EXOTIC MUSHROOM RISOTTO
- ± 1 litre of stock (I used mushroom stock, but you can use vegetable or chicken)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- a knob of butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated finely
- 2 cups of risotto rice (Arborio)
- 150 ml dry white wine
- salt and pepper
- 70 g butter
- 115 g finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups of fresh or rehydrated exotic mushrooms
- fresh parsley, chopped
Heat the stock in a large pot and keep on the boil. Put the olive oil and butter into a separate pan, add the garlic and onion and cook very slow for about 10 min with colouring. When the onion is soft add the rice and turn up the heat.
The rice will begin to lightly fry so keep stirring it with wooden spoon. After a minute it will start looking translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring. Any alcohol flavours will evaporate at this point leaving the rice with a tasty essence.
Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of boiling stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of boiling stock while stirring and massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing the stock each time to be absorbed in the rice before adding the next. This will take around 20 min. Taste the rice to check if it’s cooked. If not carry on adding stock until the rice is cooked but with a slight bite (al dente).
If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add boiling water.
Remove from the heat and add the Parmesan and parsley . Stir well.
Place the lid on pot and let it sit for 2 min before dishing it up.
Drain the mushrooms after chopping into smaller strips and fry in a bit of olive oil and butter until done.
Serve on top of the risotto.
Photo: Elsabie Templeton
