Cold Weather, Warm Risotto

One of my favorite cold-weather meals is risotto, and the weather in Chicago has been VERY risotto worthy for the last couple days. Hello January! This Jamie Oliver recipe is the best risotto I've made at home, and any other mushroom fanatics out there will probably agree with me. I did double mushroom flavor, because Jamie calls for chicken stock but I wanted to keep it vegetarian. I found mushroom stock at Whole Foods, and also packs of mixed wild mushrooms. I believe these were cremini, oyster, and shiitake.

This is a beautiful cookbook, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Jamie Oliver's fresh, simple take on sustainable foods. And check out his show on Food Network... he's so funny!


Grilled Mushroom Risotto
from Jamie at Home, by Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

* 6 1/3 cups chicken stock (Use mushroom or vegetable stock to make this vegetarian)
* Handful dried porcini mushrooms
* Olive oil
* 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
* 2 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
* 14 ounces risotto rice
* 2/3 cup vermouth or white wine
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 4 large handfuls wild mushrooms (try chanterelles, shiitake, black trumpet or oyster - definitely no button mushrooms, please!), cleaned and sliced
* Few sprigs fresh chervil, tarragon or parsley, leaves picked and chopped
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 handfuls freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
* Extra-virgin olive oil

Heat stock in a saucepan and keep it on a low simmer.

Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they've softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the soaking liquid.

In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil and add the onion and celery. Slowly fry without coloring for at least 10 minutes, then turn the heat up and add the rice. Give it a stir. Stir in the vermouth or wine - it'll smell fantastic! Keep stirring until the liquid has cooked into the rice. Now pour the porcini soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and your first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. This will take about 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, get a dry griddle pan hot and grill the wild mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn't big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl and add the chopped herbs, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. Using your hands toss everything together - this is going to be incredible!


Take the risotto off the heat and check the seasoning carefully. Stir in the butter and the Parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to relax for about 3 minutes.

Taste your risotto and add a little more seasoning or Parmesan if you like. Serve a good dollop of risotto topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.