Lemon risotto with spring vegetables
7
Points®
Total time: 43 min • Prep: 10 min • Cook: 33 min • Serves: 8 • Difficulty: Easy
This bright risotto is comforting and colorful, and worth the time and effort it takes to make it. It’s certainly impressive enough for your next dinner party. We’ve flavored this one with delicate spring vegetables and fresh lemon. Arborio rice is the rice of choice for risottos as it has a high starch content that slowly releases into the pot as it cooks, helping give risotto its creamy and luscious signature texture. You can use carnaroli or vialone nano in place of arborio, if you like. For an alcohol-free risotto, you can omit the wine and increase the chicken broth to 6 cups.
Ingredients
Asparagus
1 pound(s)
Table salt
1 tsp
Reduced sodium chicken broth
5.5 cup(s)
Olive oil
1 Tbsp
Uncooked leeks
2 medium
Garlic
3 clove(s)
Fresh thyme
1 tsp
Uncooked white rice
1.5 cup(s)
White wine
0.333 cup(s)
Frozen green peas
1 cup(s)
Fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp
Lemon zest
1 tsp
Grated Parmesan cheese
0.5 cup(s)
Black pepper
0.25 tsp
Instructions
1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the asparagus and salt, and cook just until bright green, 2 minutes. Drain and rinse the asparagus in a colander under cold running water to stop cooking; set aside.
2
Bring the broth to a gentle simmer in a large saucepan over medium-low heat; reduce the heat and keep at a simmer.
3
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet. Sauté the leeks, garlic, and thyme until the leeks begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until the outer shell is translucent, about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until it is absorbed. Add the broth 1 cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed before adding more, until the rice is just tender but still slightly toothy. Add the asparagus, peas, lemon juice, and lemon zest with the last (1⁄2-cup) addition of broth. The cooking time from the first addition of broth should be about 22 minutes. Stir in the cheese and pepper; serve immediately. Yields 1 cup per serving.
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