Recipe: Wild Mushroom Risotto with Griddled Asparagus

I'm loving the photo for this- Gert posh isn't it??? I would be very happy to serve people this at a dinner party, or even in a restaurant, because i think it looks very impressive- and lucky for everyone it tastes very impressive too! It does require a liiittle bit of multi-tasking, but us women are fairly good at all that! (Just kidding, I don't believe in all that "men can't multitask" nonsense. If that was true then there wouldn't be so many male chefs- cause you need to be very good at multitasking to be a chef. DEFINITELY). You will probably end up with some of the mushroom soaking liquid left- dont chuck it away! You could make a lush soup, sauce or gravy outta that! You can of course use vegetable stock instead of chicken to make it vegetarian- I just think the chicken stock makes it taste better!

This recipe won me "The Italian Table Cookbook" by Ron Suhanosky, through submitting it on "Take a Break's My Favourite Recipes" Facebook page.

Wild mushroom Risotto with Griddled Asparagus (serves 2 generously!)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large knob butter
1 small white onion, very finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp fresh thyme
30g dried mixed wild mushrooms
160g Arborio rice
100ml white wine or rose
250ml chicken stock (made with 2 chicken Oxos)
2 bay leaf
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (plus extra for garnish)
20g finely grated parmesan (plus extra for garnish)
Plenty of black pepper and salt
6 spears asparagus, woody ends trimmed

1. Soak the mixed wild mushrooms in a full pint of boiling water. Leave soaking for 30 minutes. Boil the asparagus for a couple of minutes, drain, and set aside.
2. Sautee the onion, garlic and celery in the olive oil and butter, on a low/medium heat for 10 minutes. Increase the heat and add the wine, and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the Arborio rice and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Drain the wild mushrooms, reserving all of the soaking liquid, and add the mushrooms, parsley and bay leaves to the rice. Start to gradually add the stock, stirring and letting the risotto to gradually absorb the liquid.
4. Once it has soaked up all the stock, start using the mushroom soaking liquid, and continue gradually adding liquid whilst the rice soaks it up, for around 10-15 minutes (you probably won’t use all of the mushroom liquid). Check the texture of the rice every so often- when the risotto is ready, the rice should be “al dente” (still with a slight bite to it).
5. Whilst the risotto is cooking, heat a griddle pan onto high. Season the asparagus spears with salt and pepper, and a little oil, and chuck onto the griddle pan. Griddle for about 2 minutes each side.
6. Add parmesan to the risotto, stirring until it has melted, season to taste, and it should be ready! Serve the risotto, topped with the griddled asparagus spears, a few shavings of parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.