Mushroom Risotto

This creamy mushroom risotto is so luxurious, hearty and favoursome. I used 5 different type of mushrooms; porcini, swiss, shiitake, oyster and hou-chimeji, and a good dizzle of truffle oil at the end. The mushrooms give the dish a nice nutty favour and the truffle oil adds on an unique earthy favour.

You don't have to use truffle oil. It just so happen that I have a small bottle of truffle oil which I purchase out of impulse at the Manudaring Truffle Festival about two years ago. And it has been sitting at the back of my pantry since. Please don't judge me... the expire date, or what I would like to call the "best used by date", of the truffle oil is July 2011. But it will be such a shame to throw it away. The truffle oil does give a different dimension to the favour of the dish (no, it's not because the truffle oil has past it's best used by date).

You can use any mushrooms, but avoid button mushrooms if you can.

Mushroom Risotto (recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver Grilled Mushroom Risotto)
Serves 2

Ingredient
1.5 litres hot chicken stock
10 gram dried porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oi
20g butter 
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup of risotto (arborio) rice
150ml white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 large handfuls of mushrooms (I used a mixture of swiss mushroom, shiitake, oyster and hou-chimeji), cleaned and sliced
Juice of half lemon
1 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Drizzle of truffle oil (optional)

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and keep at a gentle simmer.

Place the porchini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they've softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the soaking liquid.


Heat butter and 1 tablespoonful of the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft without colouring them. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes or until grains appear slightly glassy.

Add the wine to the rice and keep stiring until liquid is completely absorbed. Now pour the porcini soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down so the rice doesn't cook to quickly on the outside.


Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. Carry on adding stock until the rice is tender yet firm to the bite and risotto is creamy. This will take about 30 minutes. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.


Meanwhile, get a dry griddle pan hot and grill the mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn’t big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and the lemon juice and toss everything together.



Take the risotto off the heat and season to taste. Stir in the butter and the Parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to rest for about 3 minutes.


Serve risotto topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil.