Asparagus has never been Mrs J’s favorite vegetable. They taste “special”. They’re pretty fickle to cook. They’re murder on most wines. And to top it off, you have to peel them.

Peeling vegetables is right up there on Mrs J’s top 100 most boring things to waste your life doing.

But Mr J likes asparagus.

So, now that Mrs J has time, she decided to rise to the challenge. Today, in the form of asparagus risotto. With some shrimp, too.

So, we start off with peeled asparagus, cut in pieces, tips to the side.

Then peel some uncooked shrimp. Mrs J also gets bored peeling shrimp, so she compromises by getting the already decapitated frozen version. With heads already off, it’s just so much faster and they taste as good as fresh.

Mrs J likes butter in her risotto, especially since we’re adding asparagus. So start off with a generous amount of butter in a pot. Add some chopped onion and cook slowly. Add the cut stems of the asparagus and cook a bit more. Add rice and stir until looks a bit like Mrs J’s bathroom window (provided said window is clean).

Add a generous splash of white wine. Let cook until almost dry again. Then add some stock, just enough to make sure there is some liquid for the rice to soak up. In this case Mrs J used shellfish stock, cause she had some. Any fish stock will be good.

Stir and let simmer for a while. Then add some more stock as it soaks in. Stir some more. Make sure the stock is salty enough. Continue this until rice is cooked. Should be about 20 min.

Then add as much grated parmesan as you think is reasonable. Then add some more. Be unreasonable! Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Let rest in the pot while you quickly fry up the shrimp and the asparagus tips in some olive oil.

Dish it up and serve hot, with fried shrimp and asparagus tips on top of risotto.

Yummy!

P.S. However well you cook these things, they’ll still make your p smell. Go figure.