White beans add a surprisingly fresh flavor to risotto, and this risotto with beans, herbs and fresh Asiago cheese is so hearty and packed with proteins that it's basically a meal all by itself, and a very refreshing and satisfying one accompanied by a light salad of greens and vinaigrette. I use navy beans in my "risotto al fagioli", but any white bean such as cannellini or great northern will do just as well.

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It seems that many people dislike or generally tend to avoid Brussels sprouts, a distaste that usually seems to have been born out of childhood experiences with a plate of bland, soggy and over-boiled vegetables. Their flavor is a bit more on the bitter side than many vegetables, which might also explain why children aren't so fond of them, but these little green cabbage-like buds are very healthy and should appeal to the adult palate once given a chance. Well, even as a child I'd never actually disliked Brussels sprouts, but nevertheless I seem to have largely neglected them in my meal plans. I'm not really sure why.

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Hearty chunks of moist delicious oyster mushrooms embellish this simple, delicious and vegan-friendly Asian-style risotto cooked in an earthy miso and vegetable stock and seasoned with just a little cayenne and rice vinegar to give it a wonderful little kick. Delighted by such a gourmet risotto experience, your guests will never guess just how easy it is to make.

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Warm, creamy, elegant, earthy and sweet, risottos are comfort food to me. And although people are often intimated by the idea, I love cooking them too. They're actually very simple to make, and although risottos do require pretty much constant attention, they're only really fussy toward the end of the cooking time when you want your rice grains cooked just to a perfect creamy and toothsome or al dente texture. But with a careful eye to this last step, risottos are actually a snap to make.

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Trips to the local market in August are an adventure for the senses! Tables, bins and baskets filled with an abundance of fresh new local vegetables and fruits offer arrays of vivid colors and pleasing shapes for the eyes, ripe scents for the nose, and textures and weights for the sense of touch. Of course, all these are an invitation to the cook to bring the vibrant flavors of fresh local produce to the mouth!

The dilemma I face at the market in the summer is hardly one of scarcity but of over-abundance. There is so much to choose from that I can't bring some of everything home (at least not all at once), so these trips are really as much an exercise in delayed gratification as in anticipation. But one thing I can hardly ever resist is the local peaches and cream corn — sweet, fragrant and colorful, it's an exceptional eating corn and a simple but delicious treat just on its own with only a little butter and salt.

Like all exceptional foods, local sweet corn is best paired with only a handful of other simple but elegant flavors. This time I prepared a simple risotto simmered in a stock made from the cobs of the corn, with the fresh and lightly cooked kernels mixed in at the end along with some fresh tomato and basil from my garden and some good quality Parmesan cheese. A few jalapeños from the garden added a nice little kick.

This warm creamy risotto has a wonderful aroma and lovely contrasts in color and texture — just like a trip to the market, it's an irresistible invitation to please the mouth. A perfect summer risotto!

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As a diner I love the creamy and toothsome texture of risottos. And as a cook, I love the limitless creativity that can be applied to the making of them. A risotto is essentially a blank canvas on which to paint your favorite flavors, Italian-themed or otherwise, making this a great vehicle for fusion-style cooking — there are even dessert risottos out there.

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This was the first risotto I ever made and it seems fitting that the starring ingredient is mushrooms, considering how much I adore them. Obsessed might be a more fitting description. I have made many risottos since, but this is still one of my all time favorites — rich, earthy, creamy and delicious, it's a perfect mushroom lover's risotto.

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Asparagus has such an extraordinarily fresh and unique flavor that all I typically need to enjoy the local asparagus in season is a quick steaming or roasting, a pat of butter, a drizzle of lemon juice and a sprinkling of sea salt. But this elegant summer vegetable is quite deserving of a more elaborate treatment when you want to make it the spotlight of a special meal, so long as it is paired with similarly simple but fine flavors.

A simple creamy risotto provides the opportunity to lend even more distinction and flair to asparagus. Fresh lightly sautéed button mushrooms and a simple basil pesto add refined and delicious adornments that enhance the taste experience of asparagus without overshadowing it. Quite easy to prepare and make and just requiring attention, this risotto is really quite a stunning gourmet way to enjoy the asparagus season.

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When I think of risotto, I usually think of a creamy rice dish with an element of melted cheese. Often Parmesan features in my risottos, but this one is completely dairy-free — not that you would know it. Try serving it to dinner guests and see if they notice that the cheese stayed in the fridge for another day.

Though I cooked this dish up, when enjoying it for dinner, I nearly forgot that Parmesan was absent in the risotto, but the absence was not missed. This is not the only occasion I have made risotto without cheese or dairy.

Coconut milk and mushrooms add creaminess to the dish and the almond milk provides a pleasant nutty undertone. Earthy, with a bit of zest, the rice is cooked until al dente as it should be in traditional risottos. An added bonus making risotto using this method is you don't have to stand over the stove for 30 minutes, adding bits of heated stock at a time. Simply let it simmer away until most of the liquid is reduced and serve.

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Once again a trip to the local market has to be an exercise in restraint as the bins and tables are bursting with beautiful local fresh produce of all kinds. But I can rarely resist picking up a bag of fresh garden peas in their pods, as the season for these always seems to be so short. I use frozen peas all year round, but there's nothing like the pop and sweet flavor of freshly shelled peas, and the methodical pace of shelling the peas is so calming besides.

I've been especially indulgent with the garden peas this year, and although many of them are left around in a snacking bowl, I also like to take advantage of their culinary possibilities. So I combined them this time with one of my favorite dishes to come up with a simple but colorful summery risotto. Studded with fresh plump peas cooked until just tender at the very end of the cooking time, and flavored with a quick pea and fresh mint and basil purée, this creamy and classic risotto is easy to prepare, requiring only attention, and makes for a stunning gourmet way to enjoy the garden pea season.

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Just at those moments when cooking begins to feel like a recycling scheme for old ideas, new ideas crop up in the least likely of grounds. Looking for a dinner idea through my bulging folder of recipes printed off from other food blogs I was struck for no apparent reason by the copy I had made of Gattina's sweet risotto with azuki inspired by her mother's Asian red bean dessert. Despite telling myself that the last thing I needed was another dessert idea when I was really just looking for something to make for dinner, I found I couldn't keep it out of my head…

…which is when it came to me to substitute the sweetness for the savory. I adore risottos, but until seeing a sweet risotto it had never occurred to me — me, who loves fiery flavors! — to make a spicy risotto. What I've been missing! Keeping with the oriental theme of Gattina's recipe it was a matter of just a little thought to scribble in my favorite Asian flavors — tamari, sesame, scallions and peppers — for an untraditional but warm, zesty and filling fusion of cuisines that didn't last long on anyone's plate. Gattina's lovely-looking dessert risotto is still on the radar for another day, but in the meantime I'm delighted with the off-the-wall inspiration the recipe provided.

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Here is yet another recipe from my new favorite cookbook (though I really can't pick a favorite but easily become obsessed with my newest acquisitions). Completely vegetarian, with gorgeous photos accompanying mostly all of the recipes, veggie lovers will certainly want to obtain a copy of this comprehensive book. River Cottage Everyday Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will please the palates of vegetarians, vegans and carnivores alike. Each chapter has a charming introduction and the recipes included are not strictly comprised of just vegetables. Cheese is included in many of the dishes, and legumes, pasta and breads and mini bites are also featured.

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My photos here do not do this dish justice. A creamy combination of arborio rice, romano beans, crunchy green beans and Parmesan cheese is a perfect remedy for a diner who is suffering from a lack of appetite. A complete meal on a plate, it is worth the effort of stirring frequently to achieve your desired consistency. Consider serving with a salad, such as my famous vegetarian Caesar salad or perhaps with Bengali-style potatoes.

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For all their lovely creamy textures and rich flavors, I suspect that risottos would be a far more popular part of everyday dinners if it weren't for all the fuss and stirring of their traditional reduction-based cooking methods. But as it turns out, slow baking controls the release of the starches on the outside of the risotto rice grains that give risottos their creaminess almost just as well as the typical slow and repetitive stop-pour-and-stir methods, and of course it makes cooking them so much easier that there should be almost nothing to deter you from trying it.

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Holding still another bunch of fresh local asparagus right after making an asparagus and mint frittata the other day, I realized that I was quite taken with the combination of fresh asparagus and mint and decided to Google the pair for another idea. And what should show up on the first page but Jamie Oliver's asparagus, mint and lemon risotto … as in asparagus and mint and lemon and risotto! It was but a matter of moments to decide to copy it down, and of only a few hours to tailor the recipe to my needs and begin cooking.

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Mushrooms are the mainstay of this and many other beautiful creamy Italian risottos, but the leeks and lemon in this risotto ai funghi give it an appealing background pungency that will turn heads, not to mention noses and mouths.

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On the rare occasion that I eat out at an Italian restaurant, I never can resist ordering arancini, a delightfully cheesy fried rice ball. Recently, I was menu planning, and a craving hit. After the craving, the idea of making baked mushroom arancini. I do confess to having a bit of a weakness for fried savories, for arancini are commonly fried. However, I don't enjoy the mess of frying and baking the balls are a healthier alternative. Inspired by the success of my baked brown rice balls, I made up a pot of mushroom risotto and turned that into arancini.

The mushrooms add an addictive earthiness to the creamy balls oozing with cheese. There was a fair amount of prep involved, but the result was more than worth it and you can be sure these won't last long, despite the substantial nature of these savory balls of bliss. Because I wanted to serve them as a side instead of an appetizer for the occasion, I served them up with rich tomato braised gigantes bean dish to serve as a portion of the sauce, instead of simply the traditional marinara sauce. I'll be sharing that recipe soon, but in the meantime, you might want to consider serving them with Gigantes simmered in a garlicky tomato sauce. The meal was a smashing success.

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Looking at fresh local asparagus in the market again this past weekend, I reminded myself as I do every year not to take its availability for granted. Thus starts an annual but limited dash to eat this glorious vegetable on every possible occasion, usually with just a quick steaming and a sprinkling of lemon juice and sea salt to enjoy it in its simple perfection.

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Valentine's Day isn't something that I bother much with myself even though I do have a very special person in my life. I show and tell my husband each and every day how much I love him and value him, and I certainly don't relish occasions that make people feel compelled to dash off to the store to purchase things that aren't really needed, such as overpriced roses and treats, or spend an excess of money at expensive and crowded restaurants. My husband is very fortunate to get special meals and treats on a regular basis as part of my food blogging project and just because I like to provide good nourishing meals. And he likes to treat me too, all year round.

But Valentine's Day is an excuse for many people to prepare special foods for their sweethearts, and if you're looking for ideas you may want to try some of these vegetarian recipes that will certainly illustrate your passion for your honey. From breakfast to dinner right through to tempting treats and desserts, there's no shortage of opportunity to make this a special day for your most loved one.

You will find many more ideas to celebrate any occasion by browsing through the recipes that I have shared with readers including some nourishing and delicious side-dishes to go along with your meals. Though this list of suggestions was written for those in mind who enjoy Valentine's Day, I was also considering creations for any special occasion or for no reason in particular except for wanting to have a lovely meal along with some delights to treat your loved ones.

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Delia Smith's Vegetarian Collection is easily the most gorgeous cookbook in my library… it's even a little daunting at times to attempt to make food as beautiful as hers. But although a few of her recipes are more involving and are clearly intended for grander entertaining purposes than I usually require, there are many more simple and eloquent dishes that don't take any more know-how or time than the typical cook has but make you appear to be a trained chef to your family and friends.

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