LPA: Leeks, Peas, Asparagus. The perfect green mix.
You're gonna love this fresh delicious risotto. The combination of spring vegetables with the savoury pancetta and parmesan cheese makes this dish balanced. And what's better than a one-pot dinner? Not much.
Tips and Tricks
What's great about this dish is all the hidden greens. To get this dish started, we suggest first to sauté the leaks and asparagus until bright green and add the peas for a minute or two to cook from frozen. This veggie mixture can then be set aside. For a little something extra, we like to blend half the mixture into a puree which can not only flavour the risotto but add a nice green color to the rice.
Back to risotto. Its best to start off with the pancetta. If you render the fat you can use those oils to continue to cook another leak and the risotto. Those beads of arborio rice will soak up all the flavours left behind by the pancetta. With the dry rice in the pot along with the pureed vegetables, it will take on the savoury bacon flavour as well as the green color. With the rice slightly dry toasted for a few minutes, it's time to add your liquids; we like to start off with something strong like a vermouth or white wine to deglaze and then add stock one ladle at a time. I know its time consuming but the end result is worth it. The gradual addition of liquid helps to create that creaminess in the risotto that we all want. So be patient, grab a glass of wine and your fellow chef for some lovely conversation, and enjoy the process.
The risotto can vary in the amount of time it takes to cook, approximately 30-45 minutes. The best way to know is to taste test the rice that it is not hard in the middle but perfectly al dente! Once cooked to your liking, add in the parmesan cheese to make the risotto rich and creamy. Also add in those cooked veggies, some salt and pepper and stir!
Make it fun. Make it delicious. Make it together.
We love this dish because it is so simple to whip together and is really a satisfying meal. Also the leftovers taste amazing the next day. Just warm it up and you have yourself a homemade lunch that you can take to work or school. This recipe is also a gem for cooking with others. Some people avoid making risotto because of the time consuming additions of broth and constant stirring. However, we have found that making this dish with company makes cooking risotto an enjoyable activity. Time by the stove is a great opportunity to chat. And with two, you can tag-team this recipe and switch the roles of stirring midway!
The Recipe
How this works?
For those of you that are new to the twotocook family, our recipe structure deserves a little explanation. The idea behind twotocook was to design recipes for a fun game-like experience. The idea is you and your partner decide who will be chef 1 and who will be chef 2. Following your selection you will be brought to your individual instructions. We will start with a split grocery list for those that maybe want to split the shopping and come together for the meal. Then you will find the recipe steps are written per person rather than chronologically. For example, one person can chop vegetables while the other is sautéing onion. The idea is for the recipes to be structured so working together in the kitchen is a seamless experience (and fun too!). We have game-ified cooking from start to finish (including clean up duty!).
If you guys try out this activity please let us know in the comments your experience doing it! We would love to hear from our twotocook community.
For those of you that prefer a pdf of the recipe with traditional structure of instructions click the link below:
Step 1: Pick your role!
Alright it's time to start. Between the two of you, decide who will be chef 1 and chef 2. It will be a surprise what tasks you will have to do and which lucky (or unlucky haha) winner will be on dishes tonight. Its all part of the fun!
Step 2: Grocery List
Step 3: Cooking
Thanks for making this recipe! We hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear your thoughts on our game-ified cooking adventure. Tag us on instagram and add in the comments your experiences making the dish.
Until next recipe!
- twotocook
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