By Tess Masters

Ingredients:

• 16 cups vegetable broth/stock (I use Massel)
• 6 cups arborio rice (you can also use quinoa or millet)
• 6 cups fresh asparagus cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 ½ cups finely chopped leeks (the white part only)
• 1 cup vegan Daiya cheese (or another vegan cheese) *optional – see note in the post. You don’t really need it.
• ½ cup finely chopped green onions
• ½ cup finely chopped celery (about 4 ribs)
• ½ cup fresh flat-leaf continental parsley chopped finely
• ½ cup bunch fresh mint chopped finely
• 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

Make It Happen:

• Place the olive oil, sea salt, garlic, leeks, and green onions into a large pot and sauté on a medium/high heat until just translucent. (about 5 minutes)
• Add in the celery and sauté for another few minutes.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add in 2 cups of the vegetable broth.
• Stir in all of the rice and continue to add the remaining broth as needed stirring constantly.
• After about 20 minutes after the rice has doubled in size add in the asparagus and stir through.
• Continue to add vegetable broth as needed until the rice is just cooked through.
• Stir through the vegan cheese, mint, and parsley.
• Then add in lemon juice and lemon zest to taste.
• Season and serve with a sprinkling of extra herbs. YUMMO!

This recipe takes about 45 minutes to cook and serves about eight people.

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