Mushroom Risotto
Melts in your mouth. 20 minutes worth of your time.
When I say 20 minutes, I promise you this will not take even a minute longer.Be honest with yourself, you have the time. Go give it a try because once you do, I guarantee you that this meal will be a part of your weekly menu.
Now, without further ado, let me give you my precious simple little recipe. Simple products that you probably already have in your kitchen. If you don’t, they are affordable enough for a student.
1. Half of an Onion
2. One clove of Garlic
3. White Mushrooms (around 6-7 would be fine)
4. Olive oil (two tablespoons)
5. Butter
6. Black pepper
7. Salt
8. Chicken/Vegetable Broth
9. Fresh/Dry Thyme
10. Fresh Parsley
11. Arborio Rice
Prep 5 minutes:
Dice the onion in the smallest pieces you can. Cut your garlic in whatever form you like it. Chop your mushrooms in quarters with the stump. Chop up your parsley, you don’t need to cut the thyme.
Let the cooking begin!
1) Put your pan on medium heat and pour the olive oil in. When it heats up, add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Season with salt and put a generous amount of pepper. I like it spicey so, I use a lot, but you don’t have to. Put a little piece of butter, because mushrooms NEED butter. Stir them nicely so that everything is covered. Wait for the amazing brown colour of the onions and the mushrooms.
2) Now comes the rice part which everyone is afraid of. Why? It is so simple! One portion of rice is around 100 grams. Even if you don’t have a way to measure exactly 100 grams just choose a small cup and try with that, I am sure it will be fine.
3) The next step is to reduce the heat a little and put the rice in the pan with all the veggies and let it sit there for a couple of seconds while you are stirring it because that gives it that crunch like in the restaurants.
4) Now grab the same cup you used and put hot water inside along with the broth you chose. I prefer using vegetable broth because the chicken one is too salty for my taste. Pour the broth in the pan and stir everything around. It should be slightly boiling, not too many bubbles. Cover the pan with something and let the rice absorb the water for 3-5 minutes. When it does, take another cup of water without any broth and pour that in, letting the rice absorb it. After the second cup of water is absorbed, add a third cup and repeat the process.
5) It should take around 15 minutes and after the rice has absorbed all the cups of water and there is just a little moisture left, add the parsley and the thyme for extra flavour and season with some more salt because of all the water we just added. Stir until you see the moisture is gone, but it should still be quite glossy. Add another piece of butter for even more flavour and your risotto is ready!
