Courgette & Asparagus Risotto
Whenever I’m trying to switch up my grains and getting tired of the rice/pasta/noodles cycle, I remember risotto. A nice change! This warm and hearty risotto is made with courgette and asparagus and it’s delicious with butter and parmesan but can always be made vegan without them!
Ingredients
2 whole courgettes, chopped
100g asparagus spears
1 1/2 cups arborio risotto
30g butter (or replace with olive oil)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 thinly sliced white onion (the big ones!)
Parmesan to taste
Method
Heat some olive oil in a pan and add in the onions and garlic. Brown gently.
Add the courgette and sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Stir well and let it cook for a couple of minutes on a low-medium heat.
Chop the bottoms off the asparagus and cut the spears into inch-long pieces. Add in to the pan and sprinkle in some more salt and pepper.
Once the vegetables have cooked down and softened about 75% of the way (wild guess really!), add in the arborio risotto. Stir well and add in the pat of butter (replace with generous amounts of olive oil if making this vegan/healthier).
Coat everything fully in the butter and add in the water. I started with about 2 cups of water and just added to the pot with more if it looked like it was drying up. Probably not the best way to do it but hey – this is Slapdash Cooking!
Remember to leave the lid on to help the risotto cook through.
Once everything’s cooked through, take the risotto off the heat and stir in some parmesan. Again, you can skip this if you want to make it vegan!
Plate up – your courgette and asparagus risotto is good to go.
