Porcini Mushroom Risotto

A creamy bowl of risotto is the perfect comfort food to me. It’s so easy to vary the flavors of risotto and I create new versions all the time. The base of my risotto features a few simple ingredients: risotto rice, olive oil, butter, Parmesan, chicken broth, onion and garlic. From there, the possibilities are endless.

This Porcini mushroom risotto recipe is likely my favorite. I use dried Porcini that I soak to reconstitute in hot water then I use the Porcini ‘broth’ to add to my chicken broth for a richer, earthier flavor. I don’t typically use the actual Porcini pieces as I find that even reconstituted, they’re still a bit chewy for my taste.

I often grill scallops, shrimp and even pork tenderloin to top the risotto if I want an additional protein.

Some major tips for success:

1. Use quality rice. Once I changed to acquerello rice, it was a game changer. It’s creamier and I love its consistency once cooked.
2. Don’t skimp on the initial butter and olive oil that you’ll sauté your onion, garlic and rice in, this isn’t the recipe for calorie-cutting. Also, use good butter.
3. Risotto cooks differently almost every time, so the cooking time I offer in this recipe can vary. The critical part is, don’t overcook the rice so it’s dry. The best tip an Italian chef ever gave me was that risotto shouldn’t be able to get piled on a plate, it should sit flat as it still has some moisture left. Mounds of risotto, no bueno!

With dried Porcini mushrooms on hand, turning my basic risotto recipe into an earthy, mushroomy variation is super easy and delicious. One-pot, about 45 minutes, come on, you can do this!

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce dried Porcini mushrooms soaked for 10 minutes in a cup of hot water
• 32 ounces chicken or vegetable broth, homemade is best
• 6 Tbsp. butter, divided
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 cup risotto rice, I recommend Acquerello
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly-cracked black pepper

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Directions:

1. Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
2. Melt four tablespoons of butter with the oil in a large heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the onion. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, about five minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for one additional minute.
3. Raise the heat to medium and add the rice to the onion mixture and cook stirring constantly for two minutes, until the rice is coated in oil and glossy.
4. Add the wine to the rice mixture and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until absorbed, about two minutes.
5. Line a sieve with a double layer of paper towels and drain the liquids from the mushrooms into a small bowl through the paper towel to catch any sediments, reserve. Discard the mushrooms or rinse in cold water, dry, chop and add them at the end of the risotto cooking time (I toss them).
6. Incorporate the mushroom liquids to the rice and cook until mostly absorbed, about three minutes.
7. Add a ladleful (about 1 cup) of warm broth to the rice and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently, about three minutes. Continue to cook for 25-30 minutes, adding more broth by the ladleful and allowing liquid to absorb before adding more, stirring frequently. Cook until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy but still runny, adding broth as needed and stirring frequently. Turn off the heat.
8. To the cooked rice, add the Parmesan cheese, the remaining two tablespoons of butter and the pepper. Stir to fully incorporate and serve at once.

Makes two large entrée-size servings or four starter-size servings.