Food #002: Porcini and chestnut risotto (with a fusion twist)
Before anything, yes, I have a favorite bowl. I mean, who can resist the meow? 👀
Alright. So. When I made this, I had a revenge to take. The last risotto I ate before that (in a supposedly fancy restaurant!) was b l a n d —and I hate bland.
Hence, my mission here was to make a risotto that could be fancy AND not bland. Oh, and to use the jar of chestnuts that had been sitting in my pantry, too. I mostly based my recipe on this one, this one and a tiny bit of this one, but I did add some twists of my own... so please, Italian people, don't kill me for what I'm about to disclose 🙃
250 g risotto rice (arborio/carnaroli)
30 g dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup (250 mL) porcini soaking liquid (see in recipe instructions)
2 1/2 cups (625 mL) vegetable broth (I used a cube of unsalted broth + water)
12 crumbled cooked chestnuts (+ some whole ones to serve)
1/2 cup (125 mL) sake (as a replacement to the traditional white wine, because that's all I have in my teetotaler's pantry)
20 g pecorino romano (it should be parmesan, but there are only very few cheeses I like and parmesan isn't one of them)
chopped scallion (to serve)
sanshō (Japanese pepper, to serve)
(Optional) Stir fry the whole jar of chestnuts with salt and pepper for a few minutes, then reserve them. Crumble the 12 chestnuts that will go into the risotto.
Put the dried porcini in at least 1 cup boiling water for 10-20 mins. In the meantime, you can prepare the other ingredients (like chopping the shallots for instance)
In a saucepan, combine 1 cup porcini soaking liquid and the vegetable broth. Heat up until it boils and is completely mixed. Keep warm on the stove.
In a saucepan big enough to cook the amount of rice, stir fry the shallot in the olive oil over low heat, until it becomes translucent. Add all the rice. Stir everything and let toast for a few minutes, then add the sake to deglaze.
Add a ladle of hot broth. Gently mix and cook until the mixture starts to look dry. ONLY then add another ladle of broth, etc. (This process is very important! It ensures the starch in the rice gives a nice, creamy texture.)
When there's about half of the broth left, add chopped porcini and the crumbled chestnuts, mix, then keep adding broth ladle by ladle.
When you're done adding the broth and the rice is done, remove the risotto from the heat and stir in butter and pecorino. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with chopped scallion and sanshō sprinkled on top, as well as whole chestnuts.
Pic 1: showing off my giant ass jar of porcini
Pic 2: if you've never seen a jar of chestnuts, that's what it looks like in my local grocery store
