Mushroom Risotto

"Man, that looks kinda ugly....."

"It does look a little bit like natto, huh. But it tastes so good!"

"I'm not sure I can do a post on this one....."

Such was the conversation the first time I made my Mushroom Risotto a couple of weeks ago. I guess it's somehow appropriate to do a post on my kinda fugly risotto. The Missus had been asking me to make this for quite a while. And while risotto isn't really hard to make, it's a pain in the butt to babysit. You don't have constantly stir it, but you do have to give it a mix about every minute or so. Of course, as soon I brought home the arborio rice, the Missus went to work with the content and conditions.... "No butter, absolutely no butter.....no chicken stock. It has to taste very mushroom-my....." and so forth. So what I did was first make a somewhat concentrated mushroom stock. 1 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in three cups of lukewarm water. Luckily, I had been making quite a bit of mushroom dishes and had about a pound of maitake, oyster, shiitake, and other trimmings stems and such in the freezer. To this I added about a pound and a half of chopped crimini and white mushrooms. First thing I did was take a leek (sorry, couldn't help that one), actually two leeks, half an onion, and five cloves of garlic which I chopped rather roughly. I softened the onions and leeks in a good amount of extra virgin olive oil, then added all the mushroom parts and lightly stirred over medium heat until the mushrooms started giving off it's juices. I then added 1 cup of white wine and let the thing bubble away for a few minutes. I strained the porcini liquid saving the porcini for the risotto. I added the porcini liquid (make sure not to add any grit) to the mushroom mixture along with seven cups of water. Two tablespoons of concentrated tomato paste, a dash of Worcestershire, two bay leaves,two medium carrots chopped, fresh cracked pepper, dry oregano, and some dried thyme (believe me, I was trying to figure out how to use leek and thyme in the same sentence), and all I had to do was bring it to a boil, lower the temp to a simmer and leave it to reduce for about three hours or until it reduces by about a third. After it had reduced enough, I gave it a taste, it should taste good enough to eat on its own, adjusted the salt and let it sit overnight. Of course, with nothing much else to do, I decided to peel five bulbs of garlic and make garlic confit.Instead of olive oil, I used canola oil this time around.

The next day I strained my stock, which ended up being just a little over six cups. While I warmed this on the stove I chopped the porcini, minced the other half of the onion, and shredded about one-third cup of aged parmesan cheese. The really neat thing about risotto is that you're basically using the starch from the rice to thicken the rice to the consistency you desire. I prefer mine with not too runny and with the rice being nicely al dente. Things start out with adding some extra virgin olive oil combined with some of the oil from the garlic confit and adding the onions and five cloves of confit garlic which you can mash with a spoon. When the onions soften I added the rice (didn't measure - about 1 1/2 - 2 cups) and mixed to coat well then in went  half a cup of white wine  letting it bubble away for a minute or so giving it a couple of good stirs. Then in went 1 cup of water to get things started. I then set my kitchen timer on twenty minutes. I'll give everything a good stir about every 30-45 seconds or so. Stirring creates friction which causes the outer layer of the rice (the endosperm) to dissolve away in the liquid. This also causes the rice to absorb some of the liquid, but using an unlidded pan also means evaporation takes place. I'll add a ladle of the warmed mushroom stock as necessary. You'll be doing this over medium heat, so be careful to stir well...scorched risotto is not good eats! At about the 18 minute mark I'll start tasting, both for texture and flavor. when it looks like we're headed down the home stretch I'll add in the cheese, porcini, and adjust the salt and pepper. You'll end up using about six cups of liquid And there you have it. The first time I made this, I was juggling the risotto, doing a pan saute of some halibut, and making a tomato ragout....talk about a three ring circus! Meanwhile, the Missus, forgetting how much time was involved was getting ravenous. By the time everything was composed....well, She went through the dish faster than Sammy and Frankie would a pata bone. So with just a bit of it left and no photo opportunity, we had that little discussion above.

Later that night, as I heated up the remaining risotto, the Missus had an idea. Guess what? "Why don't you put a poached egg on top of the risotto?" Duh..... And it was pretty darn good.....so of course the Missus wanted me to make it again this weekend.

Topped with fresh cracked pepper, sea salt, some grated aged parmesan, and of course, white truffle oil.....

Here's the requisite running egg shot.....

Man this was good.........

Even if it did look a bit like poop........ or natto.....

Comments

[kat]

yum and the addition of the poached egg must've made it even better!

[Jason]

Wow, I think the mushroom stock could have been a post on its own. That whole dish sounds pretty darn delicious! Although I hope you go to costco for your eggs because you sure seem to be on a runny egg kick!

[Janfrederick]

Hey, looks good to me!

[kirbie]

Does the Missus know how lucky she is? My dinner conversation with FH last night went something like this.
Me: I'm hungry. We need to eat dinner.
FH: Okay what do you want me to make?
Me: I'm craving something healthy and greens. Maybe stir fried broccoli and fish?
FH: . . . How about a can of tuna?
Me: *sigh* I'll go make it myself.

[nhb]

I'm going to be on my third day of having chicken pho, because the wife wanted me to make it. So I boiled up two whole chicken 10 lbs total. Stripped the chicken and slice it all pretty. Just for the wife. Rissoto is a pain butt to make.

[Carol]

I absolutely love mushroom risotto! Yeah, it's a pain especially when juggling all the other items but man, it's so worth it.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - For the Missus, anything with a nice poached egg on it is great....probably even cardboard.

Hi Jason - It was a lot easier than how it came out in the post...really. We have a set of eggs we buy espcecially for poached eggs.

I dunno Jan.....I didn't think the brown was particularly pleasing to the eye. It tasted really good though.

Hi Kirbie - LOL! We have those nights at our house too!

Hi Bill - How many times did your wife have Pho Ga?

Hi Carol - It is a pain indeed!

[Passionate Eater]

It doesn't look like poop or natto to me, it looks like a delicious risotto! And Missus got another poached egg! You are the best hubby in the world, Kirk!

[Alyssa]

I love mushroom risotto, but never made my own stock for it! I don't know if I'm ready for all that work! The poached egg looks great, I'll have to try that.

[Kirk]

Hi PE - Thanks, it really tasted very good.

Hi Alyssa - The stock wasn't very hard at all and it's a great use of discarded mushroom parts, etc.... It can't be harder than making "catch - up" ;o)