Risotto with asparagus, samphire and salmon (1/2)
If you’re talking about a royal vegetable, you quickly end up with white asparagus, according to Hugo. Although you don’t often see the combination of risotto with the white gold, it is a very good match. Okay, wash your hands and get to work.
Hold the fresh asparagus by the head and peel them with a vegetable peeler. Hugo puts asparagus after asparagus on the bottom of the pan. Make it as easy on yourself as possible. Save the skins for the broth you will be making later.
Cut 2 to 3 cm off the bottoms of the asparagus. Then put them in a special asparagus pan or put them in a normal pan.
Tip: peeling asparagus is not the most fun, but it is an important activity. If you don’t do this accurately, you will soon be biting on all kinds of threads while eating. Don’t feel like peeling? Then ask the greengrocer if he has peeled asparagus.
Bring the asparagus, skins, mace and a pinch of salt to the boil in a large pan of water. Once it boils, let it cook for another two minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Guaranteed that your asparagus are the way you want them.
Continue with the risotto. Heat 25 grams of butter in a pan. Peel and finely chop the shallots and fry them on low heat for 2 minutes. Peel and slice the garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Then add the risotto rice and fry it until the grains are translucent. Deglaze with the wine and stir until the wine is completely absorbed by the rice.
Spoon by spoon, add the broth (cooking liquid from the asparagus) to the rice. Crumble a piece of the stock tablet between spoonfuls. By doing this you really get the taste of risotto.
Cook the risotto for 15 to 18 minutes. As befits a good risotto: keep stirring regularly. Grate the cheese over the pan and stir the remaining butter into the risotto.
Hazelnut ice cream with hazelnut crackers and strawberries
While the risotto is cooking, you can focus on making the scallops for dessert.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Let the butter melt and cool. Meanwhile, finely chop the hazelnuts with a hand blender. Once you have done this, mix the caster sugar, salt, flour, finely chopped hazelnuts and butter in a bowl. Make sure all the globules of granulated sugar are gone.
Once everything is well mixed together, add the water. Toss this well again. According to Hugo, it is easiest to do this with a (silicone) spatula.
Fill a teaspoon with a ball of dough and place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat this until all the dough is used up. Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven (200°C) for about 10 minutes, until the biscuits are nicely light brown. Then take them out of the oven and let them cool.
Risotto with asparagus, samphire and salmon (2/2)
Hugo’s tip: preferably buy salmon on the skin. That is not only very tasty, it also works well during baking. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Heat a dash of oil in a frying pan and fry the salmon on a high heat on the skin side for 3 to 4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the salmon steaks).
Then turn the fish over and cook for just 1 minute. This way you get a nice crispy layer on the one hand and your salmon is nicely pink inside.
Cut the asparagus into pieces and toss them carefully through the risotto just before serving. Then remove the salmon from the pan and fry in the same pan – as Hugo calls it – ‘the garden for the risotto’: samphire. Just one minute of stirring is enough.
Spoon the risotto onto the plates and place the salty salmon steak and samphire on top. Grate some extra cheese on top if you like.
Do you and your table mates have room left for dessert after the risotto? Then take a chatterhead, put a scoop of ice cream on it and cover it with a second chatterhead. Pipe a dollop of whipped cream on top and decorate with raspberries and strawberries.
Cheers, to the king!
Would you rather combine cooking and watching? Then view here episode 52 of season 2 via Videoland and see how Hugo makes the risotto with asparagus, samphire and salmon.
