Risotto. On any cooking competition show I’ve ever watched, Risotto is the downfall of some unfortunate chef who just doesn’t get it right. I’ve never quite understood this, because I’ve always found Risotto to be pretty easy to make (Of course, I’ve never had to make Risotto in a time crunch with Gordan Ramsey screaming in my ear, either).
Risotto is a staple of my Zero Waste cooking routine because it’s so versatile. It provides a wonderful base to use a large variety of vegetables and ingredients using the same base recipe. I can get many of the ingredients such as the arborio rice and olive oil in bulk, the cheese from local farmers, and we can use veggies from my CSA or garden. As for the white wine that usually goes into risotto...let’s just say wine has never been wasted in our house and we can always find some way to repurpose the bottle (currently I’m saving screw-top wine bottles to sanitize and use for our homemade dandelion wine project).
This week we received some gorgeous mushrooms in our weekly CSA subscription, and we also received some green garlic. Wanting to make something special for our first CSA delivery of the year, I decided to make this delicious Mushroom and Green Garlic Risotto.
To make this risotto you will need:
6 cups broth (vegetable, chicken, beef, mushroom...it’s up to you)
1 small bunch (about 4 stalks) of green garlic
1 lb mushrooms
1.5 cup arborio rice
2 TBS Olive oil (divided)
1 small yellow onion
½ cup dry white wine (pick one you also like to drink so the rest of the bottle doesn’t go to waste)
½ cup parmesan or asiago cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
You will also need a ladle, a saucepan, and a heavy-bottomed pan or skillet.
Instructions:
Heat the broth in the saucepan until it is barely boiling.
While the broth boils, prepare your green garlic and mushrooms. To prepare the green garlic by trimming any withered or yellowing bits at the top and by trimming off the end of the roots. You can chop and use the rest (both the white and green parts). Set aside a bit of the chopped greens for garnish if you desire. Slice the mushrooms and then saute them along with the green garlic in your heavy-bottomed pan with 1 TBS of the olive oil.
After the mushrooms are cooked through, remove the mushrooms and green garlic from the pan and set them aside.
Give your heavy-bottomed pan a quick rinse and dry it so it is ready to use for the next step.
Heat the remaining 1 TBS of oil and 1 TBS of butter in your pan on medium heat. Chop your yellow onion and saute it in the butter and oil.
Once the onions are translucent, add your 1.5 cup of Arborio rice to the onions in the pan. Stir and cook the rice until it becomes coated in the oil/butter. The rice will become shiny and a bit translucent.
Ladle about 1 cup of the hot broth into the pan. Stir the rice until all of the broth is absorbed.
Ladle in another cup of broth and continue stirring until it is all absorbed. Repeat this step until you have used all of the hot broth. During your last round of ladling broth, add in the ½ cup of wine* You’ll know your risotto is ready when the rice becomes thick and creamy, but still has a bit of bite to it (you don’t want it to turn to total mush).
Remove the rice from the heat and then add in the 1/2 cup of cheese and the sauteed mushrooms and garlic.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with the reserved chopped garlic greens and additional parmesan cheese if desired.
And that’s it! Enjoy your risotto! We usually eat this as a main dish alongside a nice green salad. However, you could also eat it as a side dish alongside a bigger meal.
*Note: To get a more pronounced wine flavor, add a bit of wine along with each ladle of broth.