It's been a while since the kitchens of Full Moon Cuisine got inspired to make a new dish. Fortunately, thanks to our favorite new Australian cooking show,The Katering Show, we found quite a bit of inspiration. In fact, we were inspired to make the sort of dish your rich mother in law buys for you, cause she doesn't think you can cook. And what is this dish? Why it's none other than 'hot wet rice' (aka risotto), always a tricky but tasty dish. Now you may literally not have an opinion on hot wet rice, but we guarantee that you won't need some $2000 German death machine, but just your own set of appliances called skills and a kitchen. So what will you need to make this dish? Let's do a revooze!

- 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
- 4-5 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
- 2 leeks (white and light green part only, the dark green part goes in the bin) chopped
- 1/2 fennel bulb (chopped)
- 2/3 cup white wine
- 1 pound thin asparagus (chopped and blanched)
- 1 16 ounce bag of frozen peas (defrosted)
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
- 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup (or more!) of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper

To start, chop the tough ends of the asparagus off and then cut the remaining stocks into 1 1/2 inch pieces and place into a pot of salted, boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and then submerge the pieces into a bowl of ice water. This will blanch and then shock the asparagus, making the pieces tender, still firm, and a bright green. Set aside to drain.

In a saucepan, heat the chicken stock until it is simmering, this will be important throughout the rest of the steps. In a large pot, melt the butter with olive oil over medium heat and saute leeks and fennel for approximately 5 minutes, until they are tender. Add the rice and stir, allowing the rice to mix with the vegetables, before adding in the wine and allowing it to be absorbed. Once this has happened, add the chicken stock, two ladles at a time, and allow the rice to absorb the brown liquid. This will take approximately 5 or so minutes to happen and you must stir the dish constantly. If you do not stir, the dish will not come together. Once the brown liquid has been absorbed, add in 2 more ladles of stock. This entire process will take approximately 25-30 minutes (so pull up a stool if you're not already sitting).

Once you have been stirring/adding stock for 15 minutes, it's time to add the remaining vegetables. Combine the defrosted peas (don't worry, the heat of the risotto will finish thawing them) with the asparagus pieces and add to the hot wet rice, again stirring constantly. Also add the zest of the lemons, and a pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Continue to stir until you have combined all of your stock. Set aside on another burner.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice with the mascarpone cheese and stir to create a creamy, lemony mix. Add this to the hot wet rice along with the Parmesan cheese, and again, stir away. This dish is best served hot (and it will be hot!), as a main course, or as a side dish to some chicken. If you want, you can make this a completely vegetarian dish by using the art of.. SUB-STI-TUTE cooking and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Personally, I love cooking the hot wet rice, as it gives a chance to cleanse yourself of the horrors of your life. Cooking can provide a quietness and a calm in your brain, which might be the only time you feel that without taking prescription medication. Feel free to serve this with some white wine, which goes well with white people, funerals, and will really bring out the rice flavor in risotto.

So, though this may take a bit of time and prep, it's worth it to create a full flavor, bespoke dish that will easily trump what you would have to pay top dollar for at a restaurant. To help make sure there's plenty for the food intolerants and the intolerant foodies out there, the kitchen will be staying open late. Care to place an order?

And do be sure to check out the Katering Show for plenty more inspiration!