Mixed mushroom risotto

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Up until now, I thought you had to stir risotto a hell of a lot for it to work. I've made baked risottos enough to know it's not entirely true, but for the stovetop, I'd never deviated.

After watching George make risotto on Masterchef last week and seeing how little he actually stirred it, I thought I'd look up the recipe and see what I was doing differently. What I found instead was Matt Preston's claim of making "perfect risotto". Big call, dude... but not far off the mark!

I did everything different in this dish - from not stirring to cooking mushrooms much slower than I normally do. I was super-pleased with the results and am going to put it out there - I probably won't be making risotto the usual way again. This is way too easy for the same result!

Veggie Dad called it "pleasantly not-gluggy", among other things. I'm inclined to agree.

I used the recipe at the link above, and adapted to suit.

Ingredients:
500g mixed mushrooms, chopped or sliced (I used button, porcini and swiss browns)
5 cups homemade veggie stock, kept warm in a saucepan
110g butter
olive oil
2 small onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups arborio rice
Salt and cracked black pepper
Freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 - 1/2 cup cream (or use mascarpone/creme fraiche)
parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Reconstitute your porcini mushrooms in boiling water - I used 1/2 cup of dried porcini in 1 cup boiling water and let sit for an hour.

2. In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic very gently in some butter and olive oil.

3. In a frying pan, saute the mushrooms and some butter very gently over medium-low heat. They will give off their juices then reabsorb them, then go golden in the time it takes to make your risotto. Very different to my "fry them as hot and fast as you can for god's sake!" normally.

4. Add rice to onion and garlic and turn the heat up a bit. Toast the rice for a minute or two.

5. Add porcini mushroom liquid and stir until absorbed.

6. Add four cups of stock to the pot and stir. Put a lid on and turn heat down to low. Leave 12 minutes without touching it.

Seven (my numeral key won't work!). After 12 minutes, check the rice. I added another cupful of stock and stirred until cooked. It took another 2-3 minutes.

8. In batches, add butter and parmesan and stir like crazy (Matt says "vigorously stir the rice with the sort of enthusiasm you might use if paddling away from the lip of a tall waterfall"). This helps the rice give up its starch and become creamy. Check for seasoning.

9. Remember you want ooze... not glug or sludge or anything you can mould. Add more stock if necessary.

10. Mix cream cheese and cream, if using.

11. Top with golden mixed mushrooms and the cream cheese mix. Sprinkle with parsley.




If you do make this, let me know how you get on - I was pleasantly surprised so am interested to hear others' opinions!

Baked veggie risotto

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It's always around this time that I get so excited about slow-cooked things. Popping the oven on, which helps heat the house, putting in a big dish of something savoury and delicious, and filling the place with gorgeous smells.


Now I'm a huge advocate for cooking risotto the proper way - lots of stirring and stuff, but now and then I'm partial to baking it and letting it do its own thing while I do mine. I'm consciously trying to do less and just 'be' these days... time with real little ones goes so fast, and I want to be present and really enjoy it. Well, present for the good stuff, I definitely go elsewhere in my head when it's time to fold the washing or mop the floor! UGH.


As with any risotto dish (and any recipe of mine, let's face it!) you can use any veg you currently have laying about. This is excellent for using up bits and pieces before market day, or you can specifically choose something beautiful for the sole purpose of the dish. This was definitely the former for me, as I'm trying very hard to cut back on waste, and sad veggies at the bottom of the crisper was/is my number-one issue. I'm gettin' em before they go bad!


Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

400g risotto rice

100ml white wine

1 litre stock (you may need a little more, especially when stirring it before serving to help loosen)

whatever veggies you want, chopped small. I used carrot, celery, zucchini and squash

1 cup grated fresh parmesan

knob of butter

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. In an oven-safe lidded casserole, saute onion, garlic, carrot and celery gently in butter and olive oil until translucent.

2. Add rice, wine, and stock. Put lid on and place in a pre-heated 180C oven.

3. Bake for 30-40 mins. You can stir in intervals if you want, but I didn't bother. Add zucchini and squash 10 minutes before the rice is done.

4. Remove when risotto is soft and cooked to your liking. With a wooden spoon, beat the risotto until it loosens and becomes smooth. You may need some water or extra stock.

5. Add parmesan and butter. Check for seasoning. Add any fresh herbs you want.

6. Serve with extra parmesan and herbs on top.

Oven-baked artichoke and tomato risotto with basil

I've been told this morning that some people in this country lit fires this morning because it was so cold.

I cannot believe it. I was teaching a class at 8am today and the classroom didn't have aircon. It was like living in 1952, with fans blaring and me shouting to be heard over the top of them. I was ... er... "glowing", and regretting leaving my hair down today. It is so long and big it should have its own area code. People have mistaken it for a blanket at times.

However, as I'm reliably informed, autumn is here and SOME people are cold. Perfect time to put the oven on and bake a lovely risotto that gets silky and creamy with little attention from us. Ok, those of us who don't have thermomixes, anyway.

I wasn't convinced a baked risotto would be as good as an original, because it really is the stirring that makes it so delicious. But I was lazy, and time-poor and gave it a shot and I'm pleased to say it works. The rice grains do disintegrate a little more than usual (could just be me, leaving it in there for so long), but I found that if I gave it a good stir, almost like a beating, when I took it out of the oven and added the cheese, it went from a stodgy mess to a creamy concoction. Much better. It helps to add water or stock at this time to help loosen it and ensure you've not got sticky lumps of goo instead of smooth risotto. It should ooze when you put it on the plate, not sit there all moulded into cute shapes or blobs. No siree, blob!

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

400g risotto rice

100ml white wine

1 litre stock

1 cup grated fresh parmesan

1 can artichokes, quartered,

2 fresh tomatoes, diced

handful fresh basil leaves

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. In an oven-safe lidded casserole, saute onion and garlic gently in butter and olive oil until translucent.

2. Add rice, wine, and stock. Put lid on and place in a pre-heated 180C oven.

3. Bake for 30-40 mins. You can stir in intervals if you want, but I didn't bother.

4. Remove when risotto is soft and cooked to your liking. With a wooden spoon, beat the risotto until it loosens and becomes smooth. You may need some water or extra stock.

5. Add artichokes, tomatoes and parmesan. Check for seasoning.

6. Tear some basil over the top and mix. Serve with extra parmesan and basil on top.

Sweetcorn risotto with haloumi

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Recently I scored some juicy sweetcorn from the markets, and I was looking for a different way to eat it than my usual steamed, or this insane corn chowder I usually make.

Corn is right up there as one of my favourite veggies - just after pumpkin and just above artichoke. Veggie Dad doesn't get overly excited when served with a giant cob on his plate, but I've been known to just stick a fork in one end and snack away. The stuff is good.

Anyway, this summer I'm going to play around with more corn salads, salsas, fritters and succotash, but tonight, as my toes freeze from our still-cold spring nights, I'm dreaming of this silky risotto. It's full of flavour, sweet from the corn and salty from the haloumi... which you don't need to add, but would be silly not to!

Ingredients:
1 litre corn stock - I simmered four cobs of corn, kernels removed, in hot water for a couple of hours. I was aiming for about a litre.
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
sea salt and cracked black pepper
400g risotto rice
100ml white wine
the kernels from two large cobs of corn
1/2 a block of haloumi, diced
butter, to taste
a handful of parmesan

Directions:

1. Heat the stock in a saucepan and keep it on a simmer.

2. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook gently about three minutes. Add garlic and cook another two minutes.

3. When the onion has softened, add the rice. Turn up the heat, and don't leave the pan alone.

4. While slowly stirring, fry the rice. After two or three minutes, add the wine and listen to it hiss :)

5. Pour yourself a glass - there's so much stirring you ain't going anywhere.

5. Once the wine seems to have been absorbed, add a ladle of hot stock, and turn down the heat. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock once they are absorbed.  Don't rush this, or the centre of the rice granules will be hard and gross. Not a good look, particularly if you're trying to impress the in-laws.

6. After 15-20 minutes, check the rice. You want it soft and creamy. Check the seasoning. 

7. Add the corn and cook just to heat through. When cooked to your liking, take the pan off the heat and add the butter and parmesan.

7. You want it oozing in the bowl or plate, so make sure you've added enough stock. Under no circumstances is it to be stiff or gluggy. ugh!

8. Fry your haloumi cubes over a very high heat until golden on all sides.

9. Serve risotto with haloumi and sliced spring onion on top. 

Roasted Pumpkin and Pea Risotto with Parmesan and Ricotta

Roasted pumpkin is not just my favourite way to have my favourite vegetable - it's probably my favourite food ever.

And I've had such poor versions of it when dining out that the only place I can guarantee satisfaction is in the Veggie Mama kitchen.

If I had my way, I'd eat pumpkin-flavoured everything, and put pumpkin in all dishes it doesn't usually belong.

Thankfully, pumpkin works exceptionally well in risotto.

Yum, right?

Risotto is super-easy, and just about every recipe you see will be the same. The only thing that changes is what you put in it. I just happened to have peas in the freezer and figured, "hey, they'll do", but it could have been asparagus, corn, red capsicum, anything.

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver's first book The Naked Chef, but I always tweak any recipe according to what I have in the cupboard, and whatever works for me.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 litre stock (I used homemade this time)

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 head celery, chopped

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

400g risotto rice (carnaroli or arborio)

100ml white wine

1 tablespoon butter, to taste

1/2 cup cream

Handful of freshly grated parmesan

METHOD

1. Heat the stock in a saucepan and keep it on a simmer.

2. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the onion, celery (I used celery salt instead), and a pinch of salt and cook the vegetables gently about three minutes. Add garlic and cook another two minutes.

3. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice. Turn up the heat, and don't leave the pan alone.

4. While slowly stirring, fry the rice. After two or three minutes, add the wine and listen to it hiss :)

5. Pour yourself a glass - there's so much stirring you ain't going anywhere.

5. Once the wine seems to have been absorbed, add a ladle of hot stock, and turn down the heat. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock once they are absorbed.  Don't rush this, or the centre of the rice granules will be hard and gross. Not a good look, particularly if you're trying to impress the in-laws.

6. After 15-20 minutes, check the rice. You want it soft and creamy. When cooked to your liking, take the pan off the heat and add the butter, cream and parmesan.

7. You want it oozing in the bowl or plate, so make sure you've added enough stock. Under no circumstances is it to be stiff or gluggy. ugh!

8. Top with freshly cracked black pepper, parsley and crumble some ricotta over.