Grilled Portabella, Grilled Asparagus, and Risotto with Champagne and Radicchio

This dinner took a bit more time to prepare than I had originally anticipated but everything tasted fantastic. Grilling portabella mushrooms is something that my friends and I have been doing for a while. It is a great substitute for meat if you are cooking for vegetarians (which a couple of my close friends are). I am used to cooking asparagus in the oven but since the barbeque was fired up I decided to grill the asparagus as well.

The risotto with champagne and radicchio was a first-time for me. I found the recipe on the Cooking Light website. This was my first time making risotto, cooking with champagne, and using radicchio as an ingredient. That's a lot of firsts! Luckily, the recipe is extremely easy to follow and you get to open a bottle of champagne in the process! For this recipe I used Mumm Napa Brut Prestige. It is a very elegant crisp refreshing champagne that added a delicate sweetness to the risotto and was perfect to drink while cooking. Just make sure you leave enough to cook with!

Grilled Portabella and Asparagus Instructions:

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the inside of the mushroom. Drizzle olive oil and fresh lemon juice over the asparagus. Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper. I also added a small amount of Susie Q Santa Maria Valley Seasoning over both. Grill over medium heat for 12-15 minutes until tender, flipping every 5 minutes. The asparagus will cook faster than the portabella so take off the grill about 5 minutes sooner.

Risotto with Champagne and Radicchio Recipe:

3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other medium-grain rice

2 cups Champagne, divided

2 cups thinly sliced radicchio

1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Bring broth and 1 cup water to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.
2. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion to pan, and cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.
3. Add rice; cook for 2 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in broth mixture, ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Remove from heat.
5. Stir in remaining ½ cup Champagne, radicchio, ½ cup cheese, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve with remaining ½ cup cheese.

A couple notes:

I replaced the chicken broth with vegetable broth and used unsalted butter.

The recipe says to bring broth and 1 cup water to a simmer and do not boil. As you are adding the broth mixture to the risotto ½ cup at a time, make sure you reduce the heat of the broth mixture so that it doesn't start to boil.

Enjoy!