Risotto with green asparagus and fennel sausage balls

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 300 g risotto rice
• 1 liter vegetable broth
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 1 onion(s), white
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 100 g Parmesan
• 8 cherry tomatoes
• 300 g asparagus, green
• 5 sausages, coarse (each approx. 12 – 15 cm)
• 1 tbsp, heaped fennel seeds
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Tomato paste
• Parsley, flat
• basil
• oregano

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 25 minutes

Wash and dry the asparagus. Peel the bottom third and trim off any woody ends. Cut the asparagus into diamond-shaped pieces about 3 cm long. Bring a cup of water with a teaspoon of salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the asparagus and cook over low heat for about 4 minutes. Check the doneness occasionally with a sharp knife. The knife should come out of the asparagus without pressure. Drain and collect the asparagus water. Then heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small pan and lightly brown the asparagus over low heat. Halve the cherry tomatoes, season with salt, and place cut-side down in the hot pan. Set the pan aside. For the risotto, finely chop the onion and garlic clove. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large saucepan. Heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent, stirring constantly. Then add the rice and cook until translucent, stirring constantly. Make sure the onion and garlic do not brown. Deglaze with 200 ml of wine. When this has evaporated, add a ladle or two of the vegetable stock, which has been brought to a boil and kept warm over low heat, and simmer while stirring. Whenever the rice begins to dry out, add another ladleful of stock and continue stirring (about once per minute for 10 seconds). The rice should bathe in the stock. Repeat this process for exactly 20 minutes. Remove the risotto from the heat and let it rest for 3 minutes. Carefully fold in the asparagus and tomatoes, stir in the Parmesan cheese, then the butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The risotto is perfect when it flows from a slightly tilted spoon. If it has become too thick, simply add a little more stock a little at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the sausage and cut it into roughly 2 cm pieces. Grind the fennel seeds in a mortar. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can also crush the seeds with a meat tenderizer under cling film or use a spice grinder. Place the sausage pieces in a large bowl, sprinkle the crushed fennel seeds over them, and toss the sausage pieces in the bowl until evenly coated. Roll the fennel in your hands to bind it more tightly to the sausage. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat and fry the sausage pieces until golden brown. Dissolve a little tomato paste in 2 tablespoons of warm water and add it to the pan. Toss the pan, season with salt and pepper, cover, and set aside until the risotto is ready. Ladle the risotto into deep plates, place the sausage pieces in the center, and garnish with some greens (basil, oregano, or parsley, etc.).