Mushroom Risotto
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 07:24AM A mushroom is a fungi. It's also a fun guy! For me, mushrooms are like a party in my mouth, and typically their earthy, meaty flavors make them the stars of any dish they are in. Not everyone feels the same way, including my partner-in-crime (with one notable exception). So I waited until Mark was away to make this recipe from epicurious, and tripled the mushrooms, because why not go for broke?
- 5 cups mock chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 12 oz sliced mushrooms (I used a mix of shiitake and cremini)
- 1/3 cup minced shallots
- 1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
- 1 tsp white truffle oil (I actually used some Porcini-infused, truffle-flavored oil I already had - you can also skip this altogether)
- 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 tsp fresh chives
First, I poured the broth and the water into a saucepan, brought to a low simmer, then covered it, keeping it on very low heat. This is the liquid we'll be adding to the rice. It may seem like a fussy extra step, but actually, using hot broth is important - if you use cold/room temperature broth, you'll wind up with rice grains with hard, uncooked centers.
In a separate pot, I melted one tbsp butter with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil over moderately high heat, added the mushrooms, and cooked until the mushrooms were browned and most of the liquid released by the mushrooms had evaporated, about 8 minutes. I took the pot off the heat, seasoned the mushrooms with some salt and pepper, and removed them to a plate. It took all my will power not to just eat the mushrooms by themselves right then and there - I actually had to cover them with foil and put them out of sight to stop nibbling.
Using the same pot I used for the mushrooms, I heated 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat, added the shallots, and cooked for about 3-4 minutes until softened.
I added the rice and toasted it for 2-3 minutes, stirring gently. This is another seemingly stupid, yet crucial step: toasting the rice seals in the starch and helps the grains keep their shape throughout the cooking process.
Now the add-ins are different, but the song remains the same - once you've made one risotto, you can pretty much make any of them. I poured about 1 cup of the hot broth into the pot with the rice and cooked until the liquid was almost completely absorbed, stirring frequently (but gently), then added another 1/2 cup or so. Over the next 20 minutes, I continued this process until the rice was tender and creamy. Look at how plump the grains have gotten! Don't worry about using up all the broth; in fact, you can use any left over broth to thin the risotto after this next step if you like.
Once the rice was finished, I removed the pot from the heat and stirred in the remaining tbsp of butter, mushrooms, infused oil, Parmigiano, and chives.
Really, really, really rich. Really, really, really delicious. I loved how thick and luxuriously creamy the risotto turned out, but if I make this recipe again during the warmer months, I'll probably cut down the amount of cheese I added for a lighter dish. As it was, my dinner put me in a very happy, mushroomy food coma for the rest of the evening...
Entree, Vegetarian in Recipes: At Home
Reader Comments (5)
Yummers!
Miguel-
I KNOW! Can you believe Mark doesn't like mushrooms? Makes me wonder if we're really meant to be together...completely unrelated, are you single?
Hee!
lol yeah. And I LOVE mushrooms, too!
I'll tell you, one of the easiest and best-tasting things I've ever cooked was a similar dish with the addition of white wine and gorgonzola cheese. I'll try to dig it up for you later.
Oooh, yum, Nick, thanks - I'll make it for my new boyfriend Miguel!