CREAMY ASPARAGUS RISOTTO WITH LEMON AND MASCARPONE

SERVES 4

This is the green-hued arborio rice dish that often catches the camera as it’s served as an app to Hell’s Kitchen diners. And it’s one that Kevin Cottle mastered in Season 6’s final four competition. It’s a spring asparagus, brightened with lemon and enriched with a dollop of mascarpone. Serve your risotto as soon as it’s done, as it continues to cook after it’s removed from the heat and can start to dry out and become soft.

ASPARAGUS PUREE

1 pound asparagus, bottoms trimmed and discarded

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

RISOTTO

5⅓ cups vegetable stock or chicken stock

1 tablespoon olive oil

⅔ cup white onion, finely diced

1⅓ cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice

⅓ cup dry white wine

⅓ cup Parmesan cheese, plus more to taste

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tablespoon mascarpone

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lemon zest, for garnish

FOR THE ASPARAGUS PUREE

IN a medium skillet, blanch the asparagus, whole, in boiling salted water for 2 minutes or until al dente. Remove the spears with a slotted spoon and shock in ice water. Reserve a half cup of the blanching liquid.

CUT 2 inches from the tops and set aside. Thinly slice the bottoms and put them in the blender on low. Add just enough of the blanching water to loosen and start pureeing. Blend on high until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

FOR THE RISOTTO

IN a small saucepan, heat the stock and maintain at a slow simmer.

HEAT the olive oil in heavy large saucepan over moderate heat. Add onion and sauté until tender and translucent, about 4–5 minutes. Add the rice and stir 1 minute. Add wine and cook until absorbed, stirring often, 1–2 minutes. Add ½ cup of stock and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, 2–3 minutes. Continue in this manner, adding hot stock a half a cup at a time until all of the stock has been added and absorbed and the rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, total cooking time 25 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, then add the asparagus puree, reserved asparagus tips, lemon juice, and mascarpone, stirring gently to combine and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with lemon zest, and serve with more Parmesan.

RISOTTO COOKED JUST RIGHT

From oversalted to bland, seasoned with sugar instead of salt, hard, mushy, or cooked in a dirty pan, ruined risottos have run the gamut on Hell’s Kitchen. But nothing is better than a perfect risotto, cooked until creamy yet still al dente with each grain separate. This Italian rice dish reliably joins beef Wellington (here) and seared scallops (here) on the Hell’s Kitchen menu, as it is one of the more difficult recipes to master. For a successful risotto, cook it slowly, ladling broth into the pan only after the previous addition has been absorbed, and taste often to find your way to that sweet spot of perfect doneness.