Sunday afternoon is my time to open a bottle of wine, load up the counter with an assortment of delectable ingredients and spend several hours in the kitchen. It’s total therapy for me and my family benefits, come dinner time.
Risotto is one of those dishes that takes a fair amount of time and attention however when it’s prepared well, it’s so worth it!
First Sight, Chapter 17 “…Anyway, tell me more about dinner with the Coopers. What did Mom make?”
“Considering what your hospital dinner may have been like, maybe you don’t want to know,” Ben replied, warily.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Agent Nichols came by earlier and brought me dinner. She picked up a couple of salads and we had some girl time. So you can tell me what you had and I’ll try not to be jealous. As long as it wasn’t Mom’s cedar plank grilled salmon and wild mushroom risotto.”
Ben winced and said, “Well…..”
Sarah’s Wild Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients:
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound fresh shiitake and cremini mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
- 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in hot water
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1) In a large sauté pan, sauté the chopped garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes or until slightly caramelized.
2) Add the assorted fresh mushrooms to the pan and season with the salt. Sauté the mushrooms until they are soft and then transfer the mixture to a bowl.
3) Meanwhile, remove the porcini mushrooms from the soaking liquid and coarsely chop them. Set the mushrooms aside for use later. Skim off the top 2/3 of the soaking liquid to use later and discard the lower 1/3 which will have a lot of the dirt from dried mushrooms.
4) Add more olive oil to the sauté pan and cook the onions over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes or until slightly caramelized. Season the onions with salt and pepper.
5) Add the rice to the pan and stir until coated with the oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly toasted.
6) Add the wine to the pan, stirring frequently until it has absorbed into the rice.
7) Add the reserved mushroom liquid and the chicken stock in one cup increments, stirring frequently, until the liquid has fully absorbed into the rice. Repeat this process until all but one cup of the stock and reserved soaking liquid have been used.
8) During the final addition of the liquid, add the reserved mushrooms. When the stock has absorbed into the rice and the rice is cooked but still “al dente”, remove the pan from the heat.
9) Add the butter and cheese and stir until well combined. Serve immediately.