Risotto has always had the reputation of being a high maintenance food. But really all it takes in 30 minutes of tender, love, care to create this silky decadence. The trick with risotto is to add your liquids a cup at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the flavorful stock before adding more.  I can’t wait for you to try this one- the parmesan cheese really adds a beautiful smokiness to this creamy dream.

Helpful Hint: I sometimes find myself in the habit of preparing a new dish by going along with the recipe before reading it all the way through. Most times its okay to get away with but in this case, I strongly encourage you to read the directions all the way through before getting started.

Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 1.07.46 PMIngredients:

6 cups of vegetable stock
1½ cups arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine (or white cooking wine)
1 medium shallot, chopped (about ½ cup)
3 tablespoons of butter, unsalted
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste

                                                                  1 10 oz package of Baby Portobella Mushrooms, sliced thin

Directions:

Using a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat your oil over medium heat.

Add the chopped shallot, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring until shallots are slightly clear.

Add mushrooms to the pan, and saute 2-3 minutes as they shrink in size.

Add the rice to the heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir it quickly with a wooden spoon until all of the rice is well coated.

Be careful not to let the rice get brown, cook for another minute or so, until the rice smells slightly nutty.

Add the wine, and continue to stir and cook until the rice completely absorbs the liquid.

Add a 1/2 cup of stock to the rice and stir continuously until the liquid is fully absorbed.

Add another 1/2 of stock and repeat the process.

It’s very important to keep stirring the rice while cooking, especially while the stock gets absorbed, to insure the proper texture of the risotto.

1/2 cup at a time, keep adding hot stock and stirring the rice until the liquid is absorbed. As it cooks, the rice will become creamy as the starches begin to escape.

Stir in the butter, parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt & pepper.

Garnish with additional parmesan cheese if desired, but trust me… it won’t be necessary. 🙂