Mushroom Risotto

I love risotto. There is rice (admittedly, other forms of rice can be very good, but...) and then there is risotto. In my opinion, the highest incarnation of the humble grain. Anyway, enough waffling. To the recipe...

Start by heating up some stock. I used almost 1 quart of stock (this recipe fed 3-4 people). Homemade stock is preferable to bought (try my chicken stock recipe on the blog), but is not essential. If you have any dried mushrooms or edible stalks, add them to the broth and simmer them in it until soft. I used dried porcini and chanterelle mushrooms, which added a lot of flavor to the broth. Once simmered, strain the mushrooms out of the broth, reserving the broth, slice the mushrooms and set aside. Keep the strained broth warm over low heat.

Saute about 8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms (preferably a mix of different mushrooms) in butter, with salt and pepper, until soft. Add the sliced simmered mushrooms towards the end. Set aside.

While the mushrooms are cooking, cut a few shallots (or half a small onion) into very small dice. Mince 1 garlic clove. Put a little olive oil in a smallish, high-sided pan, place over medium-low heat, add the shallots and garlic and a little salt and sweat until translucent. Add 1.5 cups risotto rice (the most commonly available kind is arborio, but carnaroli or vialone nano are also great) and a slug of olive oil, and stir, coating the rice with oil and heating it through. Increase the heat to medium and add enough white wine to just come up to the top of the rice (up to about 1 cup). Keep an eye on the rice, stirring occasionally until the wine is absorbed. Add some hot stock (at least 1/2 cup) and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. Add more stock as the previous batch gets absorbed. After a little while (expect the whole process to last around 20 minutes from when you add the wine), you should notice the rice grains beginning to 'plump up'. Start tasting them occasionally at this point. You can stir the sauteed mushrooms into the rice now. Your goal is for the rice grains to be tender (no hard center) but not mushy. As soon as you reach that point, you can reduce the heat and finish the risotto.

To finish the risotto, stir in 1.5 tbsp butter, diced and 1/2 to 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (or asiago, romano or any other hard Italian cheese) until melted. Taste the risotto and season to taste. If you used homemade stock, it will probably need more salt; if you bought stock, you may not. Add a little freshly ground black pepper and serve. Enjoy!

Sorry, no photo this time. I forgot, and then we ate it all!

Note 1 - If you run out of stock before the risotto is done, heat up some water and add as needed.

Note 2 - I like to add corn (fresh or frozen) to the rice along with the sliced mushrooms, and add chopped parsley when finishing the risotto.

Note 3 - Metric info: 1 quart = about 1 litre; 8 oz = 225g; 1 cup = 240ml.