1 litre of stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (optional)
1 stick of celery, finely sliced (optional)
200g risotto rice
1 glass of dry white wine
50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 large handful of mixed dried mushrooms
2 large handfuls of mixed wild mushrooms
30g of butter
The juice of ½ a lemon
Small bunch of parsley, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Start by putting your dried mushrooms in a bowl with hot water and leave them to rehydrate for about 15 minutes. Once reconstituted remove them from the liquid and roughly chop them. Pass the soaking liquid through a sieve and add it to your stock.
Heat the stock, and keep it on a very low simmer. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil and half of the butter, add the onions, garlic and celery (if using), and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.
The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring.
Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, add the first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. At this stage add your chopped dried mushrooms.
Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 30 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.
In the meanwhile prepare your fresh mushrooms. Clean your mushrooms with a knife or a brush but avoid washing them. Heat up a griddle pan and grill the mushrooms until soft. Transfer them to a bowl, add the chopped herbs, the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Reserve.
Once your rice is cooked and that means that it should be creamy but the grains should still be firm (al dente), remove from the heat and add the remaining butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and leave to sit for 2 minutes. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve the risotto topped with the mushroom mixture, a drizzle of olive oil and some extra grated parmesan.