Mushroom Risotto

Ah, Risotto! One of the richest, creamiest, delights that can come out of rice this side of a savory dish. It’s a little more time consuming than most rich dishes but I find the wait and work of it well worth it. Risotto is a rice dish that uses a combination of wine, broth, and slowly adding and stirring into the rice to use the natural starch of the rich to create a very creamy texture, which I think this picture really shows that. It’s not thickened using anything but the natural starch of the rice and a small amount of parmesan at the end. Anyway, enough of the prep-talk, lets get onto the food!

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What you’ll need:

2 cups ARBORIO rice (Or Valencia too. These are both SHORT grain rice and as such have a higher starch content that is needed for this dish. If you risotto with longer grain rices like long-grain or jasmine, you just won’t get the same effect as you do here. Arborio nowadays is regularly able to be found in most megamarts and shouldn‘t be to difficult to find.)
2 Tbsp butter
¼ sweet onion, diced
2 gloves garlic, minced
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 cup white wine (A chardonnay works great for this, though I used a sweet local wine called “Vinterner’s White” from the San Sebastian Winery. It’s a very sweet white made using Muskadine grapes here in Florida.)
5 cups Chicken Broth (You may need a little more, you may need a little less. The rice will decide on that. If you are using a low sodium chicken broth you may find you need to add some salt to the dish. All the salt for the dish comes from the broth in this recipe.)

½ bell pepper (I prefer red, which is what I used here)
4 oz. baby bella mushrooms (Or a wild mushroom blend, fresh or reconstituted. If using dried mushrooms and soaking them, use some of the liquid that remains to sub for some of the broth we’ll use here.)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese (Though use more if you like.)

Start by sautéing the butter and onion in a large saucepan (3qt to 4qt should do) on medium high heat till the onions are translucent. Add in the garlic, herbs and seasonings, and the rice. Sauté the rice for a couple of minutes till it takes on a slight sheen and is coated in the fat from the butter. Slowly add in the white wine, stirring the whole time while it reduces into the rice. Then proceed to add about one cup of chicken broth at a time, stirring often until the liquid is absorbed, then add another cup. You want to stir this dish often but despite popular belief of NOT stopping the stirring, it’s okay if you need to step away. But you want to stir a lot as it helps bring out the starch that thickens this dish. You’ll know your rice still needs more liquid by when you scrape your spoon across the bottom of the pan you can see the pan. If liquid is constantly covering it and your rice is tender you’ve probably got done rice. I find this whole process usually takes about thirty minutes. Once the rice is tender and most or all of the liquid absorbed mix in the parmesan cheese, then fold in the mushrooms and bell pepper. Let stand for a few minutes and then serve. The heat of the rice will soften and cook the peppers and mushrooms lightly, but should you want them more done pre-sautéing them in a pan to soften them could be done (Or, a couple of minutes in the microwave.)

Enjoy your rice! As for the mix-in portion of this, Risotto works very well with all sorts of things. You could mix in ham and peas, mix in different mushrooms, variety of peppers, or even leave them out and simply enjoy for the creamy deliciousness of rice that it is, probably one of the highest pinnacles of ricedom.

As always, if you have any questions or comments please ask away!