Wild Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

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First time for me making Risotto. I've never made rice as a side dish before, I've always used it as a bed for a meat dish. I was inspired by the episode and finally decided to try it. It took me about 50 minutes for all the liquid to absorb and it took 4 batches. I kept the heat on low (just a bubble or two and uncovered over a gas stove using a enameled 6 qt dutch oven. Kept the wine/broth mixture just at a simmer (always covered else it'll evaporate and grilled the Asparagus. I left out the Mushrooms (My wife hates them and omitted the nutmeg. I'll agree with the consensus here, too much lemon. Maybe use a quarter teaspoon of zest at most. Otherwise I found the instructions to be spot on. It turned out great for my first time. Real crowd pleaser and I will do it again soon.

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Creamy and Delicious!! Very Easy to prepare!! I omitted the asparagus, but followed the recipe exactly otherwise. I cooked on very low temperature for approximately 45-50 minutes and it was wonderful :- A keeper!

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I was thinking this wasn't going to take longer than 45 minutes, ended up being more like an hour and a half to get it all together. But...OMG. The flavor was amazing!! I used vegetable broth and no wine to accomodate my dads diet(and he didn't care for it but both my mom and I thought it was wonderful!! The creamy texture is worth the time!! Oh, and as a side note, if it starts to look hard at one point, just add water and let that soak in before continuing with the broth, to give it more moisture. You are going to have some hard bits in there, it's a given, but it's so good you just munch away!!

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i made this at my friend's house for potluck dinner, prepped the mushrooms and asparagus at home. followed the recipe to the letter, except for the wine, i ran out so went with rose. it came out very well! my friends are asking me for the recipe. it's straightforward, just needs a lot of stirring. a good quality, thick bottom pot will do the trick to playing with the heat; some reviews were talking about the liquid evaporating too fast or taking too long. that may be why.
another great one, AB!

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I too watched the episode first and Alton makes everything look easy. I did a practice run before a dinner party. For the practice run, I followed the recipe to the letter and wound up with hard rice and not great flavor. I learned my lesson, lowered my cook temperature (if you cook it at to high a temperature too much of the liquid will evaporate and not soak into the rice, added about a cup more chicken stock towards the end, and actually ended up covering the pot for the last 10-15 min of cooking. The rice was cooked perfectly doing it that way. I used an Italian 5 cheese blend instead of parmesan and that added to the flavor and creaminess. Everyone raved over the flavor, it was a major crowd pleaser.

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This is the first time I have made risotto, and wow - it was so easy! I watched the episode "do the rice thing" first, which was helpful in knowing when to add the broth. I know I can always count on an Alton Brown recipe. :

I used approximately 8 cups of broth (omitted the wine total, and it took roughly 45 minutes. I didn't have an electric kettle, so I just set the broth to a low simmer on the burner next to the cooking risotto. I didn't measure the lemon zest - just added the zest of one entire lemon, which I thought added a very nice depth of flavor, but wasn't "lemoney" at all.

I think that the people who posted it taking 1 1/2 hours to cook... the burner may be set too low. Remember that the "low" setting on various stove tops is not a standard "low" setting - it's different depending on what type of stove and what size burner you put it on. Set the burner too high, and your liquid will evaporate too fast, leaving the rice hard and you will need to use extra broth. Set the burner too low, and it will take forever to cook. I cranked up the heat until it was at a very gentle simmer, then backed it off a bit so that very few bubbles rose to the surface.

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I am usually a fan of everything AB makes but this recipe was horrible. The Arborio was still hard after an hour and all the liquid the recipe called for was gone. I kept my liquid a simmer the entire time and still the rice was hard. After it was finally done it had an overly sweet taste. After seeing how he made red sauce and meatball I should have known this wouldn?t be good. ?He is no Mario

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I've been making risotto for over 40 years in so many ways I can't begin to tell you. I've NEVER cooked risotto longer than 30 minutes so if it's taking you longer, you either have the heat too low or your liquid is not hot enough.

This recipe is excellent since lemon and asparagus are a natural combination but I have to agree that 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg is waaaaayyyy too much. I use nutmeg often in sauces such as bechamel, alfredo and scalloped potato sauce. The nutmeg is there to draw out and intensify the original flavors and give the dish a more complex depth of flavor. It should never be tasted. If you can taste the nutmeg, you are using too much. I can't understand why Alton used so much in this recipe. I used 4 or 5 scrapings, hardly 1/8 tsp. and it was plenty. No mutmeg taste but the flavor of the dish was excellent.

BY THE WAY, RISOTTO DOES NOT REHEAT WELL SO DON'T BE DISAPPOINTED IF IT DOESN'T TURN OUT.

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I love risotto. I love the traditional additions and the new wave versions. This recipe is a wonderful introduction on how to cook risotto. Its all about broth vs rice proportions and the technique of slow additions of broth with attention to stirring. For those worried about time...risotto needs less attention during the early additions and constant attention at the end. I normally make early additions and put the timer on for 2 minutes before checking to stir. But the last two or three additions need more constant stirring and care. Hope this helps those who think they need to constantly stir.

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After reading all the reviews I cooked the risotto at a little higher temp than low but it still took twice the cooking time as the recipe. When it was finally done I was a bit disapointed. It was good but for all the work it wasn't fantastic. We had lots of leftovers because it feeds about 8 people, but warmed over it wasn't very good and we ended up throwing it out. Also, I hadn't realized how expensive risotto is! Now I have half a carton of it left and I'm not sure what to do with it.