Mushroom risotto

Up: 🍳Home cooking

Ingredients

• 200 g arborio rice
• 1 onion
• Olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic (optional)
• Thyme (optional)
• Fresh parsley (optional)
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• A splash of white wine (optional)
• 12 slices of dried porcini mushroom
• 8 fresh chestnut or button mushrooms
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• Frozen peas
• 50 g mature hard cheese (e.g. parmesan, pecorino or even mature cheddar)

Method

1. Peel and chop the onion and fry in the olive oil in a casserole over a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add the rice, still dry and unwashed. Keep pushing it around, you need the oil to coat and start to cook the outer layer of the rice to enable it to absorb liquid.
3. Make 500 ml of vegetable stock. Keep the vegetable stock in a saucepan at a light simmer. Put the dried mushroom pieces in a small container and cover with boiling water.
4. Add the garlic and thyme (optional) and fry for a further minute before adding the wine (optional).
5. Start adding the stock slowly, one ladle at a time, at a low-medium heat to simmer. From now on, stir constantly to avoid the rice sticking to the bottom of the casserole and to promote absorption of the stock by the rice. When the mixture is close to boiling dry, add another ladle of stock.
6. Wash the fresh mushrooms. Cut the very end off the stalk as this often gets hard after harvesting, and slice. Grate the cheese.
7. When the stock is exhausted, add frozen peas and the fresh and rehydrated mushrooms. Use the water that hydrated the dried mushrooms as additional stock, being careful not to avoid using any grit left at the bottom.
8. Keep testing the rice, it should be "al dente" - cooked but not soft all the way through. If additional stock is required, boiling water can be used.
9. Mix in the grated cheese and chopped parsley (optional) thoroughly, and serve.