Mushroom risotto
I’d never heard of risotto before I met Rick and had gone to a lunch at his mom’s house. That was ages ago and Risotto has since then become a favourite dish of ours, especially after I found Curtiriso brand of Arborio rice – the most perfect grain to make risotto with!
 Button Mushrooms |
 Risotto |
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- dollop of butter
- 2 punnets mushrooms
- 500g Arborio rice
- 1 glass wine (optional)
- parmesan
- 750ml chicken or vegetable stock
Keep the stock simmering on a low temperature on the stovetop. Chop onion finely and add to melted butter in a large pot. Fry onions in butter until almost turning brown. Add to this the sliced mushrooms. Just a note on the mushrooms – this last time I could only find normal button mushrooms and although this is great on its own, the risotto really comes to its own if you can add some Portabellino or other more exotic mushrooms. I personally find Oyster mushrooms not well suited to this, but if you want to give it a try, you’re more than welcome to. When the mushrooms are nicely cooked, add the risotto rice and stir thoroughly. When the rice starts making cracking sounds, add a ladleful of stock and stir through. When the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, add another ladleful of stock and stir through, continuing this process till all the stock is finished and the rice is mostly soft (leave it with a bit of a bite). Let the rice rest for 5 minutes, add another small dollop of butter and stir through with the parmesan (to taste). You can serve Parmesan on the side as well.
Where does the glass of wine come in then? Well, you can drink it while you make the risotto – but I’m not much for white wine – so the idea is that “rice is born in water, but must die in wine” (according to Valentina Harris), so before you add your first ladleful of stock, add the glass of wine to the rice and stir through.
Enjoy!