This luxurious mushroom risotto is the perfect dinner for Meatless Monday. It is rather straight forward to make but needs just a little bit of patience to make it perfect. We’ll show you how.
Like most risottos, it does take some time and patience to make it. Trust us, the results are totally worth the little bit of extra time. Risottos are pretty much the polar opposite of say, spaghetti bolognese.
Bolognese you pull it together and let it simmer and stir every few hours.
Risotto… well it’s made in less time but you will be needing to pay attention to her the entire time.
Slowly adding the stock, SLOWLY. Patience and pour yourself a glass of wine as you make this risotto is what we recommend. Let us dive in.
What is risotto?
Risotto is traditionally an Italian dish. It’s best made with a rice called Arborio. We’ve made it with other rices before but the arborio turns out the best results for a proper risotto.
Risotto is creamy and when plated should form a soft mound on the plate. The creaminess is mainly from the starches of the rice that is slowly brought as it is cooked.
How to Cook the Perfect Risotto
The biggest factor to make perfect risotto is lots of patience and stirring. You possibly make a risotto in less time by rushing but the results won’t be ideal. You do NOT want a stodgy risotto.
In order to create the perfect risotto, slow and low heat wins the race. You want to add a ladle of hot stock one at a time, continue to stir and stir until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next ladle. Do not rush this.
We like to check how the rice is cooked when there are about 2-3 ladles of stock left.
We like to ask the following questions before proceeding
Is the rice soft?
- No? Continue Cooking
- Yes? Perfect. Next question.
Is the dish running fluidly, smooth and almost nutty like?
- No? Add more stock.
- Yes? Proceed.
It really is a simple dish to make but as we said, just a little bit of patience. Turning the heat up higher to quicken the process will quickly overcook the rice and it will become thick.
So the main points to remember, slow and low heat until the rice is cooked and the dish is smooth and fluid.. think warm melted cheese texture. Risotto is pretty much the rice version of mac and cheese.
What to serve with our mushroom risotto?
You will want to serve this immediately. A mushroom risotto is hearty on its own but we generally like to serve a side salad with it and a glass of white wine.
Reheating Risotto
As we said, you want to serve this immediately. It will get thick and stodgy rather quickly once it cools. Which really is the biggest thing we want to avoid. However this does not mean you are left with clumpy risotto for leftovers. Here is how you can reheat this and it’ll feel as fresh as it was the night before.
Place leftovers in a pan over medium-low heat. Add about 125ml of stock. Continue to reheat the risotto until it is warm. If it is still rather thick, add a bit more of hot stock to the dish until it reaches the desired consistency. We like to add a bit more parmesan for good measure as well.
And there you have it. A delicious vegetarian dish you can enjoy that is absolutely packed with creamy comfort food goodness. Lets eat!
OTHER RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY:
Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
Roasted Mushrooms
- 350-400 g mushrooms (used a mix of whatever you'd like)
- 2 cloves garlic , crushed
- Pinch Salt and Pepper
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Risotto
- 300 g Arborio rice
- 2 cloves garlic , crushed
- 100 ml white wine
- 80 g butter
- 100 g parmesan , grated
- 1.7 - 2 l vegetable stock or chicken stock if not going for vegetarian
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or Porcini dust
- 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 C
- Wash pat dry and slice all mushrooms Put them into a bowl along with a pinch of salt, pepper, the garlic, thyme and coat with olive oil. Transfer to baking tray and roast in oven for 20 /25 mins until the start to crisp up
- Meanwhile melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan. When it begins to foam up add the sliced onion, garlic, salt & pepper plus the sticks of thyme and sweat on a low heat until the onions are slightly translucent and soft 5/6 mins
- Pour in the rice with a pinch more salt and stir around so to coat the grains with the butter onion mix, keep stirring for about 2 mins. Then turn the heat up to medium and pour in the glass of wine along with the nutmeg & or porcini dust.
- When the wine is absorbed, reduce the heat and begin to add the hot chicken or vegetable stock one ladle at a time. Stirring continuously letting the rice fully absorb the liquid before adding the next ladle. Continue in this manner until the rice is soft and runs fluidly off a wooden spoon NOTE: You may not use all the liquid this depends on how much care you take when adding each ladle..... the slower lower heat the better.
- The end product should not be thick and stodgy it should have a smooth, soft-ish almost nutty consistency. When you are happy with the consistency stir in the lemon juice and most of the grated parmesan, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste
- At this stage the mushrooms should be crisp and ready. Stir in half of mushrooms into finished risotto.
- To serve spoon some rice on a plate or pasta bowl and arrange the remaining mushrooms on top finish with more grated parmesan, fresh parsley and a drizzle of truffle/ olive oil
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