I’ve recently enjoyed a couple of very nice risottos over at Tre Fratelli and at Soravito. And it got my curiosity going as I had never made a risotto before and thought how nice it would be to make one at home, because there is a definite “comfort food” aspect to a good risotto. And so, using my usual modus operandi when trying something new and having no recipe, I took four different risotto recipes that I’d found on line and adapted them into one recipe I thought would work well. And as you can see, it turned out very well indeed. I couldn’t find any portabello mushrooms and used setas de chopo instead.

For my next risotto I want to use these dried wild mushrooms that my friend Darlene recently sent to me in a wonderful surprise care package from Canada…

Recipe and instructions are below the links…

• 3 tbsps olive oil, divided
• 3-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, diced (1/3 cup)
• 200 grams each of portabello, oyster and white mushrooms (approx 1 1/2 pounds), sliced
• 2 cups (370 grams) aborio rice
• 1/2 cup (250 ml) dry white wine
• 6 cups hot chicken broth
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat chicken stock and keep on simmer. Sauté the sliced mushrooms in one tablespoon of the olive oil until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Then remove the mushrooms and put to one side. In the same pan, sauté the garlic and onion in the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil until translucent, then add the rice and stir quickly until it is well-coated and opaque, about 1 minute. This cooks the starchy coating and prevents the grains from sticking. Then stir in the wine and cook until it is nearly all evaporated.

Now comes the part that requires some patience. Add the chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time, slowly stirring on a med-low heat and making sure the rice doesn’t stick to the sides of the pan. Continue to cook and stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth until the risotto is slightly firm and creamy, or al dente. This takes about 20 minutes.

When the rice is done add the butter, grated parmesan and cooked mushrooms with their juices. Stir and serve.

Here is a mushroom risotto I made with chopo and cardo setas … amazing!

[click to enlarge]