This is the simple risotto I made with my makeshift stock. The stock included sweated shallots, so I did not include any onions or shallots in my recipe. Serves three, generously.
1 punnet mushrooms (I used flat ones)
Butter
300 g arborio rice
Stock (you'll need more than a litre; top it up with boiling water if it runs out)
100 g Gruyere
50 g Parmesan
25 g butter, cut into cubes and kept in the fridge
Saute the mushrooms in a little butter. Use a medium heat, and turn it up if you need to evaporate the liquid that the mushrooms disgorge. Add the rice, and turn it in the mushrooms.
Keep the stock hot in a nearby pan. Add enough to cover the rice (about a ladleful and a half), and regulate the heat so that the contents of the pan come to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Add more stock.
After about 20 minutes, the rice will start to plump up. Be cautious now when adding stock: you do not want to drown the rice and overcook it. The texture you want is slightly al dente.
When the rice is ready, stir in the cheese, and cover the pan to allow it to melt. Now stir in the butter. This technique of stirring in cold butter away from the heat is advised by Giorgio Locatelli: it prevents the butter from splitting.
This risotto will be an unattractive, sludgy grey colour. It should taste good, though.
2 comments:
Hi there, I have just found your blog, and am enjoying reading it. I have noticed that many risotto recipes leave out the wine (as did yours). Is this just a matter of taste for you? I personally like the wine in there, and always include it. Is there some incentive, taste-wise, to try it without?
Robin
New Mexico/US
Dear Robin
Thanks for the comment. If I have a bottle of white wine open, or if I am opening one anyway, I use it. Otherwise, not. You have to be careful, in my experience, not to be too generous with wine, even if you reduce it completely: any more than a third of a glass with 200g of rice leaves too winey a flavour.
Nick
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