risotto – The Life and Times of Choconutmeg

A Warm Bowl of Creamy, Earthy Mushroom Risotto: Just What You Need on a Cold Grey Day

I think the title and this photo are all I need to introduce this post!

Years ago, when I was living in Munich, one of my closest friends came to visit me with her then boyfriend (he is now her spouse). He showed me how to make risotto! I am forever indebted to him for teaching me how to make this utterly wonderful comfort food! Also, the leftovers can be used the next day to make arancini (find my recipe here).

If you want to give making this a shot, here’s what you will need:

Equipment

A frying pan

A heavy-bottomed saucepan or a dutch oven

A pot in which to warm up your stock

A ladle

A spatula

A cutting board and knife

A grater or a blender/food processor to grate hard cheese

Ingredients

3 handfuls of wild mushrooms, chopped

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

1 medium or half a large white onion, diced (or approximately 175g of diced white onion)

1 cup of carnaroli or vialone nano rice (if you can’t find either, you can use Arborio rice)

Approximately 1 cup of wine (preferably, not a terrible one, but rather something you enjoy drinking; an acidic and fruity white would be ideal, but I would avoid an oaked wine) (you could use red wine, but it will lend a somewhat brownish hue to your risotto that some might find unappealing)

1 litre of stock (also, set aside some hot water in a kettle or simmering in a pot)

Grana Padano, Pecorino, or Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

A few drops of truffle-infused oil (make sure it’s infused with genuine truffles) (this step is optional)

A few sprigs of dried rosemary or sage (optional)

Method:

1. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms in it. Once they’re done, set them aside.

2. Add the butter to a heavy-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven. Melt it and then add the onions to it. Let the onions cook until they are softened and become translucent. Do not let them brown.

3. Add the risotto rice to the pot and toss it about until it is completely covered in butter.

4. Now add the white wine to the pan and again toss everything around such that the rice-onion mixture is completely covered in wine.

5. After glazing the onion-rice mix with wine and once most of the wine has evaporated, add in one ladle-full of stock. Stir. Once most of the liquid evaporates, add another ladle or two of stock until the rice is completely drowned in it.

6. Again, stir and let the liquid cook off. Keep repeating this until a lot of the starch has released from the rice and the rice has softened, but still has its structure. (If you run out of stock, just use some of the hot water you have set aside.) Keep tasting the rice and stop cooking it at the point when it tastes/feels right to you. See the photo below for a sense of what it should look like.

6. Once the rice is done, make sure all the excess liquid has evaporated and turn off the heat. Add in the sautéed mushrooms and stir.

7. Add in the grated cheese. At this stage, you can also add in a few drops of truffle-infused oil. Stir it all together one final time. Serve the risotto in a bowl or plate, top it off with some more grated cheese and dried rosemary (optional), and enjoy!

Baked Mushroom Arancini (Baked Risotto)

Risotto is one of my favourite Italian dishes. The only problem with it is that while it tastes great right off the stove, it doesn’t re-heat well. As a result, until recently, I’d usually make up a big pot of the stuff, and then be left with a lot of cold risotto that tastes sub-par when reheated in the microwave. Alternatively, I’d make just a little, and then have to cook something from scratch for my next meal.

That is, this used to be my problem with making risotto, until I tried some arancini (fried risotto balls) at a restaurant. While eating the arancini, I had an epiphany, and now I have a whole new risotto-system 🙂 Now, I make up a pot of risotto, eat it fresh off the stove for a meal, and then use the left over risotto to make arancini. I basically roll the left-over risotto into balls, which I refrigerate, and then bake them (instead of frying them because it’s healthier and easier) whenever I am ready for my next meal.

And just like that, I have a delicious, hot meal in a few minutes!

If you’d like to try making some, here’s the recipe for the arancini part of the process. For my risotto recipe, go here. There are also plenty of recipes out there on the great Internets. For instance, you could try Jamie Oliver’s mushroom risotto, the recipe can be found here. (I’d skip the celery part of the recipe, though, if I were you, (yuck!))

Ingredients:

1 pot of risotto (Whichever recipe you use, make sure to chop the mushrooms into fairly small pieces, rather than slicing them. if the mushroom slices are too large, it becomes difficult to shape the risotto into balls for the arancini)

1 cup (approx.) panko crust

3-4 egg whites

1 cup (approx.) flour

Goat cheese or mozzarella to taste for the arancini filling (optional)

Method:

Cool the risotto in the fridge for at least a few hours. Once you’re ready to shape the risotto into balls, place three bowls and a baking sheet lined with parchment paper on the counter, table, or wherever you are going to be working. Put the panko crust in one bowl, egg whites in another bowl, and flour in the third.

Using an ice cream scoop, portion some risotto into your hands and shape it into a sphere, about the size of a tennis ball. (If you’d like to make arancini with goat cheese or mozzarella centers, flatten a scoop of risotto in your palm, place the cheese at the centre of the flattened risotto, and then wrap the risotto around the cheese). Now, roll the ball in the flour and place it on the baking sheet. Repeat this process until all the risotto is used up.

Next, dip each flour-coated ball into the egg white, immediately roll it in the panko crust, and then place it on the baking tray.

Once you’re done coating all the balls, you can bake them immediately, or you can store them in Tupperware, and bake them when you’re ready to eat them.

To bake the arancini, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and place the arancini in the oven on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake the arancini for about 15 minutes, until they are crisp and golden brown on the outside. Finally, enjoy!

They’re a great meal, but they’re also great as appetizers for a party.

Share this:

Share this: