Foodie Friday: Wild Mushroom Risotto

My house is just a stone throw from Lester’s Farm, a great farm with a produce market during the summer. They carry some excellent local and imported veggies, lamb, and turkey, but I’m most impressed with their wonderful local chanterelle mushrooms. It would be a shame to bury the nutty, peppery flavour of these mushrooms as an afterthought in some dish where another food gets to be the star, so I decided to make a classic mushroom risotto to let the chanterelles shine.

Risotto can be a little daunting at first. It tends to be relatively labour intensive, and the texture can be tricky to get just right. But give it a try- when done right it makes a fantastic dish. While it is often served as a side, a good risotto deserves to served as a main.

Ingredients:

• 900g Arborio rice
• 5 c. good quality chicken stock (you may not use it all)
• 1 c. vermouth (or a dry white wine, in a pinch)
• 2 T olive oil
• 6 T butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 c. wild mushrooms (chanterelle, shitake, porcini)
• 2-3 sprigs of thyme
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• ½ c. grated parmesan chese
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Bring the chicken stock to a slow boil and let simmer for a while. We’ll be using this later.
2. Add olive oil and 1 T of butter to a large pan. With the heat on low to medium-low, add the chopped onion and cook slowly until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Don’t let the onion brown- you just want to soften it up.
3. Increase the heat to high and add the rice to the pan. Stir to mix.
4. Add vermouth and stir the rice until the vermouth has been absorbed. Don’t worry, the alcohol will burn off quickly- you can still drive home after supper.
5. Lower the heat and add one ladle full of chicken stock to the rice. When the stock has been pretty much absorbed, add another ladle. Repeat this process for about 15 minutes, adding one ladle of stock at a time, until you’ve used about half your chicken stock and the rice is al dente- close to cooked, but still a little firm.
6. In a separate pan, add about 1 T of butter and sauté your mushrooms. Toss in the garlic and thyme leaves, and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the mushrooms to the rice and mix well. Continue adding stock one ladle at a time, until the rice is cooked. You may need to increase the amount of chicken stock at the end to get the right consistency- it should be like lava, holding its shape but just barely.
8. Turn off the heat and stir in the remainder of butter and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
9. Garnish with a little parsley and a sprinkling of parmesan.

To get the consistency right, make the risotto a just a little “runnier” than you think you want it, as it will thicken a little before serving. You can vary this recipe to your taste- a touch of lemon might be nice, and sage might pair well with the woody mushrooms. While you can substitute a dry white wine, the vermouth adds a nice depth of flavour.

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Tagged as: chanterelle, mushrooms, recipe, risotto