Month: August 2020

We haven’t got much room, but we do have mushroom (risotto)

James & In SanLeave a comment

Over 5 months into lockdown and we haven’t eaten out once (apart from a pastry from Pophams a few weeks back) so we thought we may as well write up a recipe we have made a few times already during this period.

The mushroom risotto take a bit of time but is just the right meal when you don’t want to actually have to think about what you are doing as it’s pretty simple. The parents were round the day before helping to redo our living room which is pretty much out of action, as usual nothing is ever as straight forward as you think and our floor s very much not level which has required lifting up of floorboards and more cementing that anticipated.

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 50g dried mushrooms (porcini)
  • 300g risotto rice (arborio)
  • vegetable stock 
  • half bottle of white wine
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 500 chestnut mushooms, sliced
  • 25g butter
  • parsley, chopped
  • 50g parmsean, grated
  • Greens (asparagus/green beans)

Method (1.5 hours in total)

  1. Put dried mushrooms (50g) into a pyrex jug and pour over 500 ml boiling water, leave to soak for 20-30 mins.
  2. In the meantime, prep other ingredients ie chop onion (1) and garlic (3 cloves), slice mushrooms (500g), chop greens (green beans/asparagus)
  3. Transfer mushroom water into a bowl, discard the last few tbsp of liquid as this contains the sediment. Add vegetable stock (2 tsp) to this.
  4. Squeeze the dried mushrooms and then chop.
  5. Heat olive oil (2 tbsp) in a frying pan over medium heat, add onion and then garlic, fry until soft (5 – 10 mins)
  6. Add mushrooms (in batches) and then the dried mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 8 mins until the fresh mushrooms have softened.
  7. Add risotto rice (300g) into the pan and cook for 1 min.
  8. Pour over the white wine, let it bubble to nothing so the alcohol evaporates (do this in 1/3s), keep stirring.
  9. Pour in the mushroom stock (in 1/4s), keep stirring.
  10. If adding greens then start cooking now.
  11. Start warming the bowls.
  12. Take the pan off the heat, add butter (25g), parmesan (25g) and some chopped parsley leaves (we didn’t have parsley this time when making it)
  13. Serve into bowls and add remaining parmesan and the remaining chopped parsley leaves.