Mushrooms. Portobello ones. These are basically the same as your tiny white button mushooms, but brown and mature. The texture is denser, more satisfying to bite into. They make great burgers (on a grill pan or the bbq), or stuffed mushrooms in the oven. Today, though, they give their taste to a risotto.
Let’s be honest, whenever someone says that risotto is hard and you have to slave for hours above the stove stirring constantly, I think they’re crazy. Yes, you do have to stir it to get that creamy al dente rice texture, but not constantly. And it doesn’t take that long either, unless thirty minutes feels like an eternity to you. So, dare make risotto. Go on, you know you wan to.
And for the purists, I know this is not 100% traditional, but then, I am not Italian either. It’s creamy rice, with lots of mushrooms, and it’s tasty.
Portobello risotto
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (or use a garlic press)
- 1 medium onion, finelly chopped
- 4 big portobellos (or 300 gr brown mushrooms) in 5mm slices
- 150 gr arborio rice
- 1cl madeira wine
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- salt & pepper
- 50 gr grana padano (or parmesan), to serve
Instructions
- Heat up the broth in a sauce pan until simmering point, keep it simmering while you do the rest.
- In a saute pan, heat the oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring, until it starts to turn golden, 3-4 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, season with some salt (not much, you have the broth and cheese to add salt) and cook, stirring from time to time, until more than halved in volume.
- Add the rice and stir through, until it’s all covered in oil and slightly transparent around the edges. Add the madeira, stir and cook most of the wine off.
- Working with 1-2 ladlefuls at a time, add broth to the rice. Stir for thirty seconds and then let it simmer gently until all the broth has been absorbed before adding the next two ladles.
- Work in this way until the rice is mostly transparent, but has a slightly harder (not uncooked!) center, about 20 minutes in total. Taste and season if needed with salt and pepper (this depends on the broth you use, really).
- Spoon into dishes, and sprinkle with the grana padano before serving.
Makes 2 servings.
Nutritional info
Calories: 485
Protein: 21 gr
Fat: 14 gr
Carbs: 73 gr