Wild Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 170g risotto rice

• 15g dried porcini mushrooms

• 200g mixed wild mushrooms

• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 small onion

• 125ml white wine

• 1 vegetable stock pot or cube

• 15g unsalted butter

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 30g grated parmesan

• salt and pepper

Method

Start by putting the dried porcini in a large jug or bowl and cover with 500ml of boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 mins while you prep the rest of the ingredients. You will use the liquid again later so don't discard it.

Finely chop the garlic then dice the onion before roughly chopping the mixed mushrooms into thumbnail sized bits.

Once the porcini has soaked lift them out with a slotted spoon onto some kitchen towel then squeeze them back over the jug to get rid of the excess liquid. Now finely chop the porcini as you want these to really spread out in the final dish.

With the porcini liquid strain it through some more kitchen towel into another jug or bowl to remove any grit then add the stock cube and stir until it breaks up. As the liquid will have cooled it won't dissolve entirely but this isn't a problem as you will be reheating it in the risotto.

Now in a large saucepan melt the butter with the oil (the oil stops the butter from colouring) before adding the onion and sweating for 5 mins on a low heat.

Add the garlic for 3 minutes then the porcini and other mushrooms. Cook gently for 5 minutes until the mushrooms have browned and softened. Now add the thyme, a pinch of salt and pepper and the rice. 

Fry the rice for 2 minutes before adding the wine and letting it come to a simmer. Reduce the wine by half before ladling in a third of the stock.

Bring to a simmer before covering and letting slowly simmer away stirring every so often until the stock has almost disappeared. Repeat this process a third at a time with the stock until it has all gone.

Just before the last of the stock has bubbled away give it a try, it should be cooked but not mushy. If it is still too hard then use a bit of boiling water until you are satisfied the rice is almost perfect.

Remove from the heat, add the parmesan, stir, cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes. This last 5 minutes will really help the risotto to soak up any remaining stock and bring all those flavours together.

Serve sprinkled with some thyme leaves or a bit of chopped parsley.