Mushroom & Truffle Risotto with Lemon

Shiitake truffle risotto with lemon-the good greeff.jpg — Mushroom Risotto with Truffle and Lemon

When the weather turns cool, and the nights grow longer, there are few things as satisfying as a delicious, moreish risotto. We can honestly live off this stuff during the winter months . Well, this and steady supply of gluhwein…

Through the years, we’ve concocted a vast variety flavour combinations- From playing with pumpkins and peas, to healthy servings of seafood or vegetable and meat combinations. Despite some spectacular discoveries along the way, one of our stock standard favourites remains mushrooms with a touch of truffle (you may recall, I’ve mentioned our affinity for everything truffle).

What makes risotto great too, is that it re-heats really well, and you can get a bit of mileage from a huge Sunday afternoon batch. Another pro, is that it is really quite difficult to mess up. It is a bit time consuming because you have to constantly stir it, and you can’t just let it cook, but other than that it really is quite simple.

Black summer truffle

Lemon rind

Shiitake mushrooms

Serves: 4

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 punnet shiitake mushrooms
400g Arborio rice (Risotto rice)
1 litre vegetable (or chicken) stock
2 cups dry white wine
½ cup grated Parmesan plus extra for garnish
½ cup Mascarpone (this optional extra makes for a super creamy finish)
Salted butter
truffle oil
black summer truffle
1 lemon (remove the rind for garnish, and use the juice of the lemon for the risotto cooking process)
Flat leaf parsley for garnish (optional)

Fried Shiitake mushrooms

Stirring cooking risotto

Stirring risotto until the liquid is absorbed

Method

Roughly chop mushrooms and sauté in a dash of truffle oil and butter, until cooked and browned. Tip: avoid stirring the mushrooms in the pan until the first side is browned. Too much stirring too soon, and over-crowding your saucepan could cause your mushrooms to go soggy and chewy.
In a large deep saucepan or risotto pot, add a dash of oil and 1-2 tbsp of butter. Over medium heat, toast the rice until it begins to change colour. This will add a great nutty taste to the risotto.
Once the risotto begins to change colour and turns slightly transparent, turn the heat to medium-high and add the wine. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed. Don’t worry about the alcohol content, it will evaporate during the cooking process.
Once all the liquid is absorbed, add about 1 cup of the stock to the rice (or use a ladle) while constantly stirring. Make sure you move your wooden spoon over every inch along the bottom of the saucepan, to avoid the rice sticking or burning. Continue to add 1 cup or ladle of stock at a time and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Stirring the risotto constantly, will release the creamy starch out of the rice.
Continue adding the stock liquid little by little. Make sure to taste the rice from time to time to check when it is cooked. If you run out of stock before the rice is soft and fully cooked, add some hot water for the last stretch. The whole process should take about 15-20 minutes.
When the rice is almost cooked add the lemon juice for a bit of zing. Once all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked, turn the heat way down, and stir in the Mascarpone and Parmesan cheese. Remove from the heat and stir in about 80% of the mushrooms.
Dishing up the risotto: Spoon the risotto onto bowls, and garnish with the remaining mushrooms, a grating of black truffle and lemon rind. Drizzle with truffle oil and serve with Parmesan and black pepper and Italian flat leaf parsley.
Enjoy with a dry white wine.