Foodie Wednesday: Musroom Risotto with Peas

(The Risotto in the pan cooking!)

Even though I may not have had a Foodie Wednesday post in awhile (last week due to internet technical difficulties at my house and prior to that just being busy with work) does not mean that I have not been cooking up a storm!

In my quest to cook all of the recipes in Giada DeLaurentis' "Everday Italian" cookbook I present to you Mushroom Risotto with Peas.

Ingredients

8 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2-ounce dried procini mushrooms
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
10 ounces white mushrooms, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or short-grain white rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
2/3 cup grated parmesean
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

Directions

Bring the broth to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the porcini mushrooms. Set aside until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the white mushrooms and garlic. Using slotted spoon, transfer the porcini mushrooms to a cutting board. Finely chop the mushrooms and add to the saucepan.

Saute until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Stire in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes. Add the wine; cook until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding more broth by the cupfuls and stirring often, about 28 minutes (the rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of broth.

Stir in the peas. Mix in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

(The finished product!)

I will say that this did take a long time to cook - I was stirring for what seemed like forever - but it was well worth it. I was nervous having never previously made a risotto and it doesn't start to really look like risotto till towards the end, so I was unimpressed with my big brown glob of mush in the pan while I was cooking!

However, the final product was outrageously delicious!!! Jon and I could not stop saying how good it was. It made about 6 servings and had 4 as leftovers. It was a fight as to who got them! I will definitely make this recipe again and I look forward to trying additional risotto recipes. Now that I've done it once it doesn't seem so scary anymore.

As a side note, when purchasing the 1/2 ounce of Porcini mushrooms you really only need 1 maybe 2 mushrooms. They are $49.99 a pound (at Whole Foods) so be careful how many you throw into the bag!!!

Post in Comments:

Have you ever made a risotto?

What are your favorite risotto flavors?