There are different Italian delicacies with porcini, like tagliatelle (pasta) or tagliata (grilled meat cut in strips) with porcini, and frittata with eggs but “risotto ai porcini” is a classic vegetarian dish that most of the times you’ll see in restaurant’s menus during autumn.

Ingredients | 2 servings

• 200/7oz Carnaroli or Arborio rice
• 220g Frozen Porcini Mushrooms
• 800ml Meat or vegetable Broth
• Half Onion
• 2 knobs of Butter
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 1/2 glass of White Wine
• 40g/1.4oz Ground Parmesan Cheese
• a stem of Rosemary and handful of Chopped Parsley
• Extra virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

– Chop porcini mushrooms into small piece (I had frozen mushrooms).

– Sauté the garlic, rosemary, and black pepper in olive oil.

– Add the porcini mushrooms and salt, stir fry till they lose water and become creamy and soft.

Risotto:

– Sauté the grated onion with butter and salt in a hot pan for some seconds.

– Add rice and toast it. (stir in the hot pan, till they become slightly translucent)

– Pour in the white wine, this gives a thermal shock to risotto so it releases more starch and also wine gives a nice acidic taste to the dish.

– Continue to stir so the wine evaporates and rice becomes slightly dry.

– Pour 2-3 ladles of warm broth. 

– Continue to stir until all of it is absorbed.

– Add the the cooked porcini mushrooms to risotto but save 2-3 tbsp of it for decoration later.

– Pour another 2-3 ladles of broth and mix.

➡️ The risotto will be al dente in between 14-17 mins (check the instruction on the package).

If you’re not a fan of al dente: add more broth and continue to cook till the rice becomes softer.

➡️ In case your broth finishes earlier, use boiling water.

– Turn off the heat, the risotto’s consistency should be a bit runny and not dense! (pour a bit of boiling water if it’s not) we need moisture to make the risotto creamy.

– Add 1 big COLD knob of butter and ground parmesan cheese all at once.

– Mix them lively, some chefs even waving the rice in pan (they believe this way, “more air” goes in the risotto!)

– The result should be a silky & creamy risotto.

Serve the risotto with porcini mushrooms on top (that we’ve put aside earlier) and finely chopped parsley.

Notes

• In case you don’t have fresh porcini, the dry ones are easier to find in Italian food markets
• It’s popular to add also salsiccia (Italian sausage) to the risotto – add it when you are toasting the rice in the beginning of cooking
• Some people don’t like the strong scent of porcini, half of the mushrooms could be champignon for a more delicate taste.

Buon appetito! ☺️

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