An autumnal English risotto

It is always flattering to be asked to write a specific post after having tasted one my dishes so that the recipe can be tried again. And it often seems to happen with those dishes that I normally find very modest and unexciting, pasta or risotto in particular.

I may have already told that recently I have come to the resolution of living more seasonal and this involves among other things buying from our neighbourhood greengrocer that sells uniquely products of local farmers. This guarantees gazing at pillows of cauliflowers, sticks of leeks, and curly cabbage rather than strawberries, melons or tomatoes. I find it more and more wrong. Am I becoming too extreme? Might it be age?

Anyway, one of the consequences of the "go-with-the-seasons" resolution is to be out and about and do activities that make us feel part of the seasons. So when a friend told me about the possibility to go hunting for mushrooms with an expert guide in a near-by forest (Thetford Forest) I grabbed that opportunity and packed a flask of hot (mushrooms) soup, wicker basket, sharp knife, and husband & son!  

Luckily we had a guide. Of all the wonderful looking mushrooms that we indiscriminately picked in a flurry of excitement only three of them got saved - the rest would have made us from mildly to violently sick. Not encouraging. However, they did taste good.

 

One of our fellow-hunters even found a huge piece of porcino to my astonishment as I didn't believe they live in England. Perhaps it didn't taste as good but it looked genuinely porcino. Having abandoned first thoughts of mugging the lucky guy I decided to go back next year and try my luck harder.

Given our scarce loot I decided to prepare a risotto by adding some fresh chestnut mushrooms as well as some dried porcini. And of course my secret weapon, a porcini stock cube!

For 2 lucky people

180g arborio rice (risotto rice or alternatively even long grain rice)
1 garlic clove
half a shallot
50g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig of thyme
100g chestnut mushrooms
a handful of wild mushrooms
a handful of dried porcini
50g Parmesan

Chop the shallot very finely and crush the garlic clove with the palm of your hand. Melt in a large frying pan the butter and add the oil. When they start sizzling add the onion and garlic and let them caramelize slowly. Discard the garlic.

Add the rice and toss it for a few minutes until it has absorbed the butter/oil thoroughly.

Soak the porcini in warm water and once they have expanded chop them into small pieces. Chop also the rest of the mushrooms and cook them in a separate pan with a bit of oil, the discarded garlic clove from the previous pan and the thyme.

Make the stock adding to 500ml of warm water the cube until it dissolves. Add the water to the rice and let it simmer keeping turning so that it doesn't stick to the pan.

Half way through cooking - you need to try the rice to be able to tell that - add the mushrooms and let it cook for a bit longer. If the water has all dried up and the rice is not cooked yet add more warm water.

The rice has to be creamy but not overcooked - the rice should retain a slight crunchiness - what we call al dente (which doesn't mean that it gets stuck in your teeth...as that would mean it is not cooked!). Once cooked sprinkle the cheese on top and if you want to be extravagant a few drops of truffle oil.

Autumnal risotto

One of the things I don't seem to stop marvelling at are the colours we get at this time of the year. I probably sound like a broken record but I cannot help myself from crying out "look at that, honestly, isn't it amazing? That is why I find really sad, almost disturbing, that shops have such little imagination that they can only think of Christmas decorations. What about all these fantastic leaves, pumpkins (of all shapes and colours), mushrooms, berries, etc, etc?

Cambridge in October blows you away. The colours are blustering. Days are still mild with not much rain. And there are not as many tourists around as in the Summer - and therefore the entrance to all the colleges is free at any time, and not just after 5pm!

So, to continue with the seasonal theme, last night I made porcini risotto. This is a dish which I would suggest if you have dinner parties and want to avoid being flustered around the kitchen dealing with multiple moving ingredients at the last minute. The joy of a risotto is that you can start preparing it and cooking it beforehand, and finishing it just before being served. If you are using good risotto rice like Arborio or Carnaroli rice, you won't risk to get a mushy pap.

Ideally you should use fresh porcini as well as dried porcini. But I know that this would be impossible, so the best types of mushrooms you can replace them with are chestnut mushrooms. They have a lovely nutty and earthy taste. Also, if you can find it in a good Italian deli, another secret ingredient is porcini stock. Added to the water, it adds a lot of flavour.

Porcini Risotto

For 4 people

400g Arborio or Carnaroli rice;

300g fresh mushrooms;

100g dried porcini;

1l hot water;

2 garlic cloves;

1 porcini stock (or vegetable);

1 glass of red wine;

1 handful of parsley;

100g parmisan;

a knob of butter;

2 tbsp olive oil

1. Peel and chop into half the garlic cloves. In a pan golden up the garlic with the oil. When the oil is warm and the garlic has started getting colour, add the knob of butter and let it melt slowly.

2. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl with warm water and cover. The mushrooms will need to soak up some of the water.

3. Add the rice to the pan and toss well to ensure that all grains get coated with the butter/oil. Continue until the rice looks golden.

4. Make the stock with hot water. Add some of this water to the rice (it will fizzle a bit). Add some of the fresh mushrooms and stir well.

5. Add to the rice the water where the dried porcini had been soaking. Chop in small pieces the dried porcini and add them to the rice.

6. Continue adding the stock and porcini water to the rice. It must never be dried and the grains must cook slowly. The rice will acquire a lush glossiness. Add salt (probably 2 tsp) to taste.

7. Add the rest of the fresh mushrooms. When the rice is almost cooked, add the glass of wine and let it evaporate.

8. When the rice is practically cooked, add the chopped parsley.

9. Sprinkle the grated parmisan and mix well. Serve with a few parsley leaves and more parmisan on top.

Summer is not over yet

ATTENTION, ATTENTION, EVERYONE! SUMMER IS NOT OVER YET!

(And now I feel I can refer to more than just myself as to my surprise I have discovered today that I have 12 followers...sooo exciting! However, how do I set it up to give my readers notice of new blogs? I'm such an old hack).

Despite being close to the official end of Summer, I found myself having dinner in the garden last night at 9.30 without even the slightest faint of shiver. I had spent my entire day working inside and the result of it was that my fingers were frozen, my toes were frozen, my nose was frozen (why am I such a whimp?). So I assumed that 10C was the real temperature. I discovered that between outside and inside there were at least 8C difference (WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR HOUSE?!?).

So, being overly excited at my discovery, I decided to host a solstice feast in the garden with full moon lighting and plenty of candles. And some fish; definitely also some good white wine. I even scattered around the grass some tea- lights to give a fairy effect. As always, I forgot to take a picture (still haven't recharged the batteries..useless me!) so you just have to use your imagination! But I assure you it looked lovely!

As my new resolution is to finish all the ingredients we have in the fridge before going shopping again, I assembled what we had which sounded promising to me: risotto rice, smoked salmon, clotted cream (from the fabulous scones I made again last Sunday - not the ones from August!), chive, mint, peas, and parmesan.

Knowing the feelings that the majority of English people seem to have towards peas, I am sure that most of you will be weirded out by the vegetable-fish combination, but they do bring something special to a plain risotto like this.

You can also use frozen peas (which is what I did, despite having loudly advertised how much better fresh peas are...). They will cook easily in the pan with the risotto.

End-of-Summer-risotto

Ingredients (for 2 people)

200g risotto rice (pudding rice also does the trick); half an onion; 1 vegetable stock; 750ml water; 2 dollops of clotted cream (you can replace it with normal cream - healthier probably! - of creme fraiche, if you want to continue with the non-healthy theme); 100g trimmed smoked salmon (Sainsbury's basic is quite all right); 1 handful of chive; 1 handful of mint leaves; 100g parmesan.

Preparation

> Chop the onion very finely (seriously!) and golden in a pan with olive oil.

> Pour the rice in the pan and stir for a couple of minutes until it becomes well coated with the oil and onions.

> Prepare the stock: pour the water (hot) onto the stock and slowly add it to the rice to cover it. Let the rice simmer and add gradually the water to avoid it dries out.

> When the rice is almost cooked, add the chopped herbs, the cream and the peas.

> Stir well to ensure all the ingredients are mixed together and the peas have cooked.

> Sprinkle all the parmesan and mix so that it melts.

> Serve it on the plate and arrange the salmon on top and a few remaining strings of chive. The idea is that the salmon does not cook in the rice but folds gently with the rest retaining its flavour.

The moon was really full. I can now have a haircut.