- 1 onion
- 1 leek
- 45g butter
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 lemon
- 200g asparagus
- 200g risotto rice
- A handful of flat leaf parsley, leaves only
- 100g soft goat's cheese
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 800ml boiling water
- Large pan or shallow casserole dish
- Measuring jug
- 1.
Fill your kettle and boil it. Peel and finely chop the onion. Trim the roots and top 3cm off the leek. Halve the leek, rinse out any grit, and finely slice it.
- 2.
Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and leek and season with a small pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring every so often, for 8 mins till the veg have softened.
- 3.
While the veg fry, crumble the stock cube into a heatproof jug and stir in 800ml boiling water to dissolve it. Peel and grate or crush the garlic. Finely zest the lemon. Bend the asparagus spears till they snap, set the woody ends aside and chop the tips into chunks around 2cm long (see our tip on what to do with the asparagus ends).
- 4.
Stir the garlic and most of the lemon zest into the softened veg (keep a pinch of zest back for garnishing). Add the rice and stir to mix. Cook, stirring often, for 3 mins.
- 5.
Add around 100ml stock to the pan – around 100ml. Cook, stirring once or twice, till the rice has absorbed the stock. Add another 100ml stock to the pan and repeat, stirring often till the stock is absorbed. Continue till you have around 200ml stock left. This should take around 20-25 mins. While the risotto cooks, chop the parsley leaves.
- 6.
Add the asparagus to the pan and pour in another 100ml stock. Cook, stirring as before, then add the remaining stock, and cook and stir till most of the stock has been absorbed. It should take you around 30 mins in total to cook the risotto.
- 7.
Stir most of the parsley and most of the goat’s cheese into the risotto. Squeeze in a little juice from the lemon. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt or pepper if you think it needs it. Spoon the risotto into 2 warm bowls and top with the remaining parsley, lemon zest and goat’s cheese to garnish. Serve straight away.
- Tip
Eat All Your Greens
You can turn the woody ends of the asparagus into pesto. Just pop them in a processor and blitz to finely chop, them then add a handful of fresh herbs, like mint, parsley, coriander or basil. Add a handful of nuts, like pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, a finely chopped garlic clove and a pinch of salt. Blitz again to combine, then slowly trickle in some olive oil till you have a smooth pesto. Taste, add some salt if needed. Store the pesto in a tub or jar in the fridge. It can be stirred into pasta, potatoes or rice, spread over pizza bases, drizzled over soups and dolloped into salad dressings.