Recipes: Mushroom Risotto

Mushroom Risotto, as made by me an actual human being.

Onion or shallot
Mushrooms
Celery
Carrot
Garlic
Fennel root
Seasonal herbs
Rice
Stock
Olive oil
Butter
Wine or dry vermouth
Parmesan cheese

The mushrooms should be a mix of the most exciting ones you and get, and some duller ones you want to use up. If you have dried mushrooms, reconstitute them in water, then take them out, but reserve the water - we can use it to enrich the stock. Cut the fresh mushrooms into moderate size, easy to eat with some rice and stuff stuck to them.

Cut the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and fennel root into small bits. Heat the oil in a wide pan. Soften the cut up vegetables, then add in the herbs and mushrooms. When nearly cooked add in the rice. Stir gently once. Leave for about a minute, then pour in a glass of the wine. When the pan is almost dry pour in a glass or ladle of stock - this goes quicker if it's hot. Stir gently once. When almost dry add another portion of stock, and stir once. Keep doing this until the rice is almost cooked or you are out of stock.

While cooking, grate the parmesan and cut the butter into small chunks. Sprinkle these over the risotto, cover and leave for a few minutes. Then serve.

There's no amounts here and I'm sorry for that if you're not an experienced cook. You want between 50-100g of rice per person, and about 200 ml of stock for every 100g of rice. When you put the rice in it won't seem like enough. Maybe it'll seem like that when you're done too. Still, wouldn't you rather have a generous risotto, filled with vegetables and mushrooms?

But if you are an experienced cook then you're looking for ideas rather than amounts probably. You can probably knock this up as a side dish, as a starter, as a snack while doing other things in the kitchen. You can keep it simple or make it fancy. It's up to you.