Mushroom-Parsley-Thyme Risotto

Ok, so I hadn't planned on posting this, because I figured, "hey, it's hard to mess up risotto," but during dinner last night Bozzie told me this was special risotto and Iain said it was the best risotto he'd ever had. Take those comments with a grain of salt, if you will, but they were enough to get me to write up the recipe. However, since I wasn't planning on posting, I only have a picture of the finished product. Oh well.

Just as a note, risotto is a simple enough process, but it does involve a lot of hands-on cooking, so if you're having an evening where you need food you can stick on the stove and leave alone for awhile, don't make this. That being said, it's some of the best comfort food in the world.

Mushroom-Parsley-Thyme Risotto

Ingredients

• lots of mushrooms, sliced thinly. We used perhaps 1/2 a pound of baby chanterelles, but if you have other kinds or if you have wild mushrooms, so much the better. If you like, you can also rehydrate some dried mushrooms and use the mushroom water in addition to your broth.
• a generous glug of lemon juice
• a generous handful of parsley, chopped
  
• 1 onion, chopped small
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• about 6 TBS butter, plus 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (the kind used for risotto--you could try subbing another, cheaper kind but I don't think it'd work well).
• a few glugs of a white wine (about 1/2 cup. we used a Three Buck Chuck chardonnay to great success.)
• a generous pinch or two of dried thyme. I'm sure fresh would be lovely too, but we didn't have any.
  
• Lots of broth/water (broth is better). You're gonna want to plan on at least 3 cups, but it could be closer to 4. It all depends on the rice. Lots of recipes recommend heating the broth before using it, but I didn't, so take your pick.
  
• garlic powder to taste, probably a teaspoon or two.
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• parmesan cheese. Use at least a few TBS in the pot, and then add more to individual servings

Procedure

• Put the sliced mushrooms into a bowl with the lemon juice and toss a bit. Meanwhile, melt 2 TBS of the butter in a large pot. Cook the mushrooms over medium for a few minutes, until they release their liquids and brown somewhat. Stir in the parsley and half of the garlic and cook for a few seconds more--maybe a minute. Put the mushrooms et al. into a bowl and set aside.
• Melt another 2 TBS butter, as well as the olive oil, in the same pot. Cook the onion and the rest of the garlic over medium until it's soft and golden, then add the rice. Stir it around for a couple minutes, frying it. Add the mushrooms and mix them all around. You can also add the thyme at this point; I added little pinches a couple times throughout the recipe process.
  
• Pour in the wine. It'll smell awesome. Let it evaporate over medium heat.
  
• This is the labor-intensive part. Add a small ladleful of the broth--maybe 1/4-1/3 cup. Then start stirring. You want to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan, so it's necessary to stir a lot. Wait until the rice has absorbed the water, then add another ladleful. Continue to do this for awhile--probably at least 15 minutes. Then taste the rice to see how close it is to being soft. You can also start adding garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Depending on your rice, you might need from 20-40 minutes of overall broth adding/stirring time. I like my rice a tiny bit on the chewy side, so mine was done about on the 30 minute mark.
  
• Once the rice is done and seasoned to your satisfaction, remove it from the heat and stir in the remaining butter (optional-- but it tastes better) and some parmesan.
• Serve hot, topping with more cheese.

Yin-Yang Pasta: Red and White Wine Sauces

Howdy, and a happy MLK day to all! (I attempted to contrive some sort of segue from that into talking about the food, but it sounded too stupid to even come off as ironic, so I say again unto you, happy MLK day, and I'll leave it at that!)

Today I bring to you two twin recipes, born of the same stock (that is, my brain), which shall... I entirely forgot where I was going with that sentence. In fact, almost everything I've tried to type in the way of an introduction I've just deleted immediately afterward. The little people managing my brain would like to apologize for the lack of coherence, and assure you my ability to communicate will be restored shortly.

In the meantime, here are the recipes.

Red and White Wine Pasta Sauces

Ingredients:
Both:
1 lb pasta (I used mostaccioli for the red and lemon pepper papardelle for the white)
olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced (I used red for the red and white for the white :) )
10-15 mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
basil and oregano


Red:
1/3 cup red wine of your choice
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 healthy glug of balsamic vinegar

White:
1/3 cup white wine of your choice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 green pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced


Music Listened To:
I don't actually remember what it was, but there is indeed a strong chance that it was my new Liz Carroll album entitled... Liz Carroll! On a side note, I have recently met the guitarist on that album, Dáithí Sproule over at the Session at Merlin's Rest, which was rather exciting. But, I digress...

Procedure:

1. Prepare the mushrooms: heat some olive oil in a skillet over high heat. You know, all of us have a different method of testing to see when the oil is ready. Emily's method involves putting in a little bit of the garlic and waiting for it to sizzle. Mine involves flicking water onto the oil and seeing if you hear a pop and sizzle. Bozzie's involves... I'm rambling again, aren't I?

When the oil is ready, add the mushrooms and begin sauteing over high heat. Add about a clove of the garlic, a pinch of basil and oregano and, lastly, a splash of the wine. Heat until the mushrooms drink up some of the wine. Set aside.


2. Do them onions: Heat some more olive oil in the skillet. You know, all of us have a different... (kidding!) Saute the onions over low heat. Be patient - the best results come if they are cooked slowly. If you're doing the red wine sauce, go for about 5 minutes. If white, more like 10, since you're aiming for a generally sweeter taste. Gesture dramatically as the aromas arise.


3. Combine stuff: Add the remaining garlic and wine. For the red wine sauce, dump in the tomatoes, bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and add the vinegar and other seasonings. For the white, add the remaining olive oil and seasonings and similarly get simmering. Nice slow cooking. Oh yeah, if you haven't already, boil the pasta. Generally you want your sauce simmering about the same amount of time you have the pasta boiling.

4. About 3-5 minutes from the end, add the tomato and green pepper if you're making the white wine sauce. Stir the sauce constantly either way. This is a good time to taste and adjust the flavors as desired. I cannot argue with adding more garlic if not garlicky enough or adding more vinegar if the red sauce isn't tangy enough.

And that's pretty much it. Add to the pasta and serve with a glass of wine! My housemates gobbled these up, and the smell is pretty great while its cooking. I'd have to say my personal preference is for the red wine sauce due to the complexity of flavor you get from the red wine, but both are definitely quality Yummies. My rambliness seems to have calmed down for the time being, although a bit too late for you all. Sorry!