Asparagus, mint & lemon risotto
This is such a simple, clean and delicious risotto. When buying asparagus, have a look around because there are lots of varieties available now - 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.)
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 13 of 15 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 13 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Vegetable | 1 tbsp (14g) | 120 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Parmesan Cheese | 1 oz (28g) | 110 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Asparagus | 6 spears (90g) | 27 |
| Wine | 2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml) | 25 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Vermouth | not in our table | 0 |
| Peppermint | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1 litre organic vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 4-5 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
- 600 g risotto rice
- 250 ml vermouth or dry white wine
- 2 bunches asparagus, woody ends removed and discarded
- 700 ml organic vegetable or chicken stock
- 50 g butter
- 1 small handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus a block for grating
- 1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
- zest and juice of 2 lemons
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil