Recipe: Autumn Awe Truffled Mushroom Risotto

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An autumnal master piece in both flavour and aroma. A comforting dish to serve on a Friday night in or at dinner party. You could include more vegetables, cook fresh mushrooms in butter along with the dried mushrooms, or stir in a little spinach and nutmeg towards the end. When the risotto is done, it should be of a thick and creamy constancy. Drag a spoon through the mixture, and the risotto should flow back into place over a 2-3 second period.

Recipe: Truffled Mushroom Risotto
Serves 4
15g dried mushrooms
1 onion, finely diced
2 sticks of celery, finely diced
Vegetable stock cube
150ml dry white wine (or hot water if preferred)
1tbsp oil
50g unsalted butter
250g carnaroli risotto rice
50g parmesan, finely grated
Truffle oil

Wine matches to compliment this dish
Pinot Nero Classici, Colterenzio DOC 2012 or Dolcetto d’Alba, Vigna Nirane, Ascheri DOC 2011

1. Rinse the dried mushrooms thoroughly to remove any sand or grit. Put them into a pan, and pour over 500ml boiling water. Simmer for 6-7 minutes.

2. As the mushrooms are simmering, use that time to chop your celery and onion whilst heating the oil in a ¬pan. Add the diced onion and cook gently until translucent, this should take 10-12 minutes. Don’t let those onions brown!

3. Remove the mushrooms from the cooking water, and keep the liquid to one side – you’ll need this later. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces.

4. Get your mushroom cook water (stock), a put it through a sieve into measuring jug. Use boiled water to get this up to 1l, and add your vegetable stock cube. Stir until it is fully dissolved, then season with a pinch of salt.

5. In the same pan us your onions and celery, increase heat to medium and add the risotto rice. Stir continuously, for about 2 minutes until the rice starts to become translucent on the outside. Pour over the white wine, and stir until all the wine is absorbed. This should start to smell fantastic!

6. Turn the heat down, and add your first ladle of mushroom powered vegetable stock. Keep stirring that rice, as it will absorb all that creamy stock in no time. Keep adding small additions of stock, and when each ladle is absorbed, add another - until the rice is fully cooked and is Al Dente (it should have a bit of bite). This should take around 12 minutes – but the only way to really tell is to taste.

7. While you are cooking the rice, fry the mushrooms in half the butter with a pinch of salt, over a very low heat for 5 minutes and set aside.

8. The mixture might look a little liquidy by the end but we have more to do. Turn off the heat. Add the parmesan, another knob of butter, the mushrooms stir through and pop the lid on the pan. Leave to stand for 2-3 minutes.

9. Lid off, one last stir and season to taste. Serve, drizzled with truffle oil.

10. Enjoy.

Patrizia Baldini