RECIPE: Risotto con Asparagi

By Roberto Fracchioni

I was 7 years old, visiting the tiny town where my mother was raised near the Po river in northern Italy. It was spring, and I still remember the sweet smell of the fruit trees in blossom, the warm afternoon walks through the winding dirt roads, and the frigid crisp water from the natural spring that we would walk to in order to collect our daily supply.

It was during one of these walks that my mother suddenly dropped her water pails. Shouting excitedly in dialect, she disappeared into the foliage alongside the road. She returned a short time later clutching a fistful of what resembled short green wheat stalks.

“Asparagi selvatici,” my mother said. Wild asparagus.

As we walked home with the treasure in hand, my mother explained that as a child, she would spend days foraging these for my Nonna every year. As a child myself, I was not nearly as excited at this discovery as my mother, but my joy would come later that night when I experienced a taste of spring that I would never forget.

Mamma and Nonna spent the day carefully washing and cleaning the asparagus, ensuring not to snap the delicate, tender stems. With great care, patience and uncharacteristic giddiness, the women slowly stirred a pot of rice and stock for what seemed like hours, adding the asparagus right before handfuls of butter and grated cheese. The result was a risotto with a freshness of the earth that I can still recall to this day.

Hailing from the Po Valley, risotto is in my family’s DNA. It was as ubiquitous to their diet as polenta and coppa. My mother and her sisters, like many young girls in the area, worked tirelessly to weed the rice fields during the growing season, and spent many long days shuffling through shin-deep water, hunched over, harvesting the grains by hand. My father’s family would dry the rice, package it, transport it, and sell it at the local outdoor markets.

Rice has been grown and harvested in the plains surrounding the Po River since the 1450’s and is essential to the region’s agricultural bounty. The soil that surrounds the river is thick with sediment from centuries of water flowing down the river, enriching it with phosphorus and nitrogen. The result is a very dense, compact, and slow draining terrain, with a constant supply of water from the Po – ideal for the cultivation of rice. Chemical fertilization is rarely needed, and the ancient tradition of using animal manure has long since been abandoned.

Although more than a dozen varieties of rice are grown in the Po region, including Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano, currently the only area with IGP designation is in the Po Delta – a small spot where the Po River meets the Adriatic Sea. However, rice from the delta is difficult to find in North America. Currently, more rice producers from around the Po region are in the process of seeking IGP designation.

The name of these mineral-rich plains surrounding the Po River is the Pianura Padana and is where one of the world’s most famous cheeses is produced, Grana Padano. This DOP product is another staple from the region, and has taken its name from the area in which it is made.

The rice, the cheese, the wild asparagus. It all comes together in this classic spring dish that I look forward to making every year. I prepare it simply with a light chicken stock, as my Mamma and Nonna did. Traditionally, Parmigiano Reggiano is used in risotto, but in this dish, a young DOP Grana Padano works better – choose one that has been aged for 12-14 months. The softness and lightness of the Grana Padano complement rather than overpower the delicate sweetness of the asparagus, while providing that harmony of terroir and local authenticity.

When it comes to selecting the rice, any of the better quality Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano work well for this dish, as long as they are cooked slowly and ‘al dente’.

The most important thing when preparing this dish is to have patience. The dish is cooked over low heat, slowly and with great care, delicately stirring your rice so that it cooks evenly without releasing too much of its starch. So, pour yourself a glass of Nebbiolo, play some Italian music, and enjoy your time in the kitchen creating this classic Risotto con Asparagi.