Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

So, this is where it all started, my first dish of many! As you'll come to notice, I like cooking seafood, especially shrimp. I found this recipe on epicurious (www.epicurious.com). Back when I started my weekly cooking, I didn't have my own cookbooks, so I found the first couple of recipes online.

I added asparagus to the original recipe. I love asparagus, and I thought the dish could use a vegetable. I've made this recipe three times... you could say that I like it. I've heard that risotto can be a tricky dish, but I found this dish easy to make and very tasty.

Though I think this dish is easy to make, it does require some time since you are slowly adding the broth to the rice. What I like to do (if I'm cooking alone) is bring my laptop into the kitchen. This way I can catch up on my TV shows while cooking. Just a thought...

 The Ingredients...

• 5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1/2 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Asparagus (however much you like!)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions...

1. Bring broth and 1/4 cup wine to simmer in medium saucepan. Reduce heat; keep hot. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon garlic and crushed red pepper, then asparagus.  Sauté the asparagus until almost done (will finish cooking with the shrimp) then add in the shrimp. Sauté until shrimp begin to turn pink, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup wine. Simmer until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain shrimp, reserving cooking liquid.
2. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and remaining 1 teaspoon garlic; sauté until onion is pale golden, about 4 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups broth mixture. Simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring often. Continue adding broth mixture 1 cup at a time, stirring often and simmering until liquid is absorbed before adding more, about 20 minutes. Stir in reserved shrimp cooking liquid. Cook until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
3. Stir shrimp and 2 tablespoons parsley into risotto. Season risotto to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowls. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons parsley. 

Note: My stove top gets very hot, so it actually only took about 10-15 for liquid to absorb each time. Just make sure that you are only simmering the mixture. If it takes less time for the liquid to absorb (like in my case), then lucky you! 


My Thoughts...
For an online recipe, I was impressed with this dish. If you like risotto, then try it out yourself. The key ingredient in this recipe is the crushed red pepper. DO NOT skip out on this ingredient. If you do, I would imagine that the recipe will be bland. If you don't have the red pepper flakes, you could try cayenne pepper.