Chicken and asparagus risotto

Serves 2

Ingredients

• asparagus, one bunch - for this, where the asparagus is chopped, I like quite thin stalks, if I'm serving it whole as a side I prefer thicker stalks
• chicken breast, 250g cooked, and chopped - this is a weeknight meal, if I was taking time I'd poach and shred some chicken breast fresh for it
• risotto rice, 250g - I like Carnaroli most, but only had Arborio in the cupboard so that's what I used here
• shallots - I had some huge Echalion shallots and just used a couple, finely sliced
• garlic, 2 cloves, finely slived or minced
• butter, an ungodly amount, in 1 cm cubes - some for frying and some to finish. Maybe 100g
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• stock, 1L - I used half chicken and half veggie
• flat leaf parsley, 1 fistful, chopped
• Parmigiano Reggiano, 50g, finely grated
• salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. take a bunch of asparagus and snap off the woody stems (don't bin them!). Cut the asparagus into roughly 1.5cm to 2cm pieces on a slight bias.
2. bring some stock to a bare simmer and toss in the woody asparagus stems. I used about 1L stock total.

3. bring half the butter to a low simmer in a heavy bottomed pan (an enamelled dutch oven is perfect here, a Le Creuset or other similar). Gently cook the chopped asparagus in the butter, until fragrant and softening, maybe 3-4 minutes.
4. remove the asparagus and reserve.
5. add the chopped shallots to the pan and let soften, about 5 minutes.
6. add the garlic to the pan and let soften, about 2 minutes.
7. turn the heat up under the pan to medium, add the rice, and stir in the rice. Fry until you can smell a slightly toasty note from the rice, stirring often.

8. toss in your white wine and keep stirring frequently until it's been absorbed.
9. remove the woody asparagus stems from the stock and chuck.
10. a ladle or two at a time, add some stock to the risotto and keep stirring often until the stock has been almost completely absorbed. Repeat until you've used almost all the stock. Test the rice. You want no chalkiness, but still a little but of a bite to it, it shouldn't be mushy.
11. add the chopped chicken and the fried asparagus to the pot along with the last ladle or two of stock. Keep stirring until it's at about the consistency you're looking for[1].
12. add the chopped parsley and the rest of the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

My wife declared it to be as good as the M&S microwave Chicken and Asparagus risotto ready-meal, so you can't get much better than that, can you?

[1] - the perfect risotto should 'creep' across the plate, ie when you add a ladleful to a plate it shouldn't maintain a heaped shape but should gradually relax and spread a bit. Mine, here, was a bit thick, but what can you do?