Adventures in cooking risotto

For the past few months I have been doing Weight Watchers and exploring health eating.  The great thing about Weight Watchers is that you really can eat what you want, as long as you are careful about portions and of course, moderation.  Recently, in the Weight Watchers weekly that I get at each meeting, there was a 5 point recipe for Asparagus Risotto.  I have always been a crazy risotto fan but I have never actually tried to cook it myself.  When I saw this recipe, I knew that fact was about to change.  I will put in the recipe below and then write about the alterations I made.

Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 small shallots, minced
1 cup uncooked arborio rice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 cups canned chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese

Boil a large pot of salted water and cook the asparagus for 3 minutes.  Immediately after cooking, transfer the asparagus to a bowl of ice cold water.  This will stop the cooking and help retain the color of the asparagus.

Coat a medium pot with cooking spray and melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Add the rice and toss to coat; cook for 2 minutes.  Add lemon juice and cook until it has all been absorbed, stirring continuously, about 1 minute.

In another pot, bring the both to a simmer to keep it warm.  Add 1/2 cup of broth to the pot at a time and stir the risotto until the broth is absorbed and then add a 1/2 cup more.  This process is a bit tedious but it is really, really easy.  It takes about 20 minutes to do this and the rice will begin to become creamy.  At the end I turned up the heat on the rice high to thicken it up a little bit more and then took it off the heat to add the cheese.  The cheese will thicken the risotto even more.  You can then add the cooked risotto and season with salt and pepper if desired.  A serving is a scant 1 cup.

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So, I have cooked the risotto this way a couple times and it really is delicious.  However, I wanted to try mixing things up a bit.  I cooked the risotto except this time I swapped the butter for truffle oil.  What is truffle oil you may ask?  Only my favorite thing in the world!  I bought the bottle months back and use it rarely, but I seriously love it.  The aroma and taste is out of this world.  Instead of lemon juice I swamped a white wine I had in the fridge.  And instead of asparagus I used some mushrooms that I sauteed with the same truffle oil and a dash of italian seasonings.  I swear... this was the best most amazing Truffled Mushroom Risotto and amazingly delicious.  I highly recommend it!!!

As intimidating as risotto can be, it was honestly very easy and a simple weeknight meal.  However, I would also serve this at the fanciest dinner party.  I had with some salad and white wine.

P.S.  My roommate and I put together a Persian meal for some friends tonight.  For the first time I learned and followed the cooking process so I can recreate the dishes in the future.  I am looking forward to seeing how they come out!!!