A good mushroom risotto is a real treat. It’s the dish that consoles me most when summer ends and the autumn leaves start to fall. The warming earthiness of wild mushrooms really cuts through the creaminess of the risotto rice. For a couple of months of the year at least, you won’t taste much better.
But freshly foraged mushrooms aren’t available all year round. So what if you want to enjoy mushroom risotto at other times of the year too? The trick is to use dried porcini mushrooms to add depth of flavour and colour to the more generally available button and chestnut mushrooms.
Buon appetito! 🇮🇹
More Tuscany Recipes
- Tuscan Wild Boar Ragu – wide egg pasta with slow-cooked wild boar from the Tuscan hill towns.
- Pappa al Pomodoro – ripe tomatoes and stale bread cooked together into a thick soup. A summer classic.
- Crostini Neri – the classic Tuscan chicken liver pate, served on toasted bread before every meal in Florence.
Mushroom Risotto
An authentic taste of autumn at any time of year.
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan
- 1 Large pan
- 1 Chef Knife
- 1 Chopping Board
- 1 Measuring Jug
- 1 spatula or wooden spoon
- 1 cheese grater
Ingredients
- 30 grams dried porcini mushrooms
- 215 grams chestnut or button mushrooms (wiped clean with a damp cloth or kitchen towel and sliced)
- 90 grams unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley
- 1 litre home made vegetable stock
- 1 medium onion (very finely chopped)
- 300 grams carnaroli rice
- 1 piece pecorino rind
- 120 ml white wine
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 75 grams pecorino cheese (finely grated)
Instructions
- Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in 400 ml of tepid water for about an hour.
- Strain the re-constituted mushrooms, reserving the mushroom soaking water, straining through a fine mesh or kitchen paper if necessary.
- Melt 30 grams of butter in a pan and sauté sliced button or chestnut mushrooms until they start to take on some colour.
- Stir in the parsley and cook until well combined, then set aside, straining off any excess mushroom liquid.
- In a separate pan, add the vegetable stock and the porcini water and bring to the boil, and then keep warm at a very gentle simmer.
- Add 30g of butter to the pan, along with the onions and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent, making sure the onion doesnt stick.
- Add the carnaroli rice and stir for a minute until all the grains are coated in the butter.
- Stir in the re-constituted porcini mushrooms and the sautéd mushrooms.
- Add the white wine and cook until most of the wine has cooked away, stirring continuously.
- Add a ladle of the stock to the rice. Stir continuously until the stock has evaporated and then add another ladle of stock.
- Continue to add and reduce the stock, one ladle at a time for 10 minutes and then add the pecorino rind.
- Continue to add and reduce stock for a further 6 minutes, again stirring the whole time and then test the rice – the rice should have an al dente bite to it. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for a minute or two more if the rice isn't quite done.
- Take off the heat. The rice shouldn't cook for longer than 18 minutes total. Add the remaining 30 grams of butter and stir through the risotto.
- Remove the pecorino rind (if still intact), check for seasoning. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
