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This Asparagus Risotto with Pecorino Romano recipe yields a creamy rich delicious dish that can be served as a side or star alone as its own entree.
Marry asparagus with risotto and a slightly stinky cheese like pecorino romano, and you’ve created a masterpiece. You will love this asparagus risotto with pecorino romano as a side dish accompanying a main dish like chicken or pork chops. This asparagus risotto can also be your starring entree alone as a vegetarian dish or with some succulent prawns tossed in.
I’ve been getting a fair amount of asparagus in my CSA produce box each week. Years back, I had a bad experience of eating nasty mushy white asparagus with solid hollandaise in Austria. Besides being completely entertained by watching my little sister yell at the server in German, the experience was one I never want to repeat. As such, I don’t think I’ve ever made asparagus with hollandaise as a side. So what am I to do with all of this gorgeous thin fresh asparagus? I asked my foodie friends and one of them suggested risotto. Yes. Genius.
I like a fair amount of snap to my asparagus due to my post traumatic nausea, so I recommend adding the asparagus at the end. I’m sure you will agree this is the right thing to do. I also highly recommend only using thin asparagus. It’s just more tender and delicious. Trust me.
I served this with my parmesan herb encrusted chicken. Much to my disappointment, the never-admitting foodie husband and both foodie-in-training kids loved it… which always means less leftovers for me. Oh well.
Asparagus Risotto with Pecorino Romano
Ingredients
- 4 cups asparagus ends trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces, divided
- 4 cups chicken stock divided
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped, approximately 2 cups
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups uncooked Arborio rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 4 ounces pecorino romano cheese microplaned or grated fine
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- In blender, combine 1 cup asparagus and 1 cup chicken stock, process until smooth. You want to do this to infuse that wonderful asparagus flavor into your risotto. I medium saucepan, combine with remaining 3 cups of stock and simmer over low heat.
- In a medium sized heavy bottom stockpot or dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in butter over medium high heat until lightly brown, 5-6 minutes.
- Add rice and stir for 1 minute. You want rice to get slightly browned.
- Add wine and stir until liquid is absorbed, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup of asparagus stock mixture and continue stirring until liquid is absorbed. Continue to add stock mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed, until all liquid has been added to rice, approximately 30 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Add remaining asparagus, 3 ounces of the shredded cheese, heavy cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine and allow to rest.
- Top with microplaned pecorino romano cheese. Recipe reserves an ounce for this. Feel free to go crazy and use much more. I always do.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What can I substitute for the 1/3 cup of white wine ?
Chicken broth
Question, Isee that you put one half of the asparagus into the blender with the chicken stock, but do you Sautee the other half of the asparagus, or do you add it into the risotto uncooked?
You add the remaining asparagus in step 6
Do you cook the asparagus before blending? And no cooking before adding the rest at the end?
Just saw this in the Watertown MA Farmer’s Market newsletter and am putting in into the meal plan for tomorrow night!!! Can’t wait to try this. Already have all ingredients handy.
i know how to make risotto but i decided to make this one following this recipe. The part of blending the asparragus with the chicken stock is a game changer!!!.. when my wife saw me blending it , she said “what are you doing ? is going to get slimmy” and i said…let’s see. it came out delicious. Now, i had to use way more stock than what the recipe called for. But in a nutshell good recipe
This was soooo amazing!
So delicious. I actually loved your idea of serving it with prawns.
Oh, my, this looks amazing!! I love asparagus, especially in pastas or rice! This looks so cheesy & tasty!
can this risotto be made ahead and reheated and can you add chicken or should you have chicken on the side
Hi Darlene, It can definitely be made ahead of time with or without the chicken. To reheat, I would add to a pot and maybe add a bit more liquid to bring it back to life? Enjoy! Krissy