Wild mushroom and leek risotto

Risotto is one of those things that a proper chef could write an essay about, the dos and don'ts of the perfect dish. A trained chef would more than likely scoff at my way of doing it, which is more of a bish-bosh, ram it all in and cook sort of way. If you like it the cheffy way, this is your cue to move on. If you are looking for simple, yet tasty cooking, feel free to stay.

Autumn time I keep my eyes open for the wild edible mushrooms that I recognise to safely pick. One that I often find is parasol mushroom and every so often I come across a decent cep. To tell you the truth, in the UK I have only ever found ceps behind one particular tree on my way to where my hubby works. No, I won't tell you where the tree is. Lots of things are for sharing. A good mushroom place isn't one of them. Sorry, not sorry.

Some mushrooms have to be cooked and eaten straight away, or they will spoil, such as shaggy ink cap. Ceps and parasol mushrooms can however be dried and kept in air tight containers for years and still be perfectly safe and tasty to cook with when you are ready to do so. I have a dehydrator that I use for mushrooms, but there are other ways to dry them, if you don't have one of those.

You may have noticed that I said 'safely pick' before. I started picking mushrooms many years ago, learning from experienced pickers what's safe and what isn't. A few years ago I also attended a mushroom excursion at the River Cottage, a fabulous day out and I learned a lot. Even though I have a fair amount of experience now, I will still only pick 5-10 different kinds that I know are safe. A mistake can be devastating and I'll never take any risks when it comes to mushrooms. I'd rather miss out on a delicious treat than serve up a plate of poison. If you go out picking, please be careful.

Anyway, back to the risotto. To cook my version of this dish, you will need:

Risotto rice, arborio

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 leek, sliced

dried wild mushrooms (I used cep and parasol mushrooms)

a slosh of strawberry cider (or whatever you fancy)

1 vegetable stock cube + water 

salt & pepper

chilli powder

dried tomato flakes

1. Get all ingredients out.

2. Chop the onion and garlic.

3. Slice the leek.

4. Soften the onion in a little oil, then add garlic and leek. Cook until the leek has softened.

5. Decide on your seasoning and prepare your stock.

6. Add the dried mushrooms to the onions.

7. Add the rice to the onion and mushrooms and mix well.

8. Add the cider and some of the stock and cook on medium heat until most of it has been soaked up by the rice and mushrooms. It won't take long, so keep an eye on it. 

9. Add the seasoning and mix well. As you can see, I added seasoning long before the mushrooms and rice were ready because I wanted them to get properly infused.

10. Keep adding liquid until the mushrooms are soft and the rice is ready. You may need a bit more than what you prepared. Plain water will be fine.

11. Serve with your choice of trimmings and enjoy.

I opted for marinated slow cooked pheasant drumsticks and we ended up having one of the best meals of the week. This was a real treat and I will definitely make it again.