Wild Mushroom & Truffle Risotto

This recipe is one of Delia & my favorites; I first served it at a Christmas Eve party and a very close friend, Sue, who was never really partial to Truffles, really loved it and was my inspiration to continue with this delicate recipe.

Method

About an hour or so before you are going to prepare the Risotto, in a medium size saucepan, soak the dried Porcini mushrooms in the vegetable stock, then about 10 minutes before the start of the Risotto, heat the stock to just below boiling, turn off the heat. Have the stock & Porcini mushrooms close by with a ladle for adding gradually to the Risotto.

Chop all the mushrooms into bite size pieces.

In a skillet style fry pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, finely chop the red onion and add to the olive oil and lightly fry over moderate heat until opaque. Then add the 2 cups of Arborio rice and continue to lightly fry until all the rice is coated with the oil and has slightly changed colour. Add the 2 cups of white wine and start to stir regularly with a wooden spoon.

Continue slowly stirring until the white wine is evaporated/soaked into the rice, then add 2 ladles of the heated stock and continue slowly stirring with plenty of Love. Stir until stock is mostly used, then add another ladle ensuring plenty of Porcini mushrooms are going in with the stock. It is at this stage that you should start to add the chopped mushrooms and add them in stages during the stirring process so that the mushrooms have different textures. Keep slowly adding the stock and now stirring the Risotto in regular intervals.

During a non stirring interval, grate your Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, prepare your slab of butter & have your Truffle paste close at hand.

After having used about 2/3’s of the stock you should regularly taste small portions of the rice to ensure you get it right on “al dente”. Firm to the bite but NOT chalky, if the rice grain is still chalky keep adding and stirring in the stock, always with much tenderness & LOVE!! As soon as the rice is “al dente” immediately remove from the heat & add your grated cheese, slab of butter, and the Truffle paste and start to vigorously stir until the Risotto takes on a creamy constituency.

Your Risotto is now ready to serve with some parsley on top.

A couple of nice variations would be to lightly fry in butter a few of the chopped mushroom pieces and add to each serve of Risotto, and thinly shave some of the Pecorino/Parmesan and add to each serve of Risotto.

Buon Apetito