Ben's Mushroom Risotto
A featured Wine Club recipe for Silver Wines..jpg)
Description
A wonderful combination of cheesy risotto with mushrooms, onion, garlic and parsley making this recipe a perfect one for any day of the week. Pair it with the 2010 Côteau Palmer Pinot Noir from Silver Wines.
Yield: 4Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 55 Minutes
Ingredients
• 2 oz. dried porcini organic mushrooms
• 1 vegetable stock cube, salt free, organic
• 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250g pack organic chestnut mushroom, sliced and washed
• 1 ½ cups risotto rice, such as Arborio
• 1 glass white wine (175ml)
• 2 tbsp butter
• Handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
• ½ cup Parmesan or Grana Padano, freshly grated
Instructions
Soak the dried mushrooms
Put the dried mushrooms into a large bowl and add 1 quart boiling water. Soak for 20 minutes, and then drain into a bowl, discarding the last few tbsp of liquid left in the bowl. Crumble the stock cube into the mushroom liquid, and then squeeze the mushrooms gently to remove any liquid. Chop the mushrooms.
Sauté the fresh mushrooms
Heat the oil in a shallow saucepan or deep frying pan over a medium flame. Add the onions and garlic, and then fry for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the fresh and dried mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 8 minutes until the fresh mushrooms have softened.
Simmer and stir
Tip the rice into the pan and cook for 1 minute. Pour over the wine and let it bubble to nothing so the alcohol evaporates. Keep the pan over a medium heat and pour in a quarter of the mushroom stock. Simmer the rice, stirring often, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Add about the same amount of stock again and continue to simmer and stir - it should start to become creamy, plump and tender. By the time the final quarter of stock is added, the rice should be almost cooked.
Rest before Serving
Continue stirring until the rice is cooked. If the rice is still under-cooked, add a splash of water. Take the pan off the heat, add the butter and scatter over half the cheese and the parsley. Cover and leave for a few minutes so that the rice can take up any excess liquid as it cools a bit. Give the risotto a final stir, spoon into bowls and scatter with the remaining cheese and parsley.
