Anster risotto – cheese-maker Jane Stewart’s recipe
Cheese-maker Jane Stewart of St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese has a favourite way to cook Anster cheese: “Personally, I like to use Anster in a risotto. At this time of year, asparagus risotto with Anster stirred in at the end instead of Parmesan is just brilliant (I think so anyway!)”
This recipe is one in a collection of recipes gleaned by The Courtyard Dairy from the cheese-makers themselves, detailing how they love to make amazing dishes with the odds and ends of cheese!
Ingredients (for two people)
200g risotto rice
75ml white wine
2 small onion
Bunch of asparagus (8-12 stems)
1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock (you can make with stock cubes if necessary)
100g Anster cheese
Knob butter (25g)
30ml rapeseed oil
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Method
Cut the onions finely and chop up the asparagus stalks, reserving the heads.
Lightly cook 2 small onion and chopped asparagus stalks in a little butter and rapeseed oil in a large pan.
Stir in 200g risotto rice, and coat the grains thoroughly in the butter / oil mixture.
Add 75ml white wine, and bubble to evaporate.
Drink another glass of wine as you cook the dish (!)
Bring a pot of stock (1.2 litres) to the boil, and add a ladleful to the rice mixture in the pan.
Stir continually, and when the stock has been absorbed, add another ladleful – and so on, until the rice is almost cooked.
Throw in the heads of asparagus for the last 3 – 4 minutes of cooking.
When the rice is cooked, but still has a slight ‘bite’ to it, it is ready.
Add a knob of butter and a generous handful of grated Anster cheese, and give the whole thing a quick stir.
Serve immediately.
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Andy and Kathy’s comment
Really tasty.
To prevent the asparagus tips being a different colour to the stalks you could cook all the asparagus in the stock to get the flavour, remove then stir them in at the end.
View more cheese-maker’s recipes here.
Click here to buy Anster cheese online via mail order from The Courtyard Dairy
