zucchini and pea risotto

Stumbled on this recipe at the absolute perfect time - I had just purchased zucchini and peas at the Pearl Alley Farmers' market earlier in the week. Risotto is such a great dish - rice is always in the pantry and it is a great way to use whatever leftover veggies are on hand, maybe with a little bacon or mushroom to punch it up.

This is from Great Food Fast, a publication of Everyday Food. I picked up this book for around $12 at Costco and have been truly surprised. It's organized by season (though this was in the spring section which is a tad early for zucchini around here, but thanks to the weather this year, we speaked it in just under the wire). It was a hit with our whole family, including the husband - despite the lack of any meat - and our twin toddlers, who can be very fickle eaters, rejecting one day what they happily ate the day before.

4-4/12 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or stock + water, depending on what you have)
3 tbsp butter
1 lb zucchini (about 1 1/2 large) cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 c dry white wine
1 cup peas (they call for frozen, but I shelled them myself)
1/2 c grated parmesan

Chop all the veggies and put broth (or broth/water mixture) in a saucepan over medium heat to warm.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in large saute pan over medium. Add zucchini, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until golden brown - about 8 to 10 min. Remove zucchini to a plate (reserving as much melted butter as you can. If pan is not well coated, you can swirl in a tbsp or so of olive or vegetable oil.

Reduce heat to medium low and cook onion until soft - about 5 min. Season with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Raise heat to medium, add rice and cook, stirring until translucent at the edges - about 3 min.Add the win and cook until absorbed - about 2 min.

Add 1 cup hot broth at a time, stirring until almost completely absorbed and repeat until rice is just tender. If you're using fresh peas, add them with the last addition of broth so they will cook (frozen can be stirred in after the broth is almost all absorbed and rice is tender, just to warm them up). Add zucchini when liquid all absorbed, remove from heat and stir in last tbsp butter and parmesan.

One last comment. This recipe didn't include any fresh herbs and I'm an idiot for not trying it, but I think it would be really good with some chopped mint or parsley stirred in at the very end. I'll try it next time.