Friends with benefits

A friend of mine who lives nearby is often having gifts pressed on her by clients (not that kind of client). Around Christmas pheasant and champagne characterised our Sunday lunches. She often brings over home made soda bread and her Mum's jam to nibble on while we gossip.

A couple of weeks ago, a client brought a crop of asparagus from his gloucestershire farm, and this friend generously gave me half. What to do with uber fresh asparagus? As it happened, I had been subject to rather a glut of the stuff that week, and wanted something more creative than simply roasted with olive oil and lemon or blanched and dipped in hollandaise.

So it seemed that hoovering up the other contents of my larder might create quite a nice risotto, and I could introduce you all to my somewhat unorthodox, yet surprisingly tasty, risotto-making method.

I have been told that my order of play, ie cook the flavouring ingredients, then add the rice, then the stock, is sacreligious, but only, in my opinion, if you overcook the main ingredient. Also, my disdain for arborio risotto rice and love of basmati for keeping the risotto a meal instead of a soup has raised many eyebrows.

So, I bung asparagus, peas, and broad beans in with some softened onions and garlic, and sweat briefly before adding a handful of rice per person (I have quite small hands). I then stir the rice in with the other ingredients, essentially frying the basmati, making all the starch break down to help the sauce get properly risotto-like. Add boiling stock, and let simmer, adding stock until the rice has fluffed up but is still covered. Then leave until the rice is cooked. I stirred in some leftover goats cheese, which made it extra yummy and creamy without swamping the asparagus flavour.

This resulted in a very delicious amalgam of spring vegetables, but sadly, as ever, I have created a vegetable dish unsuitable for vegetarians because I just don't believe vegetable stock has the same emulsifying qualities of chicken stock, which are required for this most unorthodox of risottos.