I have a few risotto recipes that I adore. One is made with sweet potato, another with saffron, yet another with wild mushrooms and then…asparagus. In this case I used wild asparagus with a  very short season, but delicious while they last.

La recette:

1. Asparagus, lemon and sage:
2. Sauté the asparagus for only 3 – 4 minutes,  in a large pan with olive oil, lemon wedges,  a sprinkling of white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Remove and keep aside. they should still be crunchy. Saute the lemon wedges a bit longer to caramelize.
3. Heat enough olive oil in a small frying pan to cover the base.
4. Add some sage leaves and fry until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.
5. Risotto:
6. Sauté 1 chopped shallot in a little olive oil. Add about 1 cup of arborio or carnarolli rice and sauté for another 3 minutes top release the nutty flavors of risotto rice.
7. Add 1/2 cup white wine and 1TBSP of white balsamic vinegar. Stir. Add about 500ml of hot vegetable stock, ladle by ladle to the risotto, stirring all the while over medium high heat.
8. Chop a few leaves of fresh sage in thin ribbons and add to the risotto.
9. Taste the risotto…the rice should still have some bite and not be mushed to a porridge.
10. Add 1 TBSP of créme fraiche, 1 knob of butter and 2 TBSP of grated parmesan cheese and the grated rind of 1 lemon. Turn off the heat and stir through.
11. Taste for seasoning.
12. Serve immediately – spoon the risotto onto individual plates. top with the asparagus en finish off with the crisp oil fried sage leaves.
13. Sere with extra Parmesan on the side.

Serves about 4 people.

Suggestions:

• Use garden asparagus or string beans instead of wild asparagus.
• Combine with tarragon instead of sage.
• Leave out the creme fraiche and use a soft goats cheese instead.
• Leave out the creme fraiche and sprinkle with  crumbled feta cheese just before serving.
• The risotto should be creamy and not dry at all.

When the bumps on the road get too disconcerting, I always pull off the road, switch off the engine, empty my mind and drift off to that world where I know giggles and laughter are plentiful.  And smiles. That place where we run off to when life is too blue and we want it more colourful. They are our private corners where we deal with these road bumps in our own unique ways so we can be able to turn the ignition key and continue on the bumpy roads. I thought I would share some of the things I run to for a smile or a hearty laugh or a tickling giggle.

1. I adore that first coffee of the morning.It turns me inside out with happiness.
2. I love watching someone enjoying a meal with gusto and joy(and good manners of course), someone who has a visible appreciation for the goodness of good quality products and for the preparation that goes  into a meal.
3. I love people who can fold double with laughter,  enjoying laughing so much you can hear it right in the pit of their stomach! It is contagious and I might not know what the laughter is about, but I have to join in, just for the sake of the joy it brings.
4. I love that good sharp which some people have. Not jokes. Jokes are flat and boring. Wit is something completely different. It is an art. That ability to be able to catch a moment and react to it with just the perfect touch of irony and humor.
5. I love the smell of horses…their sweat, their manes, the oil on their skin..
6.  I love playing tennis; running for every ball, sweating, groaning like a pro,  stretching, running, sliding…all of it..
7. I love my chickens’ eager trot-run when they see cheese in my hand, it makes me burst out in spontaneous laughter.
8. I love watching the geese’s rhythmic swaying from behind.
9. I adore our apéros at sunset. If heaven doesn’t have that, I don’t want to go there…
10. I love swimming..not lengths or any fashionable style, but splashing and diving and twirling and drowning… like a dolphin. I just love being in the water.
11. I love waking up early morning to blue skies and sunshine..I can  just burst with happiness.
12. I love the smell of oil paints on my palette.
13. I love a scalp massage when I go to the hairdresser.
14. I love walking barefoot.
15. I love walking in the rain.
16. I love walking in my garden endlessly throughout the day, hoping I’ll see something new every time.
17. I love having coffee and croissant with mon chéri in town and we talk about everything and anything, especially since he is a man of few words.
18. I love my perfumes..I splash it on when I go to dinner, when I go to town, when I go to bed or when I go work in the garden. M favorite, you ask? But Coco , eau de perfum, Chanel of course.
19. I love burying my face and kissing the soft belly of my cat Ayiani…she grabs my head gently with her paws and it makes me giggle with pleasure…although I have had the occasional scratch of her fury when she’s not in the mood…
20. I adore my bed and I adore slipping into crisp linen smelling of sunshine. I fall asleep with a content smile.

I hoe I have touched some of your soft spots or at least made you pull off the road to find your private world where laughter and giggles abound!

…my favorite perfume; Coco, from Chanel…

(for more sketches of perfumes, see my art blog Africantapestry)

à a prochaine fois

Ronelle