For Christmas, I got Zack some truffle oil. Who knew bougie came in a 60ml bottle? Anyway, it’s pretty delicious and he had recently become a little obsessed with a mushroom risotto, so we decided to try to recreate it. He, too, thought about giving the gift of truffle oil, but luckily went with such cute espresso cups that I was also considering but decided against. Convenient! Also, similar interests!
Anyway, we went with portabello and shitake mushrooms, because these are the best.
• 5 to 6 cups stock (chicken, probably, but we used veggie)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• many mushrooms, thinly sliced (3 portabellos, 12 shitakes, ish) – also, we threw the stems into the stock for added mushroominess
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup dry white wine
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 to 2 teaspoons truffle oil
In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer over medium heat. Add the mushroom stems. Reduce the heat to very low to keep hot.
In a large heavy saucepan, heat the oil and melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic, and cook, stirring until fragrant and soft, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until wilted and their liquid is evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the grains are opaque, about 1 minute. Stir in the thyme. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until nearly all evaporated. Add ¾ cup of the stock, the salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until the stock is nearly all evaporated. Continue adding more stock ½ cup at a time as the previous addition is nearly absorbed, until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy, about 20 minutes. The stirring in the recipe really sucks. I have an awesome risotto recipe that doesn’t need stirring, and I am never deviating from it again. Stir in cream, ½ cup of the cheese and mix well.
Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Stir in truffle oil to taste.
The main problems with this dish are that (1) it is pretty ugly and (2) it is insanely rich. I would really recommend leaving out the cream because it was too much. One bowl nearly killed me. Possibly literally.
The next day, I was determined to get through the left-overs, and convinced (bullied) Zack into making a mushroom omelette. He was skeptical. My thoughts were that the risotto would act like a cheese, kind of melty and delicious. This failed miserably, as Zack predicted. It was, however, a bit prettier than a bowl of grey mush, though the taste combinations were unworkable.
Bad idea. We ended up taking it apart, eating everything separately because they were pretty much the least complimentary tastes ever. Anyway, this risotto was good but not good enough. I am on a quest for a better risotto.
descent into dessert 