Porcini mushroom risotto with pearly grains of rice and nutty, plump mushrooms, topped with fresh dill and grated parmesan. Dried porcini mushrooms are used for a greater depth of flavour and the whole dish can be ready in just over 30 minutes.
Course Dinner, evening meal, Main Course, starter or main
Soak the mushrooms in 500ml of hot water for at least 30 minutes until soft. After 30 minutes remove the mushrooms, reserving the liquid, and roughly chop. Then strain the liquid through a paper-towel lined sieve into a clean bowl.
50 g Dried porcini mushrooms
Melt the butter in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and fry until soft.
20 g Butter, 1 Onion, 1 Garlic clove
Add the rice and mix in well allowing the melted butter to coat each grain of rice.
170 g Carnaroli rice
Next add the wine and simmer until the wine has nearly all reduced or been absorbed by the rice.
150 ml White wine
Then add two ladles of the mushroom liquid, stirring attentively between each ladleful. Only add the second ladle when the first one has been fully absorbed.
At this point switch to the veg stock to ensure the mushroom flavour isn't too overpowering. Add ladlefuls of the veg stock one at a time, again only adding the next ladleful when the previous has absorbed. It will probably take around 15-20 minutes to gradually add the whole lot. By this point the rice should have softened and plumped.
500 ml Vegetable stock
Stir in the soaked mushrooms, soured cream, parmesan and lemon juice.
2 tablespoons Soured cream, 25 g Parmesan, ½ Lemon juiced
Serve with fresh dill.
20 g Fresh dill
Video
Notes
Mushrooms: Dried porcini mushrooms are used here. However, you can replace with your preferred type of mushroom (fresh or dried). Porcini mushrooms are known for their rich, nutty flavour and meaty texture. Fresh porcini mushrooms are hard to come by as whereas dried porcini are widely available year round. Use a large bowl to soak the dried mushrooms and stir occasionally. The space and stirring will ensure all the mushrooms are fully soaked and plumped up.Mushroom grit: Dried mushrooms can be gritty. To avoid a gritty risotto the mushrooms can be rinsed after they have been soaked. The soaking liquid will also contain grit, so before adding to the risotto this should be strained through a paper-towel lined sieve. After straining leave it to settle allowing any leftover grit to sink to the bottom. Do not disturb the bottom when adding the liquid to the risotto.Risotto rice: For risotto rice you are looking for short grains with a high starch content. Look for rice labelled as Arborio, Carnaroli or simply; risotto rice.Butter: Use butter! Melted butter is used to 'awaken' the rice by coating and softening the uncooked grains so allowing liquids to be easily soaked in. Wine: I love the flavour of white wine in risotto and so I add it to all my risotto recipes. But if required it can be replaced with a little apple juice or just left out completely.Dill: A perfect paring to the earthy mushrooms, but also optional. If preferred leave out or replace with parsley.Stock: Use good quality stock, both vegetable or a meat based stock will work well. This recipe uses 2 types of stock. The first is mushroom stock, made by soaking the mushrooms. The second is vegetable stock. The mushroom stock will be very strong as dried mushrooms have a very intense flavour, which can be overpowering. Therefore, I suggest only using 2 ladles of the mushroom stock then switch to using vegetable stock. However, feel free to add more mushroom stock for a more intense flavour.Parmesan: Any hard Italian cheese will work well.Patience: Risotto does require a little patience. Take your time a don't rush the gradual addition of the stock, I promise its well worth it.How to store? Risotto is best made fresh. The rice doesn't reheat well and more often than not, reheated risotto will overcook and become sloppy. So do bare this in mind when saving leftovers. Transfer any leftovers to sealable containers. Make sure the mushroom risotto has fully cooled before sealing and storing in the fridge for up to 2 days. Cooled risotto will set and become hard. Reheat by returning to the pan with a little hot water and stir until heated through and piping hot. (Please note that proper cooling and reheating is essential for rice dishes).What is the best rice for risotto? Risotto rice has plump, short-medium grains with a high starch content. This gives risotto its well known creamy texture when cooked. Look for Arborio, Carnaroli, Vialone nano or just simply; risotto rice. Arborio rice is the most widely available type of risotto rice and produces a lovely thick and soft risotto, but can be susceptible to overcooking (becomes sloppy). Carnaroli isn't as easy to find but is known to be the best due to its higher starch content and resistance to overcooking, which pretty much guarantees a thick and creamy risotto every time. Vialone nano has smaller, round grains and is considered to be as good as Carnaroli but produces a soupier risotto.