Un po' d'Italia
- Bobo
- May 24, 2016
- 2 min read
Sometimes I do miss Italy... the streets, the ambiance, the ice-cream and the amazing food E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E !
When I was leaving in Rome, my flatmate Matteo was a former chef and the greatest italian cook I ever met. We were going to the market down our building and were cooking what we have found, the freshest and yummiest ingredients coming from the farms of Lazio.
Luckily for me, Matteo taught me the basics of the italian cuisine and I am now able, with the right ingredients, to travel in my kitchen. Today, I am taking you to Italy thru one of the classics if not THE classic of the traditional cuisine : THE risotto !
But before getting thru the recipe and on behalf on my italian friends I would like to clarify something : no, there is no cream in the risotto (neither in the Carbonara by the way but I will get back to that). The creamy texture of the risotto is created by the rice "sweating" thanks to the hot stock gradually added...
Now we set the record straight... let's cook !
Risotto ai Funghi
For 2 serves :
- 200g of Risotto Rice
- 4 large handfuls wild mushrooms (try shiitake, girolle, chestnut or oyster) , cleaned and sliced (you can find in Waitrose or Spinneys some confections of organic asian mushrooms, just perfect !)
- 0,5L of organic vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 medium oignon
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 2 small shallots
- 1 Glass of dry white wine (optional)
- 100g of Parmiggiano Reggiano freshly grated
- Parsley
- Olive oil
- Black Pepper
Instructions :
- Peel and chop the oignon, shallots and garlic cloves. Brown 3/4 in a pan with a bit of olive oil.
- In a sauce pan, pour some olive oil and slightly brown the rest of the oignon, shallots and garlic mix. Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes to coat every single grain into fat. When the grains are getting almost transparent, add the wine (optional) and reduce the heat.
- Start adding some of the stock just to moist the rice. Stir from time to time and keep adding the stock until the risotto gets creamy but still "al dente". This will take around 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, clean and slice the mushrooms and add them to the first pan to cook them for about 5/7 minutes.
- When the risotto is ready, remove from the heat and add the parmesan (you can also add a bit of butter but this is really optional again).
- Pour half of the mushrooms into the rice and whisk gently. Place the rice in small bowls, add some mushrooms on top and season with chopped parsley and black pepper.
- Serve as soon as possible and enjoy !
* if you are running out of stock before the risotto gets cooked, just add some boiling water.
** no need for salt as the stock is usually already quite salty.
Comments