at least 15 min. This way the asparagus can rehydrate (or whatever).
- Now the fun part begins: put a pot on the stove, add olive oil (can be quite a bit).
- Add the onion and celery. Stir.
- Add in the risotto and stir until the rice looks shiny. Make sure the rice doesn't stick or gets burned.
- Add the wine, keep stirring until the wine is gone.
- Add the first two ladles of stock. Put on the lid and turn down the heat. Two comments: A. yes, you don't need to stir all the time, and B. the rice shouldn't be boiling, it just needs to be simmering.
- After 6 min, add the next two ladles and put the lid back on. If you see the first two ladles of stock haven't been absorbed yet (there should still be a bit of liquid though), turn up the heat. If there's no liquid visible anymore, turn the heat even further down but make sure the rice is still simmering.
- After another 6 min, add the last two ladles of stock.
- In the mean time: bring water to a boil, add some salt. Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus and take them out after 3 min.
- Once the last 6 min are over (in total the rice has cooked for 18 min), add some butter (I know I said the more butter the better, but don't overdo it. The butter is just necessary to make the whole more creamy, shine and delicious.)
- Add the cheese - same rule applies.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Add the mint but keep some aside.
- Stir until everything is mixed.
- Put risotto on plates, top with extra mint, parmigiano, freshly ground black pepper and maybe an extra drizzle of olive oil.
- Of course: don't forget to put the asparagus on top!
- Et voilà, bon ap!
Do you like risotto as much as I do? Any delicious recipes to share? Let me know!
Love,
Julie
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