Asparagus Mascarpone Risotto

I love asparagus and I love mascarpone and I love risotto, so why not put them all together and make an asparagus mascarpone risotto recipe? Everyone in the family loves this risotto. And during the spring when asparagus is readily available, we tend to eat this quite a bit. I am sure once you try this recipe, it will become a favorite in your house as well.

The Ingredients for Asparagus Mascarpone Risotto

This asparagus mascarpone risotto recipe does not use your normal risotto recipe ingredients.

Ingredients List for Asparagus Mascarpone Risotto:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 6 cups water
• 2 cups chopped asparagus (about 1 bunch)
• 3 tablespoons butter (divided)
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1 tablespoon dehydrated parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

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Cooking the Risotto

Let’s start with the risotto. We’ll start by finely chopping the onion and garlic. And by slicing the mushrooms. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed large pan or pot. I use a dutch oven for mine because it has a heavy bottom. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes. The onion should be softened, but not browned. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes, just to soften the mushrooms.

The trick to cooking risotto is to slowly add the liquid and stir the pan allowing the liquid to get absorbed into the rice with every addition. This allows for a creamy risotto. We will do the same things here to make our asparagus mascarpone risotto creamy. Add the arborio rice to the pan and stir well so everything gets well combined. Let it cook for about 2 or so minutes without adding any liquid – stirring to ensure that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Adding the Liquid

Now you can add 1 cup of water to the pan. Stir the pan to allow the liquid to mix well with the rice. Let the rice absorb the water and continue to stir it every couple of minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste at this point. Also, add the dehydrated parsley to the pan. As the first cup of water gets absorbed into the rice, add another cup and allow it to get absorbed. Continue this process until all of the water has been used up. Continue to constantly stir the pan.

Cooking the Asparagus

Once you add the first cup of water to the pan, you can start working on the asparagus. Wash the asparagus well. It tends to have some sand stuck in the florets at the top sometimes. Chop off the knobby ends before you use the asparagus. The trick to doing this is holding the asparagus on both ends and bending it. The knobby part will break off by itself. Once you have all the good bits, chop them into 1 cm cubes.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to a small pan and heat them together. Add the chopped asparagus to the pan and stir well. Allow it to cook on medium-high heat. This allows the asparagus to soften a little. You do not want to overcook it. The idea is to just make it crunchy and bright green.

Once the rice has finished cooking, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, the mascarpone, and the asparagus to the pan. Now you have your delicious asparagus mascarpone risotto ready to be enjoyed.

Serving Suggestions:

Shave some fresh parmesan onto the Asparagus Mascarpone Risotto just before serving. Enjoy with a side of :

• My crunchy green salad
• or with some of my Oven-Grilled Chicken Thighs.
• I love to serve it with some pan-fried scallops.

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