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healthy spring

Family Favourite Easy Pea(sy) and Mint Risotto

Juni 13, 2021 by katharina.kuehr Kommentar verfassen

Risotto always is a good choice. Everyone loves it. And the best part about it (besides it being ultra delicious); it is so versatile! You can make it with anything and everything, try different combos, make it seasonal and make it as you like it! Just like we’re doing it with this one. To make it fresher and more summery, we are throwing in some greens & herbs and just taking it next level!

What is special about this dish?

The combination! Mint and pea is a combo that we (unfortunately) do not find very often. Yet, it is so ultra tasty! The peas add a buttery, soft taste to the risotto and the mint accounts for a fresh taste, which you would usually not expect in risotto, but is really, really good. If you want some more risotto recipes, you can check out the wild garlic risotto or the creamy, green vegan risotto!

A little risotto story

Actually, it is quite surprising that I still like risotto as of today since I have a little history with it. As a kid (and still now), when eating out, I’ve always loved trying every single dish on the table. So when we went out to eat, I’d pick up my fork and walk around the table to try the dish my brother ordered, my mom had and my dad ate. I simply loved exploring new flavours.
So once during our holidays in Italy we went out to eat. I was very little, something like 6 or 7 years, and ordered a risotto. My parents‘ and my brother’s dish had arrived before mine did, so I took my fork and walked around the table. Not surprisingly, I could then not finish my risotto, because I have already had quite a bunch of food before I even started eating mine.
My dad, teased me and said (it was well obvious that it was a joke) I should finish or I can never try his meal before mine again. So I, as a little defiant and stubborn kid, knew it was a joke but because I was so stubborn I finished it anyways. My mom and my brother had a lot of fun watching me and my dad and I was so full afterwards that I couldn’t have even looked at more food. Well, anyways, the chef then came out of the kitchen and asked everyone how they liked the meal. You can probably imagine how my family bursted into laughter when he came to ask me.
Although this was (a teeny tiny bit) unpleasant for me, I did not learn my lesson (because I did not want to) and up to this day try everyone else’s dishes.
And, despite all of this, I still love risotto.

Is risotto healthy?

Back to the more important things. While risotto is incredibly nourishing for the soul and the happiness, it is not quite as nourishing for our bodies. Why? In order for it to taste this delicious, it is packed with many saturated fats from the cheese and butter, which are not so great for us. Nevertheless, there are a few things we can change to make it more delicious.

For example, instead of using butter only, we are using a mix of cream cheese and butter. This makes it a bit lighter in terms of fats. Then also, we are adding some peas, for extra fibre and vitamins and mint for extra nutrients. Justa. few swaps, and they do make a difference.

How to make this dish?

Risotto making really is not difficult but it is a workout. It takes some time and effort because you constantly need to stir. We start by frying the finely chopped onions in some olive oil. This adds a really delicious flavour to the entire dish. Then, we add the rice and fry it too before we deglaze it with some white wine. Now the fun part starts. A scoop at a time, we are adding some vegetable broth and letting it simmer (while stirring) until the rice has absorbed it. Then we add another scoop, and another, and so on until the rice is ready to eat. Shortly before that, we’ll add the peas.

As soon as the rice is done and the liquid is absorbed (it really should be very well absorbed because otherwise it’ll be too runny), we can stir in the chopped mint, butter, cream cheese and parmesan. And that already is it! If you want, you could add something on top like grilled zucchini, prawns or anything else, or just enjoy it as is!

This, as the name already suggests, is a real family favourite. And really, you can barely go wrong with it. Very easy to make, and very, very delicious!

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Family Favourite, Easy, Pea(sy) & Mint Risotto

Not your average risotto. Much more fun, a bit healthier and SO much flavour. The combination of peas and mint is just outrageous and perfect for spring and summer. An absolute family favourite!

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 25 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 people

What you will need

  • 1,5 l vegetable broth
  • 320 g risotto rice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion
  • a splash white wine
  • 400 g peas
  • 1 handful mint
  • 25 g butter
  • 45 g cream cheese
  • 80 g parmesan cheese

How to

  1. Finely dice the onion. Heat up the oil and sautée the onion in it until it is glassy. Add the rice and gently stir through until everything is combined and slightly covered with the oil. Deglaze it with the splash of white wine after about a minute. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add a scoop of the vegetable broth. Constantly stir everything until the vegetable broth has fully been absorbed by the rice, then add the next scoop.

  2. Repeat until the rice is cooked through, for about 15-20 minutes.

  3. In the meantime grate the parmesan, measure out the other ingredients and finely chop the mint.

  4. Once the rice is almost done cooking (after about 20 minutes), add in the peas. When done, take it off the heat and stir in cheeses, butter and mint.

  5. Once everything is well combined, plate it and garnish with some extra parmesan cheese and mint.

Have fun making (and especially eating) it!
Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Kategorie: Diet-Specific, Lunch/ Dinner, Season, spring, Vegetarian Stichworte: Erbsen, family favourite, family meals, healthy, healthy spring, italy, mint, minze, pea, Risotto, spring, vegetarian, vegetarisch, weeknight dinner

Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

Mai 22, 2020 by katharina.kuehr Kommentar verfassen

This salad is like spring in a bowl. So mush freshness, fruitiness but also savoury goodness. Super easy to make, full of vitamins, perfect side dish or light main course. Absolutely in love!

Spring honestly is my favourite season. Everything is starting to bloom and coming back to life. Flowers are so colourful and the markets are full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Including two of my favourites: Asparagus and strawberries.

How we typically eat Asparagus

Asparagus is something very typical in Austria. We usually have it with Risotto, as a side or very very typical with potatoes, ham and molten butter or sauce hollandaise. But while this is good once in a while I feel like it is really heavy and not healthy in the long term. This salad, on the other hand is something very light and refreshing.

Which Asparagus works best?

Definitely a mix! Use some white stalks and some greens because the combination of the slightly different flavours is just super good! If you want, you can also use purple asparagus although I would not necessarily recommend to buy it extra for this. I have tried it out with purple asparagus but it lost its colour while cooking and turned green. So it was a bit of a pity.

How to cook asparagus?

This actually is not as easy as many people think. I mean it is to hard but you just need to know how. Green Asparagus is super easy. You just need to cut off the ends of the stalks and boil it in salted water for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the stalks are. White asparagus is slightly different. It also needs some boiling water, you need to salt it, and add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar. This takes out the bitterness of the asparagus and makes it really good!

Do you need to peel asparagus?

Depends. Green asparagus does not need to be peeled. Neither does purple one. White one on the other hand needs to be peeled!! Generously! I would recommend to peel it twice. If it is not peeled well it will have strings when eating and that’s not good tbh.

Fruit in salad?

A big YES!!! This is game changing! Especially the combination of strawberries and asparagus is insane! The sweetness of the strawberry pairs perfectly well with the freshness of the asparagus. If you do not have strawberries on hand or do not like them, you can add in raspberries instead, which also must taste really good!

Other add-ins:

Here you can be really creative! What would 100% work well is some kind of cheese like mozzarella, burrata cheese, cottage cheese or feta. Those would make it really good! Also, grilled chicken breast or prawns would take this next level but also hard boiled eggs.

When & how to eat it?

You can have this as a nice side dish and leave it as is or make a little more and add in something like hard boiled eggs for example and enjoy it with some freshly toasted bread or couscous to have it as a filling salad!

I hope that you like this recipe as much as I do and that you will make it many times this spring!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

Not your average asparagus side dish but much better! Sweetness of the strawberries paired with the taste of fresh asparagus is just heaavenly!

Course Appetizer, lunch, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 sides
Calories 149 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g white asparagus
  • 500 g asparagus
  • 500 g strawberries
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 handful mint
  • 1 handful basil
  • 1 handful parsley
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp maple or honey
  • 1 tbsp butter or magarine
  • 1 tsp sugar

How to

  1. Bring a large pot with water to a boil. Peel the white asparagus generously (about 2x). Cut the ends (about 3cm) of both, white and green asparagus and throw them away. Cut the asparagus into about 3-4cm sized pieces.

    Add the butter (or magarine) and sugar into the boiling water and salt it. Add in the white asparagus and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add in the green asparagus and cook for another 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the stalks are. You can test if they are ready by pieking through them with a fork. If they almost fall off the fork, they are done. Then drain them.

  2. In the meantime remove the green part from the strawberries and half them or cut them into quarters, depending on how big they are. Slice the spring onions and seperate the onion rings from each other.

  3. Roughly chop up the basil, mint and parsley.

  4. Add the asparagus, strawberries, spring onions and herbs into a bowl. In a seperate small bowl combine the olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon and the maple syrup. Toss the salad in the dressing and serve!

    Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to have it as a main dish just make more (about half more, so 6 servings for 4 people). You can then also add in other things like hard boiled eggs, feta or mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken breast or prawns! 

Kategorie: Appetizers, Diet-Specific, Salad, Salads, Season, Side, spring, Vegan, Vegetarian Stichworte: asparagus, asparagus recipes, fancy salad, healthy, healthy asparagus recipes, healthy recipes, healthy salads, healthy spring, plant based, salad, side dish, side salad, spring, spring food, strawberries, strawberry season, vegan, vegan asparagus recipes, vegan recipes, vegan salads, vegan spring food

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