Mushroom Risotto

Mushroom Risotto is another of our favourite comfort foods.
It is time consuming, but worth the effort.
That gorgeous  creamy yet intense flavour is so comforting,it is so straight forward to cook the only snag is you must keep stirring your rice so it doesn't dry out too quickly.
My recipe will feed 4 people for a main, and has been adapted over the years from several different risotto recipes, I don't even think about measuring anything!

Mushroom Risotto

Serves 4
Litre of chicken or veg stock
1 oz of butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove of finely chopped garlic
1 large finely chopped onion
300g of risotto rice
175 ml of dry white wine
100 g of chopped fresh field mushrooms
25 g of mixed dry mushrooms.
Freshly ground salt and black pepper
100 g of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a measuring jug add your dry mushrooms and add 150ml of boiling water and leave to one side.

2.Get a small saucepan and add your litre of stock and bring to a gentle simmer.

3.In a heavy based pan add your olive oil, butter, onions and garlic, fry gently for roughly 15 minutes to soften. Then add your rice and stir so that you create a lovely coating over the rice without burning.

4.Add your wine to the rice and stir continuously, until all the liquid is absorbed.

5.Start to ladle/ spoon your stock into the rice add your seasoning at this stage and your fresh mushrooms and keep stirring.

6.Keep the heat down to a simmer because you don't won't to over cook your rice on the outside, after 15 minutes add your dried mushrooms and put half of the mushroom liquid in with your veg stock.
I don't put all the liquid in from the dried mushrooms because you will get some grit in the bottom of jug.
But the liquid helps to give the risotto that lovely intense flavour.

7.Keep adding your stock and taste rice to see if cooked/if you need more stock just add some boiling water to the rice.

8.Once cooked remove from heat, add a nob of butter and some Parmesan, taste to see if more seasoning is needed, cover with lid or foil and leave for 2/4 minutes.

Get your warmed plates and serve your risotto quickly.
I served mine with warm olive bread and loads of freshly grated Parmesan.
DELICIOUS!!!!