Lemon, Asparagus, Pea and Goat Cheese Risotto

Date night again and this time, we are taking things up a notch with the infamous risotto. "Oh no not risotto! Leave it to the chefs in the restaurants!" HA - no way, we ARE professionals, especially if you wear a hat in the kitchen. At least that is what I like to think.....*awkward silence*

 Anyhoo....You know my general rule that anytime I am cooking with wine, it ends up being a special meal because I am not about to use up my weekend fuel on a weekday dinner. But the main reason why this dish is for date night is because it does take quite a bit of time and attention and if I am putting THAT much effort into something, I may as well share it with someone.

Last post I introduced the concept that anyone can make risotto.... which is true...mainly because you can put anything in it and it will taste great. So feel free to experiement, thats what I did and it actually turned out wonderful.

Lemon, Asparagus, Pea and Goat Cheese Risotto
Time: 1 hr.         CPS: 4 servings ($2.61) without wine ($1.86)    L of D: Graduate

•  About 5 Asparagus Spears
• 1-2 cups of frozen peas
• Zest of 1/2-1 lemon
• 3-4 heaping spoonfuls of goat cheese
• 1/2 small onion or 1 shallot
• 1 1/2 cups of Aborio rice
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• Splash of olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Begin by setting up your basic risotto recipe. For detailed instruction, read here for my step-by-step instructions on how to make risotto.

Short form: Heat chicken stop in a pot on the stove. Chop onion or shallot and drop in a pan with olive oil (or butter) over medium high heat. Saute until translucent. Add aborio rice and toast until slightly golden brown. Add wine and all rice to soak up the liquid stirring occasionally. Slowly begin to add chicken stock to rice, one ladle at a time. Add a ladle, allow rice to soak up liquid stirring occasionally, add another ladle. Approx. 30 minutes total so far.

When you are nearing your last few ladles, you can start working on your other ingredients. Chop tough ends off asparagus and cut the rest into bite size pieces. In a frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and toss in asparagus. Toss around in frying pan for only a few minutes, until the asparagus turns a bright green. Remove from heat.

Once you have added the last of your chicken stock, and your rice is nearing al dente (slight crunch) add your peas. They take 1 minute to cook. Add lemon zest and asparagus. Add goat cheese and remove from heat. Give a few final stirs, add salt and pepper to taste and allow the residual heat to melt the goat cheese. No butter needed, goat cheese is creamy enough.

Garnish with asparagus tips and lemon curl so you look all fancy and shit.