Today a recipe for a main course: creamy risotto with asparagus and mascarpone.
When asparagus season begins, I never miss the chance to eat them. One of our favorite dishes, along with pasta with asparagus and mortadella, is a perfectly creamy risotto. A true delight for the palate.
Preparing it is simple but requires following a few small steps, including toasting the rice and the creaming process, which in this case, we will do with luscious mascarpone, perhaps leftover from preparing a good classic tiramisu.
Perfect for a Sunday lunch or festive days, great also for Easter lunch, this main course will be greatly appreciated by your guests, who will surely ask for seconds.
I used cultivated asparagus but if you’re lucky enough to go searching and gathering wild ones, your dish will gain even more flavor. Here’s a little anecdote: when I was little, my dad and I would go into the woods to look for asparagus. He would walk behind me collecting many, while I, walking in front, didn’t see them and picked very few! 😂
Now let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Minute
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, All Seasons
Ingredients for Asparagus and Mascarpone Risotto
- 12.35 oz Carnaroli rice
- 10.58 oz asparagus
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- to taste fine salt
- to taste pepper
- 5.29 oz mascarpone
- 3.4 fl oz white wine
- 1/2 onion (small)
Tools
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pan
- 1 Immersion Blender
Let’s make the Asparagus and Mascarpone Risotto together
Clean the asparagus by removing the hard ends and then wash them thoroughly under running water. Then bring plenty of water to a boil in a saucepan and immerse the asparagus. When they’re tender, but not too much, drain them without discarding the cooking water. While the asparagus cooks, chop the onion.
Place the asparagus on a cutting board, cut off the tips and set aside, then cut the asparagus into pieces until you reach the soft part, leaving the slightly harder and fibrous end. Put these latter parts in a container, add half a ladle of cooking water, a pinch of salt, and a grind of pepper, and blend everything with an immersion blender until smooth.
In a non-stick pan, pour the olive oil and onion, and sauté lightly. Then add the asparagus pieces and rice, and toast for a minute. Deglaze with white wine and let evaporate, then continue cooking by adding a ladle of asparagus cooking water at a time. Add another ladle of water only when the previous one has been absorbed, lovingly stirring the rice.
When a few minutes remain before the rice is done, add the asparagus tips and continue cooking with the asparagus water. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. When ready, turn off the heat and add the blended asparagus cream and mascarpone, stirring to combine everything.
Una Riccia recommends
If you can’t find fresh asparagus, you can also use frozen ones. Moreover, if you don’t like the taste of mascarpone, you can replace it with pecorino and a knob of butter or with a creamy cheese.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
When is asparagus season?
Asparagus season runs from April to June, although in recent years, they have started to appear as early as March.
