Chicken & Asparagus Risotto - A Recipe!

I love asparagus, especially with dippy eggs and ham which I eat quite frequently for breakfast or lunch but decided I wanted to use it to make a more substantial dinner. Risotto is something that everyone thinks is time consuming and complicated but it really isn't and its lovely warming and very filling dinner perfect for when Autumn approaches. So here is what you will need to make a chicken and asparagus risotto:

• The dark meat from a pre-cooked chicken.
• 5 large asparagus spears.
• 3 spring onions. 
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• 1tsp of thyme.
• 1/2 a pack of arborio rice.
• 1 chicken stock cube.
• 1tbsp of cream cheese.
• 2tbsp of grated parmesan cheese. 

Firstly finely cut your garlic and spring onions then chop your asparagus into medium sized sticks, add these to your frying pan with a little olive oil and fry until softened.

After a few minutes add your desired amount of arborio rice remembering it does swell quite significantly. Make up just over a pint of chicken stock and add just enough to cover your rice along with some dried thyme. Keep stirring your rice until it has absorbed all the stock then add the same amount of stock again. Keep repeating this process for around 20 minutes until all the stock is absorbed and the rice is almost soft, if you run out of stock and your rice is still hard then just add some boiled water again a little at a time until your rice is cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed. 

Stir in 1tbsp of cream cheese and sprinkle over a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese this gives the risotto a nice rich creamy flavour and then add your pre-cooked chicken and stir to combine. 

And thats your risotto ready to serve up, you could easily eat this dish on its own but I like to serve it with some fresh steamed vegetables and a generous amount of ground black pepper on top. 

This is another great family dish, this recipe fed all four of us with some left overs too the children loved it as well. There are so many different variations you could create replacing the asparagus with butternut squash or mixed mushrooms or remove the chicken for a vegetarian option. 

Thank you for reading.  

LouLou.