Meatless Monday: Lemony Asparagus Risotto

Lemon and Asparagus - two fabulous summer flavors. They come together beautifully in this buttery, light risotto.

With a plant based diet, you would think "creamy" dishes would be a thing of the past - but fear not! This risotto will satisfy all your "creamy" cravings without any inflammatory dairy!

Plus you get vitamin D from the mushrooms, vitamin A and fibre from the asparagus and some iron from the rice. Comforting, creamy and healthy with a little taste of summer…enjoy.

Lemony Asparagus Risotto
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (plus more for drinking!)
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed, stalks cut into 2 inch lengths (about 16 stalks)
3 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer.

In a different, large saucepan, cook onion with olive oil and garlic powder on medium heat until they are tender. Add rice and stir until the edges are translucent. Add in the wine and cook until it is just absorbed.

Begin adding 1/2 a cup of the warm stock at a time to the rice. Stir each 1/2 cup until it is almost absorbed then add the next 1/2 cup.

At about the halfway point of adding the broth, stir in the asparagus and the mushrooms and continue to  add the remaining broth one 1/2 cup at a time until the sauce is creamy and the rice is cooked. (You may not use all the broth).

Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sending you sunshine, happiness and lemony asparagus love,
Kim

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