Happily happened upon a tasty risotto recipe

counterpointaud

Myself and my partner had decided to just cook with what was in the cupboard as we didn't want to head to the shops in the cold. We improvised with what was there as we sometimes do, but it turned out to be delicious.

I wasn't paying too much attention to the quantities of ingredients as I didn't think it would turn out quite as good as it did, but I will try my best to recount.

Ingredients:

Dried porcini mushrooms (I think about 25g, 2/3 filled a breakfast cereal bowl while soaking, roughly chopped after soaking)
Extra virgin olive oil (A good 3tbs or more)
Parmesan-Reggiano Cheese (enough to 1/2 fill a breakfast cereal bowl when grated)
Risotto Rice (I think 250-300g)
1/2 Large Red Chilli (Med Hot)
Jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (I had 3 left in the jar, so that's what I used, finely chopped)
1 anchovy fillet (finely chopped)
3 good Irish rashers (chopped into small pancetta-like squares)
Salt
Ground white pepper (had run out of black peppercorns)
Decent chicken stock (I think about 750ml - 1l)
2 large cloves garlic (minced)
Frozen peas

We were in the mood to cook, and I think it is a fun one to cook with two people helping out (maybe with a couple of glasses of wine) as it needs constant attention.

We used a large, heavy based pot and a smaller saucepan.

-Put porcini mushrooms in bowl, and pour warm water over until covered. Leave to soak.

-Prepare the stock in the smaller saucepan, and leave on a low heat to keep warm

-Heat olive oil in large pot (high heat)

-Throw rasher pieces into the same pot, and fry until the first ones start to turn crispy on the edges.

-Add minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds.

-Add Risotto rice and stir for a minute or so.

-Add chopped chilli.

-Add enough stock from the small saucepan to just about cover the rice in the large pot.

-Add chopped anchovy and sun-dried tomatoes

-Stirring continuously, wait until the rice had soaked up most of the stock, and add some more stock, along with a little of the water from the mushrooms. Just enough to bring the liquid back to original levels

-Repeat the above, until it seems that the mushrooms have soaked enough (about 20mins) and then remove the mushrooms from the water and squeeze excess juice into large pot before roughly chopping and adding to the pot also.

-Pour leftover mushroom water into the stock.

-Add more stock/mushroom water to large pot when needed to re-cover rice, stir continuously.

-Taste for salt and pepper (rashers may supply enough salt, I added some white pepper, don't forget cheese will be added shortly which will affect balance) and check how cooked the rice is.

-Add frozen peas and more stock/mushroom water if needed

-Cook until desired consistency is achieved and peas are cooked(don't forget the addition of the cheese will thicken it slightly also) adding small amounts of stock/mushroom water to the mix when needed.

-Add finely grated cheese and stir until melted.

-Take off heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.



We didn't have anything to serve it with really, we just ate it on it's own. I reckon some crusty bread and some green salad (maybe rocket?) would work.

Very rich and filling, which suited us as we were hungry. I think it would also work well without the anchovy and tomatoes if they are unavailable, although they definitely did impart some extra depth, most obvious if you taste before the mushrooms go in.

vibe666

i've done something similar before and it always seems to be that improvised recipes are the best so its good to try and keep a note of exactly what you did so you can repeat it again.

another good substitute for the bacon is some nice thinly sliced garlic & herb sausage or some mild chorizo. porcini mushrooms, peas & rissoto were just made for each other though, and should never be kept apart.

also, IMHO the secret to a good risotto is in a really good (pref. homemade) chicken stock.

i occasionally find a special on in my local supermarket for €2.50 for a whole chicken and once i've cut off all the good meat, legs & wings, i make a stock out of the leftover bones. i used to put heaps of aromatics into it and leave it to simmer for hours, but i've got two cats and they won't eat the leftover bones & meat if its anything other than pure chicken, so i do it plain and just add any extra flavours to the stock when i use it.

so for a tenner, i end up with 8 good sized chicken breasts, 8 legs & thighs, a good portion of wings for buffalo wings (if you inc. the 8 mini-fillets from under the breasts), two good sized portions of stock for soups, stews & risotto's, about 3-4 days worth of cat food for 2 cats and zero wastage.

hows that for a recession buster?