Camellias and Risotto

There is no better gift to receive on the first day of spring than a palette of handpicked camellias. My lunch guests on Saturday left us with this beautiful assortment from their garden.

With an amazing centerpiece already on the table, I had to make a homemade supper. Salmon on the grill, crispy oven new potatoes and asparagus risotto kept us from having to grocery shop on such a nice day.

Risotto with White Wine and Asparagus

You will need:

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups Arborio rice

1-2 cups asparagus, cut into bits

1/2 dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 ish freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring broth and water to barely a simmer in a saucepan.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven.

Add onion, garlic and salt.

Saute until onion is soft- about 8 minutes. Don't brown onions!

Cut asparagus into small bits and add to simmering liquid.

Stir rice into onion saute pan and cook, stirring until rice is hot- about 2 minutes.

Add wine and simmer, stirring until wine is absorbed.

Add broth one cup at a time, stir often.

Add more broth only when previous batch has absorbed.

Asparagus bits will gradually get added to rice pot.

Adjust heat to maintain a simmer.

This should take about 20 minutes for creaminess.

You may not use all the liquid or you may need to add more water.

A note on vegetables- This risotto is great with any green veggies. I would have added some frozen baby peas and herbs if I had on hand. A squeeze of lemon always brightens up vegetable risotto.

And if you have a sweet tooth.....

Spread vanilla bean ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies. YUM.