I must admit that I came to the whole risotto thing pretty late in my life. I must have been around 27 by the time I actually started making and enjoying it. Now I’m an absolute master at it.
Everyone has their own little touches that make theirs THE BEST but if we’re being honest, sometimes it’s just better to leave it to the professionals.
Well, thank you very much (again) Simon Wood for sending through his recipe of the PERFECT Mushroom Risotto. It’s such as great dinner and best of all – pretty much everyone will have the ingredients for it in their cupboards.
So let’s give it a go…
Simon Wood’s Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients
– 1 vegetable stock cube
– 2 tbsp olive oil
– 1 onion, finely chopped
– 2 garlic cloves, grated
– 250g pack of any mushrooms, chopped
– 300g risotto rice, such as arborio (but use what you have available)
– 2 x 175ml glass white wine (One for you, One for the pan)
– 25g butter
– Handful parsley leaves, chopped or 12 teaspoons of dried
– 50g Veggie parmesan or Grana Padano, freshly grated (if you have it)
Method
1. Crumble 1 vegetable stock cube 700ml boiling water.
2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a shallow saucepan or deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add 1 finely chopped onion and 2 minced garlic cloves, then fry until soft.
3. Stir in 250g chopped mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 8 mins until the fresh mushrooms have softened.
4. Add your butter and then tip 300g rice into the pan and cook for 1 min. Pour over a 175ml glass of white wine and let it bubble to nothing so the alcohol evaporates. At this point you can enjoy your glass of wine, I’m partial to a Gavi di Gavi
5. Keep the pan over a medium heat and pour in a quarter of the vegetable stock. Simmer the rice, stirring often, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
6. Add about the same amount of stock again and continue to simmer and stir – it should start to become creamy, plump and tender. By the time the final quarter of stock is added, the rice should be almost cooked.
7. Continue stirring until the rice is cooked. If the rice is still undercooked, add a splash of water.
8. Take the pan off the heat, and scatter over 25g grated parmesan or Grana Padano cheese and half a handful of chopped parsley leaves.
9. Cover and leave for a few mins so that the rice can take up any excess liquid as it cools a bit. Give the risotto a final stir, spoon into bowls and scatter with the remaining 25g grated cheese and the remaining chopped parsley leaves.
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