Sunday 18 April 2010

Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil

Sorry it's been a fair while since my last post; I have been painfully busy with work.

This Saturday, I once again went to Eveleigh Markets (I'm almost doing all my shopping there every week) and picked up some fantastic mixed mushrooms (Oyster, Wood Ear and Swiss Brown) for $5/100g. I also got a 50g pack of dried Porcini (or Ceps, if you prefer), and a cute 50ml bottle of Black Truffle Oil for $9. On the way home, I also bought some delicious Parmigiano Reggiano and Carnaroli Risotto rice from The Deli in Erskineville.

I'd told my flatmates that I was cooking dinner for them on Sunday evening so after watching the Stereophonics play a live acoustic session in Hyde Park, I rushed home to make Mushroom Risotto.

First, soak the dried mushrooms in warm water, and make/reheat some vegetable or chicken stock. I had some chicken stock in the freezer so I defrosted that.

Dice some onion and garlic, and sweat slowly in a large pan. You could throw in some thyme leaves now too. When cooked through, add your rice (I always always always do far too much risotto - 100g per person of raw rice is probably loads). Now, either pour in a glass of white wine or if you prefer, just start on the stock now. If you are using wine, stir it in and evaporate all the alcohol - you want the mix to smell beautifully perfumed before you add stock. Add the stock a little at a time, stirring often to avoid sticking. The rice will absorb a lot more than you think, so just keep going until there is still a little bite to the rice.

At this point, you can stop cooking, pour out the rice onto a tray to cool and you can keep this base for several days in the fridge, or use it later if you want to get most of the work out of the way before your dinner guests arrive. Alternatively, obviously, you can just continue cooking. Add more stock until the rice is just a little firmer than you'd like, and you can use up the mushroom stock left over from soaking your porcini too.



Throw in your mushrooms. I thought about cooking them first but decided it wasn't necessary, and I was fairly happy with the results. The mushrooms will cook in about five minutes in the hot risotto, but put in a little more stock if you think it needs it. I like a wet risotto myself. Season well with parmesan, butter, salt, pepper, and herbs (I would have used fresh parsley but I didn't have any), as well as a good dash of truffle oil through it too.

When you're happy with it all, and the rice is cooked how you like it, spoon big piles of your gorgeous mushroom & truffle risotto into bowls. Sprinkle over a little shaved parmesan, drizzle with more truffle oil (or shaved truffle if you have it!!!) and enjoy.



It can be tough to make risotto a beautiful, photogenic dish, but it tastes good so who really cares. On the other hand, a little chopped parsley would go a long way to improving the aeshetics in this dish.

5 comments:

  1. Yay! You're back! Was wondering where you'd gone. Mmm lurrrrrve risotto! This one is so simple, rustic and earthy =)

    P.S I did the souffle again!

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  2. Looks delicious. I like the different types of fungus in this dish, especially wood ear!

    Agreed with you 100% on "it tastes good so who really cares" :)

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  3. hi mike I have tasted the truffle oil and this is so great in flavour !! Pierre de Paris

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  4. I've heard a lot about the Eveleigh markets, maybe one day i'll cross the bridge to get there :) And yes, risotto is tricky to photograph but I think you did a good job, it looks very delicious, so creamy. Must admit I've never used truffle oil before but have had a pecorino with bits of truffle through it, so good! Would go well atop risotto too.

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  5. Aesthetics aside, just reading this recipe for this dish made me hungry. I was surprised to learn that the mushrooms don't need to be cooked prior to being added to the dish!

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