My mushroom risotto recipe is a no-fail way to master the creamiest risotto you will ever taste – minus the cream of course! Using wild porcini mushrooms, fresh parsley and a sprinkle of parmigiano cheese you barley need any ingredients to recreate this Northern Italian dish in your own kitchen…and wait until you taste it! Trust me, it’s not hard and once you realise that you’ll never order it out again! Try it with your own favourite ingredients and let me know what you choose…
INGREDIENTS:
½ brown onion (chopped into small pieces)
Fresh parsley chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
400g/14oz porcini mushrooms cut into chunky pieces (or your choice of veg/protein)
300g/10.5oz carnaroli
50g/1.7oz butter
50g/1.7oz parmigiano regianno cheese (grated)
1L – 4cups vegetable stock
Salt
Pull the stems out of all the mushrooms and wash the stems, if necessary. In a large sauce pan, fry the stems in olive oil until thoroughly browned. Roughly chop the onion, carrots and celery, and put them in with the stems. Cook the vegetables until they’re starting to brown, stirring constantly. Cover everything in water and simmer for about two hours. Strain, discard the solids, and season the stock with salt (and/or MSG) to taste.
Slice the mushroom caps into big chunks. Finely chop the shallots and garlic. In a wide pan, start heating a big knob of butter and a glug of olive oil. Put in the mushrooms and sauté until most of their water has come out and evaporated and the mushrooms are thoroughly browned.
Push the mushrooms to the rim of the pan and dump the shallots in the center. Stir and fry the shallots for a moment, then dump in the garlic and stir to combine everything in the pan. Make another well in the center of the pan then dump in the rice. Stir the rice and let it brown for a moment, then stir to combine everything in the pan.
If using cognac or wine, deglaze with a big splash of it now. If not, deglaze with water/stock and put in a little glug of balsamic vinegar. Then add enough stock to more than cover the rice, and let is simmer aggressively until absorbed, stirring occasionally.
Then start adding additional stock in small doses and stirring constantly until the rice is almost cooked (which you should test by tasting). If you run out of your mushroom stock, just use water. When the rice is almost cooked, turn the heat off and stir in a big knob of butter and a big pile of grated cheese (or vegan sour cream instead of butter and cheese), and black pepper and additional salt to taste.
Serve and top with fresh chopped chives.Mushrooms Risotto with french beans and paneer croquettes @cookwithdhaval
Get your Thanksgiving going with this easy risotto recipe. Dhaval cooks up a classic Mushroom version in his own home using crimini but check what’s fresh where you are and give it a go then let us know how you get on.
Don’t be shy. Risotto is in fact one of the simplest dishes on the planet. Just give it some good old fashioned TLC, some very basic ingredients and you’ll have one of the most amazing homemade risotto in front of you. That and you can stuff it with cheese and deep fry it afterwards if that wasn’t enough already.