Porcini Mushroom Risotto

This recipe comes from a book I bought after taking a cooking lesson during my trip to Rome two years ago.  I was insistent on doing a cooking lesson and found on Tripadvisor that was arranged through ‘That’s Amore‘ Restaurant in Rome.  One benefit of working at my university is that our holidays are about a month later than the typical college/university.  This means lower airfare, cheaper hotel rooms, and in this case, two professional chefs all to ourselves for an entire day.

We met the chefs in front of a restaurant early in the morning, and they drove us to the Restaurant owner’s property, which was located about an hour outside of Rome. We started with a trip to the butcher and grocer to pick up the ingredients for the days cooking.  While looking over the food, one of the chefs and I talked about the effect of the soil and diet on the veg and meat respectively.  I recalled how we caught a rabbit who had been raiding our family garden for weeks when I was a teenager, and we couldn’t tell if it tasted so good on the dinner table because it had been eating our food, or if it was just the satisfaction of catching the four-legged thief.  Beyond that, there was also the issues of eating rabbit found on the island of Newfoundland vs Labrador rabbit.  I remembered the Newfie rabbit didn’t taste nearly as good as the Labrador rabbit I was raised with.  The chat was quite interesting, and gave me pause for thought (couldn’t resist!). Once we had our groceries, we were on our way.

Our cooking lesson was in Mazzano Romano, a beautiful little town located atop a steep hill that provided an excellent view of the surrounding countryside.  During the lesson, the chefs showed us how to make bruschetta, gnocchi pasta from scratch as well as other pasta types.  We assisted the chef with various sauces as well.   After the prep was done, RS and I sat down at the table, and the chefs brought out each of the dishes we helped make. Throughout the prep and the meal, the chefs provided wine and kept my glass full.  I didn’t get drunk, but I was definitely tipsy by the time the eating was done.  I bought a copy of the textbook as we were leaving and slept soundly in RS’s lap as they drove us home.

So far I’ve tried two recipes from this book, this risotto plus an asparagus risotto which I’ll add to the blog later, and I’ve really enjoyed both of them.  The book has turned out to be a great purchase and keepsake from that day in the Italian countryside.

Porcini Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients 20 g dried Porcini mushrooms 500 ml water (for the porcini) 1 litre chicken or veg stock (I used half chicken stock and half veg stock) 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 Tbsp butter 375 g risotto rice – rinsed 2 garlic cloves – crushed (I recommend using 3!) 1 small onion – finely chopped 250 g sliced mushrooms 50 g grated parmesan cheese 3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

Bring the 500 ml of water to a boil in a saucepan and reduce heat to medium.  Add the porcini and allow it to soak for 30 minutes in the boiling water.  Once the 30 minutes has passed, turn the heat to low, remove the porcini from the water and roughly chop them.  Place the porcini into a fine sieve and press gently over the saucepan to remove excess water from the mushrooms.  Put the stock into a separate saucepan, bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

Once the stock and porcini are ready, the next step is to start cooking the risotto. I’d use a 29cm pan at the very least for this amount of risotto. Something that has a little depth to it will also help to prevent spillage during cooking.  So with that in mind,  heat the olive oil and butter in the pan.  When it starts to bubble, add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent. Then turn the heat down and stir in the rice. Season it a little with salt and pepper, add the sliced mushrooms and continue stirring for about 2 minutes.  Add the porcini and porcini stock and increase the heat, stirring until the stock is absorbed by the rice.

Once the porcini stock has been absorbed, stir in a ladleful of the chicken/veg stock and continue stirring the risotto until the liquid has been absorbed. Then repeat the process for about 20 minutes.  You may not use all the stock, but then again you may need a little extra. Taste the risotto to see if it’s done. Risotto should be al dente, but shouldn’t crunch or taste too grainy.  So my best advice here is to taste it, and when it tastes good and doesn’t crunch, remove from heat and stir in the parmesan together with the parsley. Your risotto is ready to be served.