Asparagus risotto

I didn’t get to take a photo of this as we were starving and as it smelled divine.  Excuses, excuses…

This is adapted from the May 2013 edition of delicious magazine. The chef’s advice was a bit … hmmm … “Italian” (well, he is Italian, so what could I expect) – it’s full of do’s and don’t (which is good) and the list of ingredients is prescriptive (which is not so good, particularly when you're not living in the country where the brands he recommends can be bought in the local shop). This is my less ridged version.

There were only two is us for dinner last night, and we ate this between us.

150g asparagus – I used what Delhaize had the best value on, which was Belgian-grown white

150g risotto rice - I used the one-and-only brand that was in the shop

a good knob of butter

1 small onion

400ml of stock (if you have some white wine knocking around, make up the 400ml using some wine)

a packet of lardons

salt and pepper

3 well-heaped teaspoons of parmesan

Heat your stock in a saucepan, and keep it warm and close to you.

Wash the asparagus, chop off the ends and cut it into centimetre-long chunks.

Melt the knob of butter in a saucepan. When it’s melted but not bubbling, add the chopped onion and cook it for a minute before adding the rice. Cook all of this until the rice has absorbed all the butter.

Ladle in some stock and stir it through the rice. Keep stirring until all the stock has been absorbed. Add another ladleful of stock, the asparagus and the lardons, stirring all the time until the stock is absorbed again. Season, and keep going until the stock is all gone and the rice is fully cooked.

Remove the risotto from the heat and stir through the parmesan and serve.