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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Quick & Easy Asparagus Risotto with Delta Blues Rice Grits

July 19, 2015 by Mary 14 Comments

Delta Blues Rice Rice Grits package.Creamy, dreamy, these rice grits are amazing!! You know, to be included in a MARY’s secret ingredients box, we test each product beforehand to ensure it’s super delicious, easy to make, healthy and good for you. These Delta Blues Rice Grits came in and due to timing and scheduling issues, the only time I had to make them was for breakfast one morning while having a FaceTime call with my son in Poland. Did I tell you he won a Fulbright?!! Yes, we’re so proud of him but now he’ll be in Poland for the next 14 months. So thank goodness for FaceTime!

So I am making and eating rice grits at 7 am in the morning and you know what, I couldn’t stop eating them, even at that time of day! By just following the packaging instructions, which is just the same as making regular rice, they came out so creamy and super, super yummy. So what are rice grits? Well they’re the leftover broken rice bits and I’ll tell you what, I’ll take these any day over the whole rice grain!

Now we all love risotto but it needs stirring attention and it‘s not a great thing to make for a dinner party if you want to spend time with your guests. But with these rice grits being so creamy to begin with, I reworked my recipe to create this super Quick & Easy Asparagus Risotto with Delta Blues Rice Grits. I know you’ll like it as much as we did!

Quick & easy asparagus risotto.

QUICK & EASY ASPARAGUS RISOTTO WITH DELTA BLUES RICE GRITS  – serves 4

4 cups chicken broth – preferably homemade, divided
1 cup of Delta Rice Grits
1 lb. asparagus, broken at the point of tenderness to remove tough ends, and then each stalk cut into 1.5” pieces
Coarse sea salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
½ of a medium red onion, diced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup (heaping) grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Combine 2 cups of broth and 1 cup of Delta Rice Grits in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 18 minutes. Then remove from heat and uncover. There will be some liquid left and that’s okay.

Meanwhile, while the rice grits are cooking, take a small saucepan and fill with ½ of the asparagus stems (only half of the stems – leave all the tips) and cover with water. Salt the water with coarse sea salt. Bring to a boil, uncovered and reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the stems are very tender. Test with a fork. Drain quickly and place in an ice cube bath to stop the cooking. Drain and place stems in a food processor. Asparagus risotto - asparagus puree. Pulse to a puree. Stop and add a tablespoon (or maybe two) of cold water to make a smooth puree.

At the same time, melt 1 Tbs. of unsalted butter in 2 Tbs. of olive oil. Add diced red onion and cook until softened for about 5 minutes on medium low heat. Raise heat to medium-high and add ½ cup dry white wine.

Asparagus risotto - onions and asparagus in a skillet.

Looks like Christmas!

Simmer until almost gone and then add 2 cups of chicken broth and the rest of the asparagus. Saute for 4 – 5 minutes just until the asparagus is crisp tender.

Add the cooked Delta Rice Grits and the asparagus puree and simmer for about 2 minutes while stirring and mixing together. Remove from heat and add 2 Tbs. butter (cut into small chunks) and the heaping ½ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese. Stir vigorously to combine, season with fresh cracked pepper, garnish with basil if you wish, and serve with LOVE!

Our fall box ships on September 25th and you won’t want to miss it! The supply is limited so best to order now before we run out. 🙂

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: asparagus risotto, easy asparagus recipes, easy risotto for a dinner party, quick & easy asparagus risotto

Asparagus Risotto

June 8, 2014 by Mary 48 Comments

 

With spring finally here and beautiful asparagus plentiful, I always want to make this dish: Asparagus Risotto. Years ago I never liked risotto, I actually never wanted to try it. Soupy rice? No way. My mother used to make this Polish meal of a hot soup made with milk and rice (gag – I hated it), potato pancakes and applesauce. Oh I thought it was AWFUL!!! My father loved it and even one of my brothers, David, asked for the rice soup once for his birthday. Fortunately I had left town by then. So this is why I never ordered risotto in a restaurant, thinking it was too close to that soup. But no, not at all.

And then there are the asparagus stories in my family. My father loved, loved, LOVED asparagus. And in those days when I was young, it was really only available in the spring and early summer. But it was still relatively expensive and we were a family of eight with six kids. So my father would buy two to three bunches, and actually count the spears and divide by eight as to how many spears each person got. This ran between five and eight, depending on how expensive they were. We would always tease him as he counted, while lovingly serving them to each of us. He liked asparagus so much, he even liked the canned white stuff (gag).

My father never cooked much, but he always made the asparagus. He would take each spear, hold it at each end and bend it until it broke at the point of tenderness, all the while, explaining to me what he was doing. Breaking at the point of tenderness was so important to him. After washing, he would then pile them all up with the ends together forming a flat bottom, and tie up the bundle with white kitchen string.

Using the double boiler, he would fill the bottom pan with about an inch and a half of water and stand the bundle of asparagus upright in it and then take the top pan and turn it upside down, covering the top portion and tips. He would then steam them for about 8 – 10 minutes, testing the tenderness of the stems with a fork. When they were done, he would carefully lift out the whole bundle and place it in one of my mom’s square Pyrex pans, cut loose and remove the white string, and proceed to put probably too many pats of butter on top. He would move those pats around, making sure all spears were covered, from stem to tip, and then count to serve. This is how I grew up on asparagus!

But back to risotto, this recipe is based on combination of Mario Batali’s and Mark Bittman’s recipes and was first printed in The New York Times back in 2007. I have changed it a bit. It is a family favorite in our household, the kind of dish you can just sink right into – real comfort food – with the spring accent of asparagus. You can even throw in some peeled raw shrimp at the end, (stir until done) to dress it up even more if you’d like. Serve as a first course or with your meal as shown here with broiled lamb chops. I hope you like this. Maybe it will become a family favorite in your house too!Asparagus risotto with lamb chops.

Asparagus Risotto – Adapted from Mario Batali and Mark Bittman – serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side

1+ lbs. asparagus, no less than ¼” thick, snapped at the point of tenderness, washed and cut into one-inch-long pieces, tips reserved
5 to 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt to taste
1/2 cup, heaping, grated Parmesan cheese.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add half the asparagus stalks and cook until quite soft, at least 5 minutes. Rinse quickly under cold water. Drain. Put cooked asparagus in a food processor and add just enough water to allow machine to puree until smooth; set aside.

Put stock in a medium saucepan over low heat. Put oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add onion, stirring occasionally until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine, stir, and let liquid bubble away. Add a large pinch of salt. Add warmed stock, 3/4 cup or so at a time, stirring occasionally. Each time the stock has just about evaporated, add more. You need to stir no more than occasionally. For example, stir after each addition of liquid and then once or twice more before that liquid evaporates.

After about 15 minutes, add remaining asparagus pieces and tips, continuing to add stock when necessary. In 5 minutes, begin tasting rice. You want it to be tender but with a bit of crunch; it could take as long as 30 minutes total to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the asparagus puree. Remove skillet from heat, add remaining butter and stir briskly. Add Parmesan and stir briskly, then taste and adjust seasoning. Risotto should be slightly soupy. Serve immediately.

 

Filed Under: First Course, Sides Tagged With: asparagus recipes, asparagus risotto, asparagus risotto recipe, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, risotto recipes, The New York Times

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Mary Frances

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