Wild Mushroom Risotto

A nice creamy risotto. Suitable for vegetarians but easily adaptable for meat or seafood. I used a combination of Oyster and Chantelle mushrooms. If you can't get these then use brown chestnut mushrooms. Don't use button or closed cap as they really don't add any flavour to the dish.

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil
Knob of Butter
2 Shallots finely chopped
2 cloves of Garlic finely chopped
250g Wild Mushrooms roughly chopped
Worcestershire Sauce
Chilli Flakes
Pepper to taste
150g Arboria Rice
Glass of Wite Wine
1 pint Vegetable or Chucken stock
50g Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Crème Fraîche

Method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saute or frying pan on a low to medium heat. Add the chopped shallots and saute until cooked soft.



2. Add the chopped garlic and fry for another minute.



3. Turn the heat up to medium to high and chopped mushrooms and fry until golden (you may need to add a touch more oil at this point as the mushrooms will soak a lot of it up).



4. Add the Worstershire Sauce, pinh of dried chilli flakes and black pepper to taste.



5. Add the rice to the pan and stir until all the grains of rice are coated in the oil and glistening.



6. Add the wite wine to the pan and cook until all the liquid has been more or less cooked off.



7. Add a ladle of the stock and while constantly stirring cook until all the liquid has again been cooked off. Repeat with another ladle of stock.



8. After about 20 - 25 minutes the rice should be cooked and the risotto is a creamy consistency. (Note you may not need all the stock to reach this point but add enough stock so that the risotto is not too dry).
Add the grated cheese to the pan and stir until until melted.


9. Taste the risotto and season with salt to taste.



10. Stir in the Crème Fraîche until nice and creamy.



11. Divide between two serving bowls or plates and garnish with some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.

Options

Roast Buternut Squash Risotto: Cut a butternut squash into wedges, remove the seeds and roast in a 200C oven for 40 - 50 minutes. Remove the flesh, mash and stir into the risotto with the cheese.

Crab Risotto: Add some fresh cooked crab meat to the risotto right at the end to just cook through.

Asparagus & Pea Risotto: Replace the mushrooms in the main recipe with some chopped bacon. Add some asparagus when you add the second lot of stock. Right at the end throw in a handful of frozen peas and cook through.