Jamie Oliver's asparagus, mint and lemon risotto

always wanted to learn how to make a real risotto so I had my friend Brandy (a wonderful and creative cook) come over to show me how to get it just right.  Brandy says, "it's all about the timing, and patience".

ingredients

1. approx 2 pints stock (chicken, fish, or vegetable as appropriate)
2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
3. 1 pat of butter
4. 1 large onion, finely chopped
5. 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6. ½ head of celery, finely chopped
7. 14oz risotto rice
8. 2 wine glasses of dry white vermouth (dry Martini or Noilly Prat) or dry white wine     Brandy emphasized that there is no such thing as "cooking wine".  The wine in cooking should be table wine grade at the least.
9. sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10. 5 tablespoons butter                                                                                                                                  
11. 4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

method

Stage 1: Heat the stock. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter, add the onion, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without coloring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.


Stage 2: The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavors will evaporate and leave the rice  with a tasty essence.

Stage 3: Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice  doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. 


Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. 


Taste the rice  — is it cooked? Continue adding stock until the rice  is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice  is cooked, add some boiling water.

Now put a large saucepan on a medium to high heat and pour in half the stock, followed by all your risotto base and the finely sliced asparagus stalks and the tips. Stirring all the time, gently bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until almost all the stock has been absorbed. Add the rest of the stock a ladleful at a time until the rice  and asparagus are cooked. You might not need all your stock. (This part is a little confusing.  Brandy added the asparagus towards the end of the ladling procedure when the rice was just about to finish.  We used the final ladle full of stock as a means to cook the asparagus.)


*Be careful not to overcook the rice- check it throughout cooking to make sure it's a pleasure to eat. It should hold its shape but be soft, creamy and oozy, and the overall texture should be slightly looser than you think you want it.

Final Step:  Turn off the heat, beat in your butter and Parmesan, mint, almost all the lemon zest and all the juice. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Put a lid on the pan and leave the risotto to rest for a minute. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a scattering of lemon zest and a block of Parmesan on the table.