I love this time of year, and eat asparagus at every opportunity, whilst it lasts. I grew up with a garden mad mum who grew all our veg and swapped some for eggs and things that she couldn’t grow. She had a huge asparagus bed in her half acre veg plot, so I had a lot as a child!

I also love the baby broad beans, and have found Kamazyn produce masses of small beans in pretty purply shells. If you can only get older ones, it really is worth preboiling for about 3 minutes, and slipping out of their shells. Fiddly, but makes all the difference

Good stock also makes a difference, and there are plenty of bouillion granules out there for this if you don’t make your own. I usually use home made chicken stock, but any pale one will do.

For 2 people;

• 3 handfuls of risotto rice. My preference is for cannaroli
• Slosh of white wine
• 1 shallot or a small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove minced garlic
• Bunch of asparagus, cut into bitesize pieces, having broken the end off at it’s natural break point. Keep  the tough bits 
• 2 handfuls fresh broad beans, cooked for 5 minutes,  or a good cup full of frozen ones, thawed
• Half cup of freshly podded peas, or same of thawed frozen ones
• Approx 500ml warm stock
• At least 50g freshly grated parmesan cheese
• A little fresh mint and grated lemon rind

Bring your stock to the boil and simmer the asparagus chunks for 3 minutes. Then remove and cool, and add the tough stems to the stock. Simmer for a few minutes, and leave in the stock.

In a heavy pan, melt a knob of butter with a little olive oil, and gently fry the shallots and garlic till starting to go see through, ideally with no browning

Throw in your rinsed rice, and stir till all coated and slightly toasted

Throw in the wine and stir gently till all gone

Set the timer for however long your rice should take to cook. This is useful as a gauge later.

Gradually, a small ladle at a time, add the warm stock to the rice, constantly stirring gently. As each spoonful is absorbed, add another. You don’t want it to dry out.

When your pinger goes off, have a taste of the rice. It should be softening, but still have some bite. You will have used up most of your stock.

Gently toss the vegetables in, and season. Lid on, adding a bit more stock if it seems a bit dry, leave to simmer gently for 5 minutes.

Stir through the parmesan and mint and a good bit of lemon rind.

Serve with more parmesan and lots of black pepper.