Rich, creamy and full of earth flavours. Watch the risotto masterclass video if you’ve never made a risotto before, it will help you with tips and technique.
Serves 6 as a starter or 4 as a main course.
3 sprigs thyme
1.2 ltr low sodium vegetable stock
400 g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tbsp chopped chives
3 tbsp creme fraiche
1.5 tbsp salt
50g unsalted butter
1 banana shallot very finely chopped
300g Carnoroli rice (Arborio is fine too)
100ml white wine
1.5 tbsp salt
3 tbsp parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese, grated
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Pour the stock into a saucepan, bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add porcini and thyme sprigs and set aside. After 20 minutes, remove the porcini mushrooms, squeeze out excess water and roughly chop.
Add a splash of vegetable oil to a frying pan, sauté all the mushrooms until fragrant and golden. Cook until all the excess moisture has evaporated. Put half the mushrooms in a small food processor along with chopped porcini, chives, creme fraiche, a few pinches of salt and pepper. Blitz into a rough paste. Add the rest of the mushrooms and set aside for later when you finish the dish.
In a saucepan bring stock to a simmer add the salt a bit at a time checking for a level of saltiness to season your rice but remember you will be adding salty parmesan at the end.
In a wide pan melt the butter on a medium heat and add the rice. Once the rice is hot and slightly toasted add the shallot. The shallot should take just 1 minute to cook. Keep stirring so the rice doesn’t catch.
Add the wine, stir and let it reduce, lower the heat Start adding hot stock a bit at a time. Most food writers will tell you to use a ladle but I’m all about saving washing up so you can just tip a bit at a time from your saucepan, stirring constantly and adding more until nearly absorbed each time – the rice should always be sloppy rather than dry – and then add another and so on.
It usually takes 30 minutes to cook properly. Turning the heat up will not help your risotto cook any quicker – be patient
Keep adding the stock until you are happy with the texture of the rice. It should have a bit of bite to it. When you finish, the rice mixture should still be sloppy. Remember that at this point the rice will continue to absorb the stock and you don’t want a gelatinous lump at the end so if you are worried that it’s too dry, add a little more stock to allow for this absorption.
When the risotto is ready, stir in the mushrooms, mushroom purée and parmesan, make sure that everything is warm through. Check one last time for seasoning, stir in the parsley reserving a few to sprinkle on the top.
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Perfect Risotto Tutorial
Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
- 30 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1.2 ltr vegetable stock
- 400 g chestnut mushrooms
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
- 3 tbp creme fraiche
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 1 banana shallot very finely diced
- 300 g carnaroli rice (or arborio)
- 100 ml white wine
- 3 tbsp parmesan (or vegetarian hard cheese) grated
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
Instructions
- Pour the stock into a saucepan, bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add porcini and thyme sprigs and set aside. After 20 minutes, remove the porcini mushrooms, squeeze out excess water and roughly chop.
- Add a splash of vegetable oil to a frying pan, sauté all the mushrooms until fragrant and golden. Cook until all the excess moisture has evaporated. Put half the mushrooms in a small food processor along with chopped porcini, chives, creme fraiche, a few pinches of salt and pepper. Blitz into a rough paste. Add the rest of the mushrooms and set aside for later when you finish the dish.
- In a saucepan bring stock to a simmer add the salt a bit at a time checking for a level of saltiness to season your rice but remember you will be adding salty parmesan at the end.
- In a wide pan melt the butter on a medium heat and add the rice. Once the rice is hot and slightly toasted add the shallot. The shallot should take just 1 minute to cook. Keep stirring so the rice doesn’t catch.
- Add the wine, stir and let it reduce, lower the heat Start adding hot stock a bit at a time. Most food writers will tell you to use a ladle but I’m all about saving washing up so you can just tip a bit at a time from your saucepan, stirring constantly and adding more until nearly absorbed each time - the rice should always be sloppy rather than dry - and then add another and so on.
- It usually takes 30 minutes to cook properly. Turning the heat up will not help your risotto cook any quicker – be patient
- Keep adding the stock until you are happy with the texture of the rice. It should have a bit of bite to it. When you finish, the rice mixture should still be sloppy. Remember that at this point the rice will continue to absorb the stock and you don’t want a gelatinous lump at the end so if you are worried that it's too dry, add a little more stock to allow for this absorption.
- When the risotto is ready, stir in the mushrooms, mushroom purée and parmesan, make sure that everything is warm through. Check one last time for seasoning, stir in the parsley reserving a few to sprinkle on the top.
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