Risotto is a staple dish in the Italian cuisine for a good reason, it’s really good. Making risotto takes patience and love but it’s a really simple dish to make.
You can make different flavour of risotto but mushrooms and thyme is my favourite. The hardest part when you make it is to resist eating it while it cooks 😉
You need
- 4cups chicken or vegetable broth
- thinly sliced shitake mushroom
- thyme
- 1cup arborio rice
- 1/3cups dry white wine
- 1 diced shallot
- 30g butter
- 20g freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- For the whole duration of the cooking process, you need to keep your broth warm, just like any risotto. So put the broth in a pot and keep it medium-low.
- In a saute pan put half the butter and soften the shallot for a minute then add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook until they get lightly coloured. Add the remaining butter, the rice and the thyme leaves. Give it a good stir and cook for a minute, at this point add the wine and let it cook until it’s all gone ( about 3 minutes ).
- Add one ladle of the broth, stir and bring to a simmer. Do not let it boil. You want to keep that simmer during the whole process, hence why the broth needs to be warm so it doesn’t cool it down. Patience is the name of the game here, expect ~20 minutes of work for the next step. Make sure to stir frequently during the whole process. Once all the liquid is absorbed add another ladle of broth and repeat. After adding the fourth ladle gives a taste test to the rice, you want it al dente but not hard. If it’s too hard, add another ladle and repeat. If you heat the broth too much, it will dissipate faster and not cook the rice so you may miss some broth at the end, add water.
- Stir the parmesan and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.
- If your risotto is too “thick” to your taste, turn off the heat and add a half ladle of broth and stir
Optionally, you can add some extra parmesan to your plate
