Recipes

Servings

Ingredients

8 slivers of dried porcini, roughly chopped

250g porcini, cleaned & sliced

75g butter

4 garlic cloves, crushed

60ml dry white wine

720ml good chicken stock

1 onion, very, very finely chopped

375g good risotto rice

30ml chopped parsley

salt & pepper

To serve 

75g cold butter, cut into small dice

100g Parmesan, finely grated

truffle oil to serve

Porcini risotto with truffle oil

Method

1. Soak the dried porcini in a bowl of water until soft. Gently take the porcini out of the water and squeeze the excess water out of them. Throw the water away because it is bitter.
2. Heat 20g of the butter in a sauté pan over low heat, add the garlic and cook until soft, making sure it doesn’t brown. Add the sliced fresh porcini with 30ml of the wine, keeping the heat low and toss around for about a minute, making sure you stew rather than fry the mushrooms. You want them to sort of melt into the risotto. Season, cover and set aside while you make the risotto.
3. Bring your stock to the boil on the plate next to where you’re going to make the risotto. Once boiling, turn down the heat to a bare simmer.
4. Melt the rest of the butter in a heavy-based pan and add the chopped onion. Cook gently until softened but not browned. Add the dried porcini, then the rice and stir to coat in the butter and toast the grains. Make sure all the grains are warm, add the remaining wine and let it evaporate completely so the onion and rice are dry.
5. Start adding the stock, a ladleful or 2 at a time, stirring and scraping the rice in the pan as you do so. When each ladleful has almost evaporated, add the next one and so on. This requires a lot of elbow grease and can take up to 30 minutes, so leave yourself enough time! The risotto is ready when the grains are soft, but still al denté.
6. Turn down the heat and add the fresh porcini and chopped parsley. Allow the risotto to rest for a while. Then, to finish, vigorously beat in the cold butter with a wooden spoon and finally the Parmesan. Shake the pan energetically at the same time as you beat. Season to taste, drizzle with truffle oil and enjoy!!