creamy risotto-style brown rice with peas and asiago

one of my favorite past times is reading cookbooks and then dreaming about how i will change the recipes. i physically cannot follow a recipe from beginning to end without adapting at least one ingredient. who knows why. we've made this dish twice this week because elodie and michael both love it. it is beyond simple to make and pretty nutritious. i adapted it from a recipe in this cookbook which i highly recommend.

creamy risotto-style brown rice with peas and asiago 

sea salt 

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 large bunch scallions or rampls, trimmed and thinly sliced (one cup)

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

2 1/4 cups cooked brown rice, preferably basmati, from one cup raw rice

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 ounces finely grated hard asiago cheese (1/2 cup), plus additional for serving

freshly ground black pepper

1. lightly steam peas; reserve the cooking water

2. in a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. add the scallions, garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, until softened about two minutes.

3. stir in the rice, peas, butter, and 1 1/2 cups of the reserved cooking water and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat, until the water is almost absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. 

i also tried this recipe using 1 1/2 cups of veggie broth instead of reserved cooking water and no butter. it was still delicious!

the original recipe suggested using 9 cups of blanched greens such as arugula, tatsoi, or mustard greens. i'm not sure elodie would eat it so that's why we used peas instead. enjoy!!