Weekly Food Challenge

I love lamb and I love asparagus. This was also one of the first meals I cooked since being away for two weeks and sometimes home-cooked food is a treat.

You could make it even more of a treat by using proper risotto rice, a splash of white wine and cheese in the risotto. I was just using what I had.

Serves 2

Ingredients
a splash of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
100g long grain rice
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
500ml hot vegetable stock
100g asparagus, chopped into 2cm chunks
handful of frozen peas
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to season
2 lamb leg steaks

Method
Heat the oil over a gentle heat, then add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for 5-10 minutes until starting to soften. Add the rice and herbs and stir well. Add the hot stock a ladle-full at a time and keep it cooking on a simmer. Once the rice has absorbed nearly all the stock from one ladle-full, add the next. Stir regularly. This should take 15-20 minutes - keep going until all the stock is used up or until the rice is cooked to your liking. [Or if you want to cheat, add all the stock at the beginning and let it simmer for approximately 20 minutes.] Towards the end of cooking add the asparagus, peas and lemon juice and cook for a further five minutes, stirring well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, cook the lamb steaks in separate pan over a high heat. I didn't add any oil because there was enough fat round the steaks. Cook for a few minutes each side for rare steaks, and then longer for medium or well done.

I served mine with some wilted baby spinach leaves and a salad.