The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

earthiness than its colored counterparts. I blanch my
asparagus in the same water I blanch my fava beans in,
which I eventually use to cook my risotto as well. That
way any flavor that gets blanched out of the vegetables
gets added right back to the rice as it cooks. Effectively,
it’s like making a quick vegetable stock.
Normally I wouldn’t blanch zucchini—it’s so bland and
watery that boiling it renders it completely lifeless. But
baby zucchini are more intense in flavor and take well to
blanching.
Finally, snap peas are particularly bright and sweet in
the spring. Just as with favas, look for whole pods that
are stiff and snappy. They won’t get any crunchier when
they cook.
The only possibly tough part about this recipe is the
fancy-pants morel or porcini mushrooms. Fresh morels
and porcini are tough to find and, when you do,
extraordinarily expensive. Luckily, this recipe is one of
the rare cases where dried mushrooms are actually
better.
The key to great-flavored risotto is to start with great-
flavored liquid. Dried mushrooms offer you the perfect
opportunity. Once you’ve blanched your vegetables, you
can use that same flavorful water to rehydrate your
mushrooms (the fastest way is to microwave the ’shrooms
in the water; heat speeds up the hydration process). The
water that comes off the mushrooms when you drain them
should be deep, dark brown and intensely flavorful. This
translates to deep, dark brown and intensely flavorful
risotto.