Porcini Mushroom Risotto Recipe
This easy and vegetarian recipe can be made with any mushroom or mix of mushrooms that you like. Great mushrooms for this mushroom risotto recipe include porcini, button or crimini (champignon), chanterelle, and portobello.
Equipment
- large, well-insulated skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb porcini mushrooms fresh or frozen
- 1 ½ cups arborio rice or carnaroli
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 handful flatleaf parsley minced
- ½ cup white wine example: Pinot Grigio
- 8 cups vegetable broth or, as needed
- 6 tbsp olive oil or, as needed
- fine salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 3 ½ tbsp butter
Instructions
PREPARE MUSHROOMS
- If using fresh porcini (or another type of mushroom), you first need to clean them. Brush away loose dirt with a soft brush. If dirt is caked, give a quick rinse under water, then immediately wipe dry with a towel. Never soak mushrooms to clean them.
- Separate the cap from the stems, then check for worms. Trash any porcini that are soft and look consumed. Or, if you see tiny worms in the mushroom. If only part of the mushroom is infected by worms, you may use the part that is healthy.
- Slice the porcini cap into thick slices. Dice the stems.
HEAT BROTH
- Heat the broth and leave it simmering on low heat as you prepare the risotto.
PREPARE THE AROMATICS
- Cover bottom of a well-insulated skillet with olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat.
- Sauté the whole cloves of garlic and pinch of the fresh parsley in the oil.
- Add the mushrooms and sauté them with the garlic in parsley.
- Add a few ladles of hot broth to the mushrooms.
- Cover and cook the mushrooms for 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.
- Uncover and cook the mushrooms for 5 more minutes over medium-high heat.
- Salt to taste — usually a few pinches are enough. Set the mushrooms aside.
TOAST THE RICE
- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.
- Add the minced shallot to the oil and sauté until the shallot is translucent and tender. Then...
- Add the rice. Stir and toast the rice on medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the rice is a bit translucent.
- Add the white wine and cook until the wine has evaporated, stirring frequently.
COOK THE RICE
- Add 3 ladles of hot broth to the rice. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously.
- Cook the rice for a total of 15 minutes, adding 2-3 more ladles of broth each time the broth is almost absorbed. Stir continuously to prevent burning.
- After 10 minutes, salt the rice and add fresh black pepper to taste. Stir in the mushrooms and the rest of the fresh parsley.
- Cook until the rice is 'al dente' (according to package instructions and your taste!) Al dente means the rice is cooked, but a little chewy or firm.
THE MANTECATURA
- Remove the cooked risotto from the heat.
- Stir the butter into the hot risotto— this is called the Mantecatura! That means we are mixing in fats off the heat to make the risotto creamy :)
Video
Notes
Always check fresh porcini for worms!
Worms love fresh porcini! After cutting a porcini mushroom open, always check for black pin pricks attached to tiny wiggly white worms. Very often where there are worms, your mushroom will also be soft, spongy and look 'consumed' inside. This part of the mushroom is not healthy and you should toss it!
If just part of the mushroom has worms or is soft, you can use the healthy part.
Nutrition
Sodium: 1530mgCalcium: 31mgVitamin C: 5mgVitamin A: 886IUSugar: 6gFiber: 12gPotassium: 1495mgCholesterol: 1mgCalories: 683kcalSaturated Fat: 3gFat: 18gProtein: 13gCarbohydrates: 123gIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!