Wild Mushroom Risotto
This rich and creamy risotto is the ultimate cozy comfort food! I love to enjoy it as a main course, or as a side dish to accompany roasted red meat, steak, or a roasted chicken.
The leftovers keep well, but the risotto will be at its creamiest when freshly made. This really is an easy dish to make. Risotto seems like it would be intimidating to make, but it just takes a little time.
How long does Wild Mushroom Risotto take to make?
Start to finish, you can make this wild mushroom risotto in under an hour. If you slice all the mushrooms, chop the herbs, shallot, and garlic, and measure out all your liquids ahead of time before you start, it will be done much sooner.
The Ingredients Make It Special
- Wild Mushrooms – You can use any mix of mushrooms; choose the ones you like! For this version, I chose cremini, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms, because that is what was available at the time. Try portobella or “baby bellas”, king, porcini, or whatever you can find.
- Fresh thyme and rosemary – Chop up a small handful of each. Use ½ that amount if you are using dried thyme and rosemary.
- Shallots and garlic – These are the aromatics that will give this risotto depth of flavour.
- Arborio rice – it is essential to use Arborio rice; I hesitate to even suggest a substitution, because it is the starchy coating on these rice kernels which slowly turn this into a rich and creamy dish. You don’t need to wash it, that might wash off that delicious starchy coating!
- Dry white wine and chicken stock – These are the liquids which slowly absorb into the arborio rice, cooking it, and imparting savouriness into the creamy sauce. Adding the stock and wine a bit at a time, allowing the liquid to slowly soak in before adding the next ladleful of stock, will prevent the rice from becoming gummy and sticky. Any white wine will do; use one that you like to drink.
- Butter & Olive oil – use salted or unsalted butter, and extra virgin olive oil for that rich flavour.
- Parmigiano Reggiano – grated and stirred into the risotto when the rice has finished cooking, pulls the whole thing together and adds saltiness and nuttiness.
Can I Make Substitutions?
- Mushrooms – you can use any type of mushroom you want!
- Herbs – you can substitute the fresh herbs for dried herbs; just use half the amount. You can leave out the rosemary, but definitely don’t leave out the thyme!
- Arborio rice – I have not had success substituting a different kind of rice, so to make this risotto a success, use real arborio rice.
- Wine – You can leave out the wine, just increase the amount of chicken stock by 1 cup.
Can Wild Mushroom Risotto be Vegan?
Yes! Here’s the substitutions I would make, to make this wild mushroom risotto vegan:
- In the step where you add butter & olive oil, omit the butter. Or use vegan butter if you can find it.
- Substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock
- Parmesan – omit, or use 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, stirred in at the end.
- Wine – use a vegan white wine (yes, it’s a thing!)
The Risotto Method
Risotto is pretty easy, in my opinion, once you get the hang of it. For the best outcome, get all your ingredients ready before you start.
You start out by heating up your chicken stock and keeping it warm/hot on the stove while you make the risotto. Then the stock doesn’t need to heat up before it starts absorbing into the rice.
Take a large skillet, and over medium heat add your fats. In this case, your butter and olive oil. Once it’s melted, add in the sliced mushrooms and herbs, and stir until the mushrooms are coated with the butter and oil.
Once the mushrooms are coated, add in your aromatics – in this case it’s shallots and garlic – and stir until everything is mixed together.
Add in the arborio rice. Stir until every grain is coated with the butter and oil, and it’s well mixed into the mushrooms, shallots, and garlic.
Add in about half of the white wine, and stir until it’s almost all absorbed before adding the rest of the wine.
Once all the wine is cooked in, Add in the chicken stock, one ladleful (about ½ cup) at a time. Don’t add the next ladleful until the first one has soaked in. Don’t be tempted to rush and add more; the risotto will turn out gummy and gloppy!
When you have used up all the stock, taste the risotto to test the doneness of the rice. It should be slightly al dente, but not hard or crunchy. If it’s still hard or crunchy, add some hot water a ladleful at a time until it tastes done. You could add freshly ground pepper at this point, to taste.
Take the skillet off the heat, and stir in the grated parmesan cheese. Taste again, and add salt and more pepper if desired. Serve immediately!
Wild Mushroom Risotto
Equipment
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Large skillet
- 1 Ladle
- 1 Large spoon
- 1 Small knife for chopping
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken stock heated
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 8 ounces mixed wild mushrooms sliced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 shallot finely diced
- 1 clove garlic finely diced or crushed
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano reggiano or parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat up the chicken stock, keeping it warm/hot throughout the entire process.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil until melted.
- Add mushrooms and herbs, and stir until combined. Make some room in the skillet, and add the shallots and garlic and stir until combined.
- Add Arborio rice and stir until every grain of rice is coated.
- Add in white wine, half at a time, stirring until absorbed. When absorbed, add in remaining wine. When wine is absorbed, begin to add in the chicken stock, one ladleful at a time. Stir well in between additions, adding the next ladleful when stock has absorbed.
- When all stock is absorbed, taste for doneness. If not done, continue adding hot water one ladleful at a time until done. When done, take skillet off the heat and stir in parmesan cheese.
- Taste, and add salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired.
- Serve immediately, topped with more freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Notes
