Garlic Mushroom Risotto

I’m in full-on risotto mode at the moment!  Our weather is still very unpredictable, sunny and bright one day, lashing down with rain the next and I’m somewhat fed-up now with the winter staples of casseroles and pies.  It’s time to update the old menu and give us a taste of more springtime recipes. 

This is one of my favourites, full of flavour and quick and easy to put together.  It does use a bit more butter than my usual method, but sometimes you just have to give in to butter! 

For two people you need : 

1 tb olive oil

1oz butter

1  shallot

1  clove of garlic

1 stick of celery

1oz dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup of risotto rice

2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock  

8oz (approximately) mushrooms

1 clove of garlic

1oz (approximately) knob of butter 

1tb finely chopped fresh parsley

Generous avalanche of parmesan or pecorino romano cheese 

Begin by soaking the mushrooms in a little boiling water (1/4 cup or so).  Drain (reserving the water) and chop coarsely. 

As always with risotto, finely chop the shallot, garlic and celery and sweat gently in the olive oil for 5 – 10 minutes.  Add the butter and then the chopped porcini mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. 

Add the rice to pan and stir around in the juices, and then add the mushroom soaking water and then the stock.  You could stand at the stove and add the stock bit by bit until it is absorbed or do what I do – add it all in one go and stir from time to time.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Simmer gently, stirring from time to time.  You may need to add more boiling water if your rice has absorbed the stock too quickly so keep the kettle hot.  Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you are using (Arborio, Carnaroli or Nano) but the risotto should cook somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.   

While the risotto is cooking clean and slice the mushrooms and finely chop the second clove of garlic.  Melt the butter and add the garlic, then the sliced mushrooms and sauté gently until the mushrooms are cooked. 

With the risotto, the consistency you are looking for is what the Italians call All’ Onda (with a wave) – it should be creamy and liquid enough so that when you draw your spoon through the pan the space fills up quickly, but it shouldn’t be sloppy.  If your risotto seems at all dry simply add a little more boiling water from the kettle and stir it through until the right consistency is achieved. 

When the risotto is cooked add the garlic mushrooms and chopped parsley and stir gently to combine. 

This is delicious as it is, it is even better again with a very generous avalanche of good parmesan cheese! 

Yes it’s calorie laden, but sometimes you just have to go with it and make up for the excess somewhere else!

Samphire Risotto

Samphire is one of those rare things that are still very much seasonal and not available year round.  When it is available it’s a delicious treat.  It grows wild here in Wales, in the salt marshes and has a natural affinity with both fish and lamb (salt marsh lamb!), both of which are particular favourites of mine. 

It has a delicious delicate flavour, and needs only simple treatment.  I usually steam it for a few minutes over some boiling potatoes.  Dress it with just a little butter and lemon juice.  It really sings of the sea! 

It also makes a delicious risotto, but keep it simple so that you don’t overwhealm the delicate flavour of the Samphire. 

For two people you need : 

1 tb olive oil

½  shallot

½  clove of garlic

1 stick of celery

1 cup of risotto rice

2¼ cups of very weak vegetable stock (assuming you are making it with stock cube/granules)

4oz (approximately) or so of samphire *

Juice and zest of a small lemon

1oz (approximately) knob of butter 

As always with risotto, finely chop the shallot, garlic and celery and sweat gently in the olive oil for 5 – 10 minutes.   

Add the rice to pan and stir around in what juices there are, and then add the stock.  You could stand at the stove and add the stock bit by bit until it is absorbed or do what I do – add it all in one go and stir from time to time.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Simmer gently, stirring from time to time.  You may need to add more boiling water if your rice has absorbed the stock too quickly so keep the kettle hot.  Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you are using (Arborio, Carnaroli or Nano) but the risotto should cook somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.   

While the risotto is cooking rinse the samphire well in plenty of cold running water, it can be quite gritty so keep going until it is all rinsed away. 

The consistency you are looking for with the risotto is what the Italians call All’ Onda (with a wave) – it should be creamy and liquid enough so that when you draw your spoon through the pan the space fills up quickly, but it shouldn’t be sloppy.  If your risotto seems at all dry simply add a little more boiling water from the kettle and stir it through until the right consistency is achieved.

When the rice is almost cooked, add the samphire and give it just 2 or 3 minutes cooking.  Take the pan off the heat and add the butter, lemon zest and juice and stir through. 

* If you can’t get hold of samphire then you could use shredded mange tout (snow peas) instead.  If you do that they will need only a minute or two of cooking at the very end.

Risotto Primavera (Springtime Risotto)

I love March, after the long dark days of Winter it’s good to see Spring arrive and get some light back in the world.  To celebrate the arrival of warmer weather this week, and lighter evenings I thought I’d share this wonderful recipe with you all. 

Literally ‘Springtime Risotto’ it can be made with any assortment of spring vegetables that takes your fancy.  I love asparagus, and to celebrate the return of better weather (hopefully!) I thought I’d use that in my risotto. 

For two people you need : 

1 tb olive oil

1 shallot

1 clove of garlic

1 stick of celery

1 small carrot

1 bunch of asparagus (approximately 6 or 7 long spears)

¾ cup of risotto rice

2 cups of vegetable stock

1tb chopped flatleaf parsley 

As always with risotto, finely chop the shallot, garlic and celery and sweat gently in the olive oil for 5 – 10 minutes.  Dice the carrot quite small and add to the veg to sweat.   

Snap the woody stalks off the asparagus and cut the stalks into ¼” slices, keeping the tips whole, and set aside. 

Add the rice to the vegetables and stir around in what juices there are in the pan, and then add the stock.  You could stand at the stove and add the stock bit by bit until it is absorbed or do what I do – add it all in one go and stir from time to time. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Simmer gently, stirring from time to time.  You may need to add more boiling water if your rice has absorbed the stock too quickly so keep the kettle hot.  Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you are using (Arborio, Carnaroli or Nano) but the risotto should cook somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.   

The consistency you are looking for is what the Italians call All’ Onda (with a wave) – it should be creamy and liquid enough so that when you draw your spoon through the pan the space fills up quickly, but it shouldn’t be sloppy.  If your risotto seems at all dry simply add a little more boiling water from the kettle and stir it through until the right consistency is achieved. 

After 5 or 6 minutes cooking time add the stems of the asparagus, and the tips for the last 5 minutes cooking time.  (I like my vegetables so have some bite, so if you like yours softer add the asparagus stems when you add the stock and the tips after 10 minutes.)

When the risotto is cooked, wash and finely chop the parsley and use to garnish the risotto to give a final fresh green hit to the dish, finally and most importantly (!) an avalanche of parmesan will finish it beautifully. 

Actually you could do what the Italians do and add a mantecatura of 1 – 2 tbs single (light) cream and the same amount again of parmesan cheese at the very end of the cooking time.

*If you have an open bottle of white wine to hand add a glug to the rice and stir until it is absorbed before you add the stock.

Hot Smoked Salmon Risotto

We had hot smoked salmon fillets in the freezer that were left over from Christmas, and delicious as they are with a salad, a cold and rainy day calls for something more comforting so risotto it was! 

Such a strong fish as this calls for lemon juice, plenty of lemon juice, but other than that I like to keep the risotto itself quite simple! 

This is my favourite way to cook risotto.  I know it’s not the traditional Italian way, but truth be told I’m quite a lazy cook and the thought of keeping a pan simmering just to add stock bit by bit is a no-no!  I add the stock all at once, in the beginning, and then give the risotto a good old stir from time to time. 

You could, of course, add an egg-yolk and a little cream to finish, but we’re trying to keep the calories down at the moment so I didn’t do that. 

This is what I used for two of us: 

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

1 lemon

1 cup of risotto rice

2 cups of vegetable stock

2 smoked salmon fillets

1tb of chopped fresh parsley 

Heat 1tb of olive oil in a pan and add the shallot, garlic and celery and cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables are softened.  

Add the rice and stir around in what little juices there are in the pan.  Add the vegetable stock and stir. 

Pare three strips of rind from the lemon using a potato peeler and add in big pieces to the risotto. 

Cook the risotto, stirring from time to time until the rice is cooked.  Give it a good stir to make it creamy. 

While the risotto is cooking, juice the lemon, chop the parsley and cut the salmon fillets into bite-sized pieces.  Add the salmon to the risotto for the last few minutes of the cooking time, just long enough to heat it through. 

When the risotto is cooked, fish out the strips of lemon rind and add the lemon juice (if you are adding the egg yolk and cream, now is the time to add that too) and then the parsley.  Give everything a good stir to combine and then serve, pronto! 

The sharpness of the lemon contrasts beautifully with the richness of the salmon and made this a lovely comforting, yet refreshing meal.

Butternut Squash and Bacon - pasta and risotto : two for one!

I have been home alone for a couple of days this week so had an opportunity to re-visit this old favourite! 

It came about when I was single and used to find that a butternut squash, even a small one, was really too much for one person.  I absolutely hate waste so I used to cook the whole thing, with enough bacon for two people and either cook one and a half serves of pasta, with the extra reserved to make a frittata the next day, or I would just set aside half of the butternut and bacon mix to add to a risotto. 

These are my ‘recipes’, such as they are!  As they are all one serves, if you are cooking for two people then you’ll need two butternut squashes, or a large one.  Or, you could of course use pumpkin.

Peel and cut a butternut squash into cubes and add to a frying pan with a little garlic olive oil.

Chop up four or five rashers of bacon into chunks and add to the pan.  Snip/chop some fresh sage leaves and add.  

I sometimes add a little crushed dried chilli too.

Cook the whole lot gently until everything is cooked and browned nicely.

At the same time as this is cooking, boil a pan of pasta according to packet directions.  I quite like chilli penne with this.

Now depending on what you want to do with the other half of the butternut and bacon mix proceed as follows :

To set aside for a frittata – drain the pasta and add to the frying pan, stirring so that the pasta picks up the sticky bits from the pan.  Decant half to your dish and the other half to a bowl to set aside for the next day.  Add a good grating of parmesan to both bowls.

To set aside for the risotto, just remove half of the bacon and butternut mixture to a bowl and then add the pasta to the pan. 

To make the frittata : break up the pasta and butternut mix with a wooden spoon, beat two eggs, season and add to the bowl with the pasta and mix so that everything is well combined.  Melt a little butter in a frying pan and add the eggy pasta mix, grating a little fresh parmesan over the top.  Set the eggs on the hob, swirling the pan around from time to time and then finish off cooking under the grill.

To make the risotto, for one person I do as follows :

Finely chop a small shallot, half a clove of garlic and a stick of celery and soften in a little butter or olive oil.  Add 1/3 cup of risotto rice and stir around to coat with what little oil there is left in the pan, add 2/3 cup of vegetable or chicken stock and stir in.  Leave to simmer on a low heat, stirring from time to time as it cooks.  Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you are using, but generally takes somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.  Keep the kettle boiled and handy and if you need to, if the risotto seems to dry before the rice has cooked, you can add more boiling water.  Add the bacon and butternut mixture 5 minutes before  the end of the cooking time.  Then add a generous grating of fresh parmesan cheese.

I know that the recipe for the risotto is an aberration to Italians, both in the quantity of butter and the all-in-one method!  But I’m not Italian, I can’t bring myself to use as much butter as you should to make a true risotto, and I like the convenience of doing the all-in-one as opposed to the pan of simmering stock being added a ladleful at a time!