Risotto Another Way

The other night, I finally got around to taking a trip to H-Mart, my favorite place to buy seafood and fish. I got the ingredients for the sausage I made the other night, as well as the rest of the items on my current menu! Among those ingredients was some nice, fresh snow crab meat. When I got home from work tonight, I was greeted by a happy puppy and a hungry husband, so I got to work in the kitchen! My mise en place came together pretty quickly for this recipe: Crab, Asparagus and Lemon Risotto, from the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites cookbook.

I gathered 3 cups of seafood stock, a bunch of asparagus, olive oil, a leek, salt, freshly ground black pepper, a garlic clove, chopped fresh chives, a cup of Arborio rice, some dry white wine, fresh crabmeat, lemon zest, lemon juice and unsalted butter.

In a small saucepan, I brought my seafood stock to a simmer, and threw in the ends from my asparagus. I let that cook for about 10 minutes before fishing the stalks out of the stock and tossing them in my garbage bowl.

In a heavy pot, I heated 1 tablespoon of olive oil until hot, and then added my sliced leek to the pot. For 5 minutes, I allowed the leeks to cook, stirring frequently.

Once the 5 minutes was up, I seasoned the leeks with salt and pepper, and added the minced garlic clove, as well as the chopped chives and allowed it to cook for 30 more seconds. Then, I added the Arborio rice, and allowed the mixture to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Does this all look familiar? It should, because we've made risotto before. You guys should be pros by now! :) Once the 3 minutes were up, I added half of the wine, stirring until the liquid was fully absorbed. At that point, I added the other half of the wine and allowed it to do the same thing. Continue this way with the seafood stock until the risotto is almost done and you have about 1/2 a cup of stock in reserve.

Add the last 1/2 cup of stock along with the asparagus pieces, and allow it to cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir in 3/4 of the crabmeat, the lemon zest and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper again. Allow everything to warm through.

Be sure not to leave this on the heat TOO long and over cook the already cooked crab, but definitely give it time to heat through. Meanwhile, take a small saute pan and add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of unsalted butter. Once that has melted and heated together, add the rest of the crab meat and allow to heat through, stirring to coat. Season this as well, with salt and pepper.

To plate, spoon a nice helping of the risotto onto each plate or bowl and then top with the extra buttered crabmeat. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped chives and serve. This is a really fresh, spring dish that really showcases asparagus during their season. The addition of crab is a bonus...you could do this recipe without the crab as well, should you have trouble finding the ingredient, or want to cut back on the cost of this dish!