Porcini mushrooms ( funghi porcini) are a type of mushrooms that grows a lot in Italy but in general his environment are wet pine forests, and they grow at the bases of this big trees.
The season for this mushrooms is autumns therefore end of september - october mainly even if they can be found all year round from different origins such as north America or Asia or I am not sure from where considering the very specific circumstances for its growth.
Infact, to grow this mushroom need just the right combination and amount of water, humidity and temperature and this is what makes special these mushrooms ( and expensive too!)
Risotto, as we proposed before, is a dish that will never bore you! It can be done with basically everything and it's light, super tasty and surely healthier then pasta so we really love it! I really love i! The most famous of all mushrooms risotto is risotto ai funghi porcini.
What makes this risotto special is the intensity of the flavour of this type of mushrooms. However this is also why some people might not like it. Porcini have a very intense flavour compared to other mushrooms and some people find it a bit " too much". Personally, as a northern italian person, this is "the one and only"for me, full stop.
But in many years leaving in London I understood as we must be politically correct and less Nazy in terms of food so I will pretend that.... I can understand the people who do not like it!
Let's meet... THE RISOTTO, shall we?
Doses for 2 portions
INGREDIENTS
- 160 g arborio risotto
- 1/2 onion
- 1 glass of white wine (optional)
- 1 vegetable stock
- 1 litre water
- 200 g of mushrooms ( porcini or mixed)
- 2 tbsp of EVO oil
- 30 g of parmigiano reggiano cheese
- optionally 20-30 g of butter and finely chopped parsley
- salt and pepper as needed
PROCEDURE
-As first thing we need to clean and wash the mushrooms.
(If you are using dry porcini mushrooms or frozen mushrooms this is a step you can skip!)
For fresh champignon, porcini other fresh types of mushrooms you will have to clean them. Make sure to remove all the dirty bits, cut off the bases and wash them quickly under running the water ( do not soak in water!).
Now chop them half on the long side and then in slices and leave it aside ( or see suggestions for a different way of doing them)
- A side set up a pot with 1 L of water and 1 vegetable stock and put it to boil. Keep it boiling the whole time
- Nowe we Start! Cut the onions finely and putting them to golden with the EVO oil.
Once they have goldened add the arborio rice and stir regularly until the rice becomes a bit more golden, then add a glass of white wine and let it evaporate completely ( if the wine does not evaporate entirely, the final rice will result bitter so make sure you do this).
- Once the wine has all evaporated start adding a couple of cups of broth to the rice and keep stirring.
- Add the mushrooms and more broth. Once the water dry out add more broth and keep doing it until the rice is cooked. The arborio rice will take about 13-15 minutes with a medium-high temperature to be perfectly cooked.
-Once the rice is cooked turn off the hob. The risotto is ready and could be eaten like this with a bit of parmigiano on top. that's it!
However..... the perfect creaminess of the risotto is given by a process that we called in italy "MANTECATURA". The process of " mantecare " is the process of making the typical creaminess of the risotto. It is done for any type of risotto and it is what gives that super creamy texture ( no cream added or other weird stuff guys please!)
Turn off the hob and leave the pan there. Add 20-30 g of butter ( if you prefer a vegan version you can use spreadable or margarine). Mix until is melted.
Then add the parmigiano, a bit of pepper, salt ( if needed) and mix. Leave it for 3-5 minutes to rest.
You can now add some finely chopped parsley if you like,and serve it!
ENJOY!
SUGGESTIONS
- If you prefer you can cook the mushrooms in butter or oil before adding them to the rice. This will give to them a more intense flavour!
- You can do this risotto with every type of mushrooms you want, even a combination of mushrooms as we called in italy "mixed mushrooms risotto" / risotto ai funghi misti
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