Michela Chiappa's Italian superfood risotto
Warming, quick and full of flavour!
Michela Chiappa is back to show us her classic Italian mushroom risotto - and with the humble mushroom set to be rebranded as one of this year’s superfoods, what’s not to love about this dish.
Porcini mushroom risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients
900ml vegetable stock (or 1 stock cube with 900ml of boiling water - if you can find a mushroom stock cube even better)
20g dried porcini mushrooms
200g fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
350g Arborio Rice
1 glass of white wine
Optional ¼ teaspoon peperoncino powder or cayenne pepper
80g freshly grated parmesan cheese
1-2 tablespoon cream cheese or fresh cream
30g butter, cubed
Fine salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Place the dried porcini into the pan of hot stock and allow to soak. After approx 10mins, scoop out the mushrooms and roughly chop them. Keep the stock to one side.
2. While the mushrooms are soaking, gently fry your onion in olive oil for about 4 mins until soft and translucent.
3. Fry half the fresh mushrooms with the onions and then once soft add the rice.
4. Stir continuously for a couple of minutes until the rice starts to go transparent on its edges.
5. Add the wine (pan should be hot and you should hear a sizzle). Let the alcohol cook off for a minute then add half your stock/porcini liquid to the pan.
6. Turn up the heat and allow the liquid to come up to a slow boil. Stir occasionally.
7. When most of the liquid has been absorbed, add the remaining fresh mushrooms, chopped porcini mushrooms and keep stirring continuously. Start to add large ladles of the remaining stock until the rice is al dente (soft but with a little bite).
8. Add the parmesan, cayenne pepper (if using), cream cheese, butter and season with salt and generous amounts of black pepper.
How to turn your leftovers into risotto bites
1. Into your leftover rice, stir in 1 egg, a tablespoon of plain flour and a handful of grated cheese (any cheese of choice, parmesan, cheddar etc). Add a splash of milk to loosen if necessary.
2. In a frying pan melt a teaspoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil and bring up to a medium heat.
3. Add dollops of the risotto mix and flatten them into patties with the back of a spoon. After a few minutes flip the patty.