Marcus Bean's creamy wild mushroom risotto
Marcus Bean is making the most of autumn’s rich bounty by cooking up a forest feast. He’s foraged for mushrooms, and lit the fire, ready to make us a creamy mushroom risotto with shallots and parmesan crisps - perfect for a quick family meal.
Wild Mushroom Risotto
Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the mushroom stock:1.5 litres vegetable stock 50ml soy sauce30g dried wild mushrooms
For the risotto base:Olive oil 2 banana shallots OR 1 medium onion, finely sliced2 garlic cloves, finely diced20g unsalted butter 300g arborio or carnaroli risotto rice125ml cider 150g-200g mixed wild mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms 1 large flat field mushroom, finely choppedSmall bunch chives, chopped2 sprigs fresh thyme75g block Parmesan, freshly grated 50-75ml double cream or crème fraiche Juice 1 lemon
To garnish (optional):Crispy onions Truffle oilExtra freshly grated Parmesan
Method
1. First, make the mushroom stock: place 1 litre of vegetable stock into a saucepan, add the soy sauce, and the dried mushrooms and bring to the simmer, place on a low heat and leave to infuse for 5 minutes. This is your mushroom stock and can be kept in the fridge for 4-5 days.
2. Place a large saucepan or frying pan on a medium heat and add some olive oil. Add in the diced shallots, chopped garlic and half the butter, and allow to sweat gently, but not brown.
3. Add the risotto rice to the onions and garlic, stir together and sauté in the pan for a few minutes. Then pour in the cider - once the cider is absorbed, add a ladle full of mushroom stock and cook until absorbed. Repeat this process of adding the stock (roughly about 2-3 minutes between ladles) until the rice is nearly cooked but still has a bit of a bite. You should have a bit of stock left over. This process will take about 10-12 minutes.
This is what we call a risotto base, which will keep in a fridge for 3-4 days if required.
[If you want to make the risotto base ahead, remove the pan from the heat and spread the rice onto a tray. Allow to cool, then refrigerate. If you don’t want to cool the risotto base, you can go straight to step 4 of finishing the risotto.]
4. To finish the wild mushroom risotto, place a clean pan over the heat, add some olive oil and the remaining butter (about 10g), followed by the lightly chopped fresh wild mushrooms and the flat field mushroom, and sauté. Remove some of the dried mushrooms from the stock, finely chop and then add into the pan with the other mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add some risotto base (the part cooked rice). Pour in some of the mushroom stock that you have left and stir together over a medium heat.
5. Keep stirring, then add some freshly chopped chives, a few fresh thyme leaves, some grated parmesan, salt & pepper and a little double cream. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon - this balances the richness of the butter and cream. Keep cooking until the rice is cooked to your taste and the risotto is slightly wet, but not thick or stodgy. Add some water if it gets too thick.
6. As soon as the risotto is cooked, serve onto a plate or serving bowl and garnish with crispy onions, a drizzle of truffle oil and some more freshly grated parmesan.