Lemon Parmesan Risotto
Creamy lemon parmesan risotto is a perfect comfort food meal that is full of flavor from lemon zest and juice, onions, garlic, parmesan cheese and warm broth. It's the perfect side dish for chicken, steak or salmon.
Servings 6 to 8 servings
Calories
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 shallot or yellow onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups arborio Rice
- zest of lemon
- 5 1/2 cups broth vegetable or chicken room temperature or warm
- 1/2 cup white wine
- juice of one lemon
- 1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
- 6 asparagus spears chopped into 1" pieces
- parsely and extra parmesan for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the broth in a medium pot over medium heat until simmering. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm. This will be used as the liquid in the risotto.
- In a large Dutch oven or pot heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the shallot or onion and cook (stirring often) until soft about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute.
- Add the arborio rice and the lemon zest to the pot and stir to gently toast the rice for about 2 minutes. Add the broth to the pot 1 cup at a time, stirring continuously until the rice has absorbed all the broth. Repeat until all the broth has been used. This can take up to 20 minutes. Add the wine and lemon juice as the last cup of liquid, stirring the rice so that it absorbs the liquid and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in the grated parmesan, 2 tablespoons of butter, salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste and the chopped asparagus. Let the asparagus cook until heated through about 5-6 minutes.
- Taste the rice to see if it's cooked through. If not - feel free to add 1/2 cup more water if needed. The consistency should be creamy with a little bite to the risotto, but not crunchy.
- Garnish with additional freshly grated parmesan cheese, lemon zest and fresh chopped parsely.