my first risotto – a baked mushroom risotto

cook my first risotto last evening!

It was just so satisfying but also spoke volumes of Foodwishes.com Chef John’s baked mushroom risotto recipe that I could reproduce such a great dish with ease even though this was my very first risotto. 🙂

I have the bulk of a 2.5kg bag of USA 松鹤 (no english name but I guess it is matsutsuru in literal translation?) Shakaku premium rice – which I think is a medium grain rice – lying around. I bought these in Giant hypermarket when I was trying out a paella mixta for a homecooked (kind of Spanish theme) dinner for friends as I didn’t know where to get aborio rice (still don’t!). Though the paella turned out kind of ok taste-wise (quite good tasting) based on the recipe I used, the texture was really quite far out. Anyhow I have not found other use for the rice and I don’t quite fancy cooking paella mixta that often when it is not quite ideal in the visual & texture departments & also it takes a bit of effort to prepare (when c/w this mushroom risotto which requires almost no effort!).

So I actually decided only at very last-minute to cook this & it was done like in 35minutes (only because you needed to put it in the oven for 16minutes).

I cut and washed the only mushrooms I had in the fridge (a packet of 150g shimeji mushrooms and another packet of 100g enoki mushrooms). I put these in an oven-proof skillet with 1 chunk of butter (20g) and a large pinch of salt on high heat and cooked/sweated for 10 minutes on medium heat OR until the liquids evaporated off, then I added chopped yellow onions and cooked for a few minutes until softened. Next I added a cup of the Shakaku rice, stirred to coat the rice completely and then added 1 cup of chicken stock, brought it to boil and dropped to low heat and stirred. When the liquids were evaporated, I added another cup of chicken stock and when it started to simmer, I placed the skillet in a 205degC preheated oven for exactly 16minutes (following Chef John’s instructions to the dot..it had been kind of fool-proof which explained my relative success thus far..no secrets haha!) 🙂

my first risotto – a baked mushroom risotto

I then returned the skillet to the stove, added another cup of chicken stock, brought to boil and stirred on low heat. At this point, as Chef John said, you needed to be your own boss & decide how you wanted the risotto to turn out. I tasted the rice, flavour was great (quite super really!) 🙂 very slightly not cooked-through the centre, so I added another cup of chicken stock and stirred. Last I added 2 tablespoon of heavy cream and sea salt to taste. The result was a truly marvellous dish – creamy but not overly, with very nice infused mushroom flavour, just like any good funghi risotto I would have gotten in a good restaurant. 🙂

It was far better than I expected as I was also not certain whether my Shakaku rice would do for this recipe. So yes it really made my day!

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 150g shimeji mushrooms
• 100g enoki mushrooms
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 20g butter
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• 4 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. cut and wash the mushrooms, put these in an oven-proof skillet with 1 chunk of butter (20g) and a large pinch of salt on high heat and cook/sweat for 10minutes on medium heat OR until the liquids evaporated off. add chopped yellow onions and cooked for a few minutes until soften. add a cup of washed Shakaku rice, stir to coat the rice completely and then add 1 cup of chicken stock, bring to boil and drop to low heat and stir. When the liquids evaporate off, add another cup of chicken stock and when it started to simmer, place skillet in a 205degC preheated oven for exactly 16minutes.
   
2. return skillet to stove, add another cup of chicken stock, bring to boil and stir on low heat.  taste the rice for texture & flavour to see if it is cooked to your preference, add another cup of chicken stock (if required) and stir. add 2 tablespoon of heavy cream and sea salt to taste. Serve.