As I mentioned in the plain risotto post, the possibilities are endless. Here is one of the easier variations – mushroom risotto.
serves: 4 difficulty: medium prep time: 20 – 30 min
Ingredients
for the risotto
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 1/3 cups of Arborio rice (1/3 cup rice per person is portioned for a middle course. Increase to 1/2 cup per person if this is a main course).
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups stock. Vegetable – if you want to keep it vegetarian, or chicken.
- 1/3 lbs Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and [optionally] left over cheese rinds
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- [optional] truffle oil or truffles (white or black)
mushrooms
- 1 lbs mushrooms – morels, chanterelles, porcini, shiitake, king trumpet or a mixture
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs butter
Preparation
First, prepare the mushrooms. In this case I used chanterelles. Wash them well, drain them and dice them in 1/2 inch pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a fry pan, and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the butter, and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium. Once you salt mushrooms, they release a lot of liquid, and when you cover with a lid, they will cook in that liquid.
Check every 2 min if the liquid has evaporated, and if it has before the mushrooms have cooked, add a bit of water.
After about 10 min total cooking time, taste the mushrooms for doneness – you want them soft, but not mushy. Continue cooking if needed, or remove from the stove.
To prepare the risotto, follow the directions for plain risotto. If the mushrooms have cooled off while you are cooking the risotto, heat them up again. Add the mushrooms to the risotto and mix well. Adding the mushrooms will make the risotto a bit drier so add a bit more stock or cream.
Plate in risotto plates, and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano. You can also drizzle some truffle oil, or even better grate some truffles if you have have them.
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