Introduction
Risotto is rice cooked slowly in hot stock, stirred so its starch makes a creamy sauce, then finished with butter and cheese. With mushrooms, it is an autumn and winter favourite. It is not hard, but it needs you at the stove for twenty minutes, stirring and adding stock a little at a time.
Risotto comes from the north of Italy, from Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto, where rice has been grown in the Po valley since the 15th century. It needs a round, starchy rice such as Arborio or Carnaroli; long-grain rice does not work. Dried porcini give a deep mushroom taste even to cheap button mushrooms. Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian hard cheese for a strictly vegetarian risotto.
Ingredients
- 15 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 1.2 litres vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 50 g butter
- 400 g mushrooms, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 300 g risotto rice (Arborio or Carnaroli)
- 120 ml dry white wine
- 60 g Parmesan, grated
- salt and black pepper
- chopped parsley, to serve
Tools
- A saucepan for the stock
- A frying pan
- A large heavy pot
- A wooden spoon and a ladle
Preparation
- Soak the porcini in 200 ml of hot water for 15 minutes. Lift them out, chop them, and pour the soaking water into the stock, leaving the grit at the bottom. Keep the stock hot on a low heat.
- In the frying pan, fry the fresh mushrooms in the oil over a high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic and porcini for one minute, season and set aside.
- In the pot, melt half the butter and cook the onion for 6 minutes over a medium heat, until soft.
- Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, until the grains look slightly translucent. Pour in the wine and stir until it has gone.
- Add one ladle of hot stock and stir until it is almost absorbed. Keep adding stock a ladle at a time, stirring often, for 16 to 18 minutes. The rice is done when it is soft with a slight bite in the centre.
- Stir in the mushrooms. Take the pot off the heat, add the rest of the butter and the Parmesan and stir hard for 30 seconds. The risotto should flow slowly when you tilt the plate; add a little more stock if it is stiff.
- Cover and rest for 2 minutes, then serve with parsley and pepper.