Mushroom Risotto

A couple of days ago I made the “death dish” from the average cooking show: risotto. And it was good! So I thought I should share my recipe with you all. If this is your main course and you don’t make salad or dessert, it’s enough for two people, and if you do add extra courses it should feed three people easily. Bon appétit!

What do you need?

• 3 lumps of butter (about a tablespoon each)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 litre of mushroom stock (I prefer this, but you could use a different flavour of stock of course)
• 125-150 ml of white wine
• 1 chicken breast
• 200 grams of assorted mushrooms (pick your own favourites)
• half a zucchini
• 2 onions
• 150 grams of risotto rice
• 70 grams of pecorino cheese (you could replace this with parmesan)
• salt & pepper
• two frying pans (one with a lid) and a pan for the stock

Recipe

Mise en place (15 minutes)

Chop the onions and the garlic cloves. Put one lump of butter and the olive oil into the frying pan that has a lid and put it on low heat. When the butter has melted (don’t let it become brown!), add the onions and garlic, and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes on low heat (you don’t have to put the lid on). The onions will become soft and translucent.

Put the mushroom stock on the heat and get it to a boil (slowly, you won’t need it until the onions are done).

Dice the chicken and the zucchini. Cut the mushrooms if you like (I like bigger pieces, but other people prefer small bits). Grate the cheese. Measure off the risotto. The onions should be about done by now.

Cooking (20-30 minutes)

Add the risotto to the frying pan with the onions. Mix them together on a medium heat. The risotto will start to glaze a bit. Now add the white wine. The alcohol will evaporate. Put the second pan on medium heat and add butter. From now on you will work with both frying pans simultaneously (1 and 2 are in parallel):

1. Once the risotto starts to look a bit dry, add a ladle of stock. Stir the risotto a bit from time to time to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan. The risotto will absorb the flavour of the stock and after a while it will become dryer again. Keep adding stock when that happens, and keep stirring regularly. The risotto takes about 20 minutes to become soft (with a bit of a bite, but not a real crunch). If you run out of stock, just add some boiling water (adding more stock could make the risotto too salty).

   

2. When the butter in the second pan has melted, fry the chicken (and season it if you like). Once the chicken has become white, add the mushrooms. Fry them together until they caramelize a bit. Add the zucchini and season with pepper. Lower the heat a bit. Once the chicken, mushrooms & zucchini look done, turn the heat to the lowest setting to make sure they stay warm. Keep stirring from time to time.

   

Once the risotto is ready (just taste it), add the chicken, mushrooms, and zucchini to the pan. Mix it well. Add some pepper. Now, put the last lump of butter in and stir it through the risotto. Put the grated cheese on top and cover the pan with the lid. Wait 1-2 minutes until it has become nice and creamy. Serve in a (shallow) bowl. Enjoy!