Mushroom Risotto

An opulent dish with different mushrooms, cheeses and toppings. In this version, I’ve made a risotto but added a few toppings like crispy fried in butter sage leaves, pan fried mushrooms, fresh chives and truffle just to take a simple risotto to another level and add a few different textures to contrast with the silkiness! 

Serves: 4
Ingredients: 13
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Skill Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 4 heads of shallots or 2 large brown onions, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2-3 sprigs of thyme or tarragon, optional
• 400g of Carnaroli or Aborio rice, (100g per person)
• 1 cup (250ml) of white wine
• 2 cups of your choice of fresh mushrooms: white, swiss brown, button, shitake, pine mushrooms
• ½ cup of dried wild mushrooms (porcini). This is a good option to have in your pantry to easily cook mushroom risotto all year round.
• 2.5 litres of vegetable stock
• 75g of butter
• 50g of parmesan
• 1 small bunch of chives
• 1 small bunch of sage
• Fresh truffle and/or truffle oil/extra olive oil, optional

Watch the process

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Method

1. If using dried mushrooms, firstly re-hydrate them by pouring a cup of boiling water over the dried mushrooms in a bowl and allowing to stand for 5 minutes until they have doubled in size.
2. Heat a large pan and sauté your onions and garlic until soft and translucent. If you happen to have any celery or fennel, feel free to add it in finely chopped to sauté too. Add in some optional sprigs of thyme tarragon to cook with the onions and garlic to release their aroma.
3. Add in your rice into a pan and cook on medium for a few minutes until the rice becomes translucent on the ends.
4. Pour in your wine and allow to cook off for a few minutes and absorb into the rice. Stir constantly using a wooden or silicone spatula as a metal one will break your rice.
5. Slowly pour in a ladle of stock into the pan and continue to stir gently until all of the stock evaporates. Continue until you have no stock left. This process will take about 20 minutes. Also drain the water that your dried mushrooms were cooking in and add to the risotto, which is essentially a mushroom stock.
6. Add in 1 cup of roughly chopped mushrooms to the risotto as you’re incorporating all the stock. Mushrooms contain a lot of water so they will shrink to half their size so keep them on the larger side.
7. Meanwhile, heat a fry pan and grill 1 cup worth of the chopped mushrooms in a dry pan for a few minutes on each side till golden brown. For mushrooms like pine mushrooms, this will add a nice char and bring out their flavour without making them soggy. These will be served on top of the risotto at the end. Remove from the pan and set aside.
8. In the same pan, melt the butter (leaving a tablespoon’s worth aside for the end) and once fully melted, add in a handful of sage leaves and allow to fry until crispy. Transfer them to a paper towel lined plate and allow to dry.
9. Check in with your risotto and taste the rice. It should be soft but still have a slight crunch and hold their shape.
10. Turn off the stove and throw a nob of butter into the pan and close the lid allowing to stand for 5 minutes.
11. Serve into a large platter. Arrange the grilled mushrooms in the centre, top with your crispy sage leaves, fresh chives, grated parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil or even truffle oil and an optional indulgent addition of freshly shaved truffle since it’s truffle season.