Risotto with Wild Mushrooms

What is one of the most important ingredients of a good risotto? Saffron. This is what gives this dish its distinctive yellow color, flavor and aroma.
Saffron comes from the crocus sativus, a perennial flower that blooms in the autumn. The part of the crocus that people eat is the stigmas, the female parts that look like three thin yellow threads that grow in the center of each bloom. Saffron is very expensive to collect but a little bit goes a very long way in the kitchen. Saffron's aroma is often described by connoisseurs as reminiscent of metallic honey with grassy or hay-like notes. Saffron contributes a luminous yellow-orange coloring to foods.

Another important thing to remember about risotto is that it is not a paella, meaning, do not exaggerate with the amount of extra ingredients you put in it. You can add anything you like, vegetables, meat, sea food, etc. But the best results are achieved when you keep it simple and add just one extra ingredient of your choice to the rice. I like my risotto with wild mushrooms. This time I used a mix of dried wild mushrooms, which were hand-picked in the woods last summer.

U need (serves 2-3)

Risotto rice (about 250 grams)

A good pinch of saffron

1 small glass of white wine

2 shallots or 1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Approximately ¾ liter of stock (chicken or vegetable)

Wild mushrooms (dried or fresh, if dried they need to soak in water for about an hour)

Olive oil

A knob of butter

A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 100 grams)

Salt and pepper

How to make it

If you use dried mushrooms, remember to soak them in water for about an hour (do not throw away the water!). Then chop up the onion (or shallots) and the garlic. Fry them in olive oil with the mushrooms (you can cut the mushrooms into smaller pieces if they are big). When everything is soft and done, take it out of the oil and put it away on a plate.

Heat up some more olive oil in the same pan and put the rice in it. Fry the rice gently stirring with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes. It takes careful attention to toast the rice so that it plumps up and gets a bit more color, but does not burn or turn too brown. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms to the rice and pour the white wine in it. It is important that the wine isn’t cold and preferably even heated up a bit. Continue stirring on a low fire until the rice absorbs the wine.

Prepare the stock in another pan and keep it on a very small fire. I recommend you use the water that is left from soaking the mushrooms for making the stock. This way, you do not need to make the stock very strong, because the water from the mushrooms already has a pretty strong aroma. Mix the saffron into the stock. Pour the stock little by little into the rice using a ladle, continue stirring and wait until each poured-in portion is absorbed before adding the next. Make sure not to burn the rice – keep the heat low and continue stirring until the stock is absorbed for the most part. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice - is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Add some salt and pepper if you find it necessary.

When the rice is done, remove from the heat and add a knob of butter, the chopped up parsley and the grated parmesan and stir everything gently. Place a lid on the pan and let everything rest for about 2-3 minutes, so that all the ingredients can “bind”. This is very important and will give your risotto that perfectly creamy and oozy texture.

This dish does not really need anything else. In Italy it is usually served as a first course, like soup or pasta. Don’t forget to drink the rest of that white wine with it, nice and chilled…delicious!