Risotto ai Funghi Porcini

Ingredients

• 320g Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice
• 30g dried porcini
• 300g fresh mushrooms, chestnut or mixed
• 1 small onion or 2 shallots
• 1 garlic clove
• 120ml dry white wine
• 1.2 litres vegetable or light chicken stock
• 60g cold butter
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 70g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• A small handful of flat-leaf parsley
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Before you cook

• Soak the dried porcini in 300ml of warm water for 20 minutes
• Chop the onion very finely
• Brush the fresh mushrooms clean and slice them thickly
• Chop the parsley
• Cut the butter into cubes and return it to the fridge

Steps

1. Lift the soaked porcini out of their water, squeeze them gently and chop them roughly.
2. Strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or muslin, leaving the grit behind, and add it to the stock.
3. Bring the stock to a bare simmer and keep it hot beside the hob.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and fry the sliced fresh mushrooms for 5 minutes until browned and squeaky.
5. Add the crushed garlic clove to the mushrooms for the last 30 seconds, then season them and set them aside.
6. Warm the remaining oil in a wide heavy pan and soften the chopped onion over low heat for 6 minutes without colouring it.
7. Add the chopped porcini and stir them through for a minute.
8. Tip in the rice and toast it for 2 minutes, stirring, until the grains are hot and the edges look translucent.
9. Pour in the wine and stir until it has been completely absorbed.
10. Add a ladle of hot stock and stir until the rice has drunk almost all of it.
11. Carry on adding stock a ladle at a time, stirring often, for 16 to 18 minutes.
12. Fold the fried mushrooms into the rice for the last 4 minutes of cooking.
13. Taste a grain: it should be tender with a firm point at the centre.
14. Take the pan off the heat and let it stand for a minute.
15. Beat in the cold butter and the Parmigiano vigorously until the risotto turns creamy and loose.
16. Season with salt and pepper, add the parsley and serve on flat plates, shaking each one so the rice spreads in a wave.