Saturday, November 6, 2010

wild mushroom risotto



This past weekend the hubby and I decided to make a special weekend dinner and decided we were in the mood for a risotto. I have become slightly obsessed with risotto lately since I discovered this Barefoot Contessa recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto a few weeks back that is the perfect mix of seasonal butternut squash, saffron, pancetta, and parmesan cheese. I have already made it twice this season-which is a rarity, and snuck a bag I prepared of diced squash in the freezer for future use when my precious squash is no longer in season so we can still enjoy this incredible risotto.  (Not to mention the two emergency squash stashed in the corner of my dining room I picked up at the farmer's market last week.)

I began to scour the internet in search of risotto recipes, and came across this recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence for Mushroom Risotto.  In the past I have made a few other recipes by Mr. Florence, for example his Ultimate Fajitas, which are supherb and has now become our go to recipe on fajita night. 

It was a bit of an adventure locating the crimini and porcini mushrooms in the supermarket, and the tiny 3 oz. bottle of truffle oil was a bit of a splurge, but the recipe turned out wonderful. I must warn you however, the mushroom flavor was quite earthy and intense and I think you must really love mushrooms to enjoy it. On that note, the amout of mushrooms called for could easily be halved and you would still have a great dish that could easily serve 4 to 6 people. I have been on a sparkling wine kick lately so I popped open a bottle of Nino Franco prosecco, poured myself a glass and stirred away.




If I make this again, I will most likely cut the entire recipe in half since we do get tired of eating leftovers of the same thing after a day or so and the amount it made was HUGE. The constant stirring and adding ingredients required alot of attention but if served with a simple green salad or you have a spouse/partner around to grill the steak so you arent distracted it works well as an awesome side dish. Serve along side crusty bread and whats left of the wine you've been cooking with. I also made a quick balsamic reduction and drizzled it on top.







1 comment:

  1. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but the steak looks so good.

    ReplyDelete