Exotic Mushroom Risotto

Tuesday night I was in a cooking type of mood. I made another batch of the amazing cookies, and then tried another recipe from Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy. I was a little apprehensive after the failed lemon tart, but this recipe turned out just like it was supposed to AND it was scrumptious. So let's get started.

These are the ingredients I used (ignore the peanut butter in the background!):

Ingridients include:

• 1/2 c. Dry white wine
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 3 c. Vegetable broth or stock
• 1 c. Arborio rice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 of an onion
• 2 c. mushrooms (I used oyster, king oyster, and shitake)
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp chives
• 1 tbsp oregano (not pictured)
• Freshly grated Parmesan

Firstly, chop your onion, place into pan with hot oil.

Cook for 2 min then add chopped celery, cook another 2 minutes.

Uncork your bottle of wine as you're going to add this soon.

Since you're only going to use 1/2 c. for the recipe, naturally pour a little for yourself to enjoy during the cooking process. Remember this gem all you Vegas travelers?

Add the rice and let cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine.

The rice is obviously the star of the show. At my supermarket there were two brands of arborio rice. This bag was under $3, the other option was over $6. Not sure why such a drastic price difference, but whatevs.

Ok back to the recipe. Your broth should be in a pot on low heat next to your saute pan. After the wine has absorbed/evaporated, spoon in a ladle full of broth and stir the rice until the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add small amounts of broth until the rice is al dente. I had to use 3 cups of broth to achieve this, and it could have used maybe another 1/3 of a cup as my rice was very al dente. So be prepared that you're going to need a lot.

Now, if your arborio rice is the star of the show, your mushrooms are your supporting actor. At the supermarket I found these king oyster mushrooms and thought they were cool looking. Their ability to intrigue me are the sole reason they were included in this recipe, as I have never used them before!
Aren't they beauts?

I chopped the tops and about half of the stems into slices. You could probably use the whole stem, but it was just too much 'shroom. I did enjoy sqeezing the remainder of the stem in my hands as fungus is just such a fun texture. (And I'm a weirdo.)

Put your sliced mushrooms into a pan with a little oil and saute them until they're soft and a little broken down.

Stir in your mushrooms into the rice.

Also add a little bit of heavy cream to give it a richness and creaminess. Also use your oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. Plate. Chop some chives and grate some parmesan and sprinkle on top. And you will have a fancy dish that is pretty easy to prepare. I wish I knew some fancy presentation skills, but nothing's wrong with a little rusticity.

Enjoy with your wine! All together now.

Coming soon: Homemade pizza, possibly a coleslaw, and lemon tart revisited.