A recipe collection with 35 delicious and unusual asparagus recipes
And those are just the ones I have here in the register have entered. I don’t put my hand in the fire for spilling through one or the other. But well, something accumulates in fourteen years of blogging. It’s actually fourteen years in a few days. Wow, praise yourself sometimes, don’t forget that! Gone are the days when I would have sworn stone and leg to the existence or non-existence of a recipe. Just last week someone tagged me “Arthur’s daughter goulash” on their Instagram story and I was like, what? I’m sure I’ve never blogged a goulash, I haven’t even COOKED one, I would have bet on it at the moment. Until I looked it up. Ahem, so I did. Original Viennese tavern goulash, how could I forget that? After all, it was three days of torchlight procession at the stove! So I was very(!) cautious towards myself when I said to myself, Astrid, you’ve never blogged an asparagus risotto. I mean, that wouldn’t be imaginable, because a food blog without asparagus risotto, it’s sort of… well, what? Bare any right to exist? In any case, a food blog without a recipe for asparagus risotto is definitely breaking some law.
II love risottos and I cook them amazingly well. This is firstly due to a lot of practice and experience, and secondly to the fact that I energetically drive the starch out of the grain with unflagging patience. Because at the end of the day, a risotto is this: rice porridge. mush! This rules out per se that a risotto can be served five centimeters high in a dessert ring. You can do that with a lump of rice, sure. Then it folds neatly together. But for a true risotto, the rice porridge must spread out smoothly, grain by grain, linked by the snuggly cream of starch, broth, butter and cheese.
Astrid’s golden risotto rules
- I used to be one of those cooks who didn’t stand at the stove with a gun at the ready and tirelessly stir a risotto. That has changed a bit, people develop and learn … Either I let the Thermomix do all the stirring now (make sure the knife rotates counterclockwise here, tested for you, you’re welcome, you’re welcome) or I stir myself – and that’s it really a lot, especially when topping up the broth. Stirring not only prevents sticking, but also releases the starch from the rice, which makes the risotto nice and creamy.
- So if you have time, stir the saffron risotto constantly. You can do it with less, but it makes a difference, trust me.
- A risotto should be like a lively cream on your plate. Each individual grain of rice is covered in a creamy coating at the end, but the grain itself still has a bit of a bite to it – then it’s right! This is the famous “All’Onda”. The small wave that arises while stirring and then collapses while it is still.
- A risotto is rice porridge, but that doesn’t sound very appetizing, so nobody ever says it. Swampy rice affairs, in which one can still count each grain individually, are not a good risotto, but mashed rice in broth. Don’t be misled by the countless photos on the internet – a good risotto is rarely photogenic, which is why people like to put something on it (fish, mountains of herbs, vegetables or even gold leaf)
- A good risotto never waits for the guests, it’s always the other way around, according to the risotto law!
- It’s all about Brühe! I’ve been driving myself crazy for years trying to decide whether to use a Vialone Nano, an Arborio or the Carnaroli variety. At some point I had zeroed in on Carnaroli – there was no particular reason for it. To this day, I couldn’t determine the type of rice in a cooked risotto – simply because I’m completely sick of it. The perfect risotto can be made with any of these three varieties – and each one can go terribly wrong. The broth is actually much more important! I only cook my risottos with one of my homemade chicken broths – and I am very serious! No broth on the house, no risotto, sorry. However, this case is out of the question – no chicken broth simply does not occur here.
- And the broth should be warm!
Safran & Spargel: It’s a match!
Saffron is inimitable! It carries (like green cardamom) a deep craving for cream and sweetness; and the hint of bitterness inherent in saffron makes it one of the most melancholic spices for me. Melancholic and yes, also quite diva-like; I have an idea why I adore saffron so much…diva-like mostly because saffron doesn’t tolerate other “distinct” flavors and spices alongside it. So Safran isn’t just melancholy and diva-like, he’s also got that upper-management elbow mentality. Allow me, saffron. CEO.
Its delicate bitterness is wonderfully absorbed when saffron is given the water in dishes made from lemon zest or asparagus. Lemon is more bitter than sour; and good asparagus, not bred for that little touch of bitterness, is too. The rice in the risotto is just the canvas that saffron needs to be painted on by you.
The preparation of the stunning saffron risotto with green asparagus and roasted hazelnuts from Piedmont
Ingredients for 2 people
preparation
- Let the diced shallots in olive oil become translucent, add a tablespoon of butter, then sauté the rice as well, deglaze with a sip of white wine, add salt and simmer briefly.
- Gradually pour in the warm broth and keep simmering. The longer this process takes, the more you will see the starch dissolving. In the last third of the cooking and stirring time, the “air holes” on the bottom of the pot gradually get bigger, and the rice gets creamier and creamier. You can feel it, trust your feelings! At some point you add less and less broth, just enough so that it boils away relatively quickly.
- While the risotto is simmering, peel the bottom third of the asparagus. Then snip off the ends, thumb-length, and set them aside. Cut the rest of the asparagus spears into slices that are not too thin and add to the risotto shortly before the end of the cooking time.
- Gently roast 2 thirds of the hazelnuts again in a pan without fat
- Roughly chop 1/3 of the hazelnuts (e.g. put them in a freezer bag and roll them over vigorously with a rolling pin (a quick tap on them doesn’t hurt)
- Gently fry the asparagus tips in a pan with good olive oil
- Put the saffron threads in a mortar and stir in a small glass with a little wine so that the coloring agent (crocin) dissolves well. Pour into the risotto just before the end of the cooking time. Hmmm, that scent! ♡
- Finish the risotto: fold in the whole hazelnuts, grate the Parmesan, fold in. Season with salt and Melange Blanc*, place in deep plates, place the asparagus tips on top, sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts
service part
- recipe and instructions for my awesome chicken broth, HERE
- Super Negin is the highest quality grade for saffron. They are the longest threads with only red grain. You receive him PerSaf Spices, the saffron specialists who source the saffron directly from their contract farmers.* Please do not buy “bags” of non-verifiable origin and quality in the supermarket! PerSaf saffron is classified as crocin (coloring power), picrocrocin (aroma) and safranal (bitterness).
- Piedmont hazelnuts are considered the best in the world! They are in no way comparable to the mass-produced hazelnuts you find in the regular supermarket! I use THIS*
- Deep plate by ASA from the à table d’Or collection, HERE*
- my current one favorite olive oil from Tuscany in organic quality, HERE*
- Melange Blanc, you know it. HERE*
Make lecker great again! 
