Creating a delicious risotto meal feels more energy-draining than tending to a tedious relationship. Every few minutes you’re required to add something while constantly stirring and monitoring it’s progress and determining whether it’s indeed ready for the next addition of stock or other ingredients. Just when you’re ready to say to your pot, “Listen, Risotto, it’s just not working out, I give so much and I don’t feel like I’m getting much in return…” it starts to appear reasonable and tastes…. it tastes absolutely to die for!

The reason I wanted to make risotto was that I had frozen some asparagus puree (see my previous post, Life in the Kitchen with Asparagus) and thought it would go well as an extra ingredient in risotto. I found About.com’s article on risotto cooking to be slightly worthwhile and ultimately chose Epicurious’s Lemony Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp recipe.

I did not use fresh shrimp but instead bought uncooked, peeled, deveined frozen shrimp (deveining shrimp makes me want to hurl and certainly not eat the resulting meal). It should be noted that I’d like to add a lemon zester to my list of desired kitchen gadgets! It should also be noted that zesting two full lemons down to their skivvies yields just one tablespoon of lemon zest and a heart full of tears; and, though I’ve never ever used lemon zest in a recipe previous to this, I was reluctant that one tablespoon would create the desired lemoniness, and so added a bit of bottled lemon juice to the tablespoon.

The next best thing – apart from the taste – about making a delicious risotto on your first try is listening to the boy you’re cooking for swoon over your culinary genius. This is indeed the beginning of a long and amorous relationship…. me and my beloved risotto!