I hadn’t made a risotto in a while and the last one I made was a bit sub par, so the other day I decided to try again. I watched a couple technique videos on eatdrinkordie.com (Thanks Tom Colicchio) and made a portabello risotto. It was pretty good and I went and got myself addicted. This recipe is the third revision of the portabello risotto. Eat at your own risk you just might get hooked.
This recipe will make about four large portions
Ingredients
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 shallot fine diced
- 3 cloves carlic fine diced
- 5 shitake caps sliced
- 4-6 cups vegetable stock
- olive oil
- 1 cup white cooking wine
- 2 tbsp fresh or 1tbsp chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
So this recipe requires a bit of patience so if you dont have about 45 minutes to kill you may not want to commit to it. Add your salt and pepper throughout the cooking process for a balanced seasoning at the end
First off your going to want to heat a couple tbsp of olive oil in a stainless steel pot or deep pan. Set the stovetop to about medium or just a little lower. In a seperate pot get your stock warm, not hot, warm. Add your onion and shallot to the oil. The key to caramelizing onion is a medium heat and time. just move them around occasionally until the onion becomes soft sweet and light brown in color.
To the onions add the diced garlic and rice. Turn the heat up to just above medium. toast the rice for about a minute or two being sure it is well coated with the oil and onions. Deglaze the pan with about half of your wine. Stir it so that anything stuck to the pan comes loose and mixes with the rice. This is an important step for building good flavor.
By now your stock should be warm. You want to add about a half cup of stock at a time stirring occasionally to release the starches in the rice which will eventually give it a creamy texture.
Try not to let it boil in your pan. If it boils the rice will have a soft texture, you want to end up with an al dente sort of texture no crunch but no mush either. Just stir the stock in until it evaporates then add another half cup or so. After a couple cups of stock have been ubsorbed add your mushrooms. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is the desired texture. From your first cup of stock it should take about 20 to 35 minutes depending on your temp to cook the rice properly.
Once you think the rice is done add a quater cup more of stock your remaining wine and your chopped cilantro. Stir until the consistency is such that when you run a spoon through it a trench forms and then slowly closes back up. Garnish with a little more cilantro and raw mushroom.
If you have leftovers you can reheat them after they have been refrigerated by adding a little warm stock then brining it up to temperature in a frying pan. Not as good as it was right out of the pan the first time but still good.
