Great vegan fennel and asparagus risotto

Joy! My weekly CSA packages have started up again: I get mine from a small vegetable farm run by a friend, Tuinderij de Groene Steen. In the winter months there isn't enough produce to make the packages, so I have to do without. However, they've been back for a few weeks now, and this week my package included - among other things - fennel, green asparagus, and fresh garlic, which I turned into a deeeeelicious risotto. I'm currently trying to refrain from eating the portion I saved for lunch tomorrow....

This is an adaptation of a recipe I've been making for a long time: before, I've always used roasted red peppers in stead of asparagus - either way is lovely, I'd recommend you make this version in asparagus season, and red pepper the rest of the year :)

Ingredients
(serves 2)

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3 small onions, chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced (adjust quantity to taste)
• 1 medium fennel bulb, chopped, including stalks and fronds
• 120 ml dry white wine
• 120 grams arborio rice
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 8 large green asparagus, heads removed and stems halved lengthwise (if you have smaller asparagus, use more and leave them whole)
• zest of one lemon
• 2 tbs ground almonds
• 3 tbs nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1) Gently grill the asparagus - both the halved stems and the heads - in a grill pan or under the grill in your oven. Turn and taste occasionally: The asparagus should be cooked, but still firm. When they are done, remove from heat and set aside.

2) Meanwhile, over a low fire, gently sauté the onions, garlic and fennel in the olive oil, for 10-15 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent.

3) Add the rice, and fry with the vegetables briefly, stirring so the grains are covered in oil. Then, add the white wine, and cook until the wine is absorbed - this should only take a couple of minutes.

4) Add 1/3 of the vegetable stock, and simmer gently. When it begins to be absorbed add more in small amounts: you may not need all the stock, and cooking times can vary depending on the rice you use. It took about 25 minutes for my rice to cook, taste regularly to see whether yours is done: risotto should be very soft in texture. When it reaches that point, stop adding stock and remove from heat.

5) Chop the grilled asparagus stalks into bite-sized pieces, and stir into the risotto.

6) In a bowl, combine the nutritional yeast, almonds, garlic and onion powder and salt. Then, stir into the risotto together with the lemon zest. Taste for seasoning, and garnish servings with grilled asparagus heads.

Delicious raw vegan fennel, orange and avocado salad

A very tasty, whole food, quick and easy new salad to share today! Don't worry, there's a chocolate ganache and strawberry pie recipe coming up soon to compensate for for all this healthiness :-)

Serves 1 as a full meal, or 2-4 as a side dish

Ingredients: 

• 1 large fennel bulb, very thinly sliced (use a mandolin if you have one)
• 2 oranges, peeled and pith removed, halved and segmented 
• 1 avocado, peeled and roughly chopped
• 30 grams of rocket (I'm sure more would be tasty too, this was all I had) 
• 40 grams of currants (or raisins or sultanas, but note these are often coated in vegetable oil if you want to avoid that)
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped (optional) 
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them thoroughly, and season to taste. There is no separate dressing for this: The oranges, which will give off some of their juice, provide the acid you would usually add in the form of vinegar or lemon juice, the avocado provides the fat in stead of oil. If your avocado is nice and ripe it will partly 'dissolve' and form a creamy dressing together with the orange juice. I didn't have any, but I imagine some chopped toasted walnuts or toasted almond flakes would be very nice with this too!