I made mushroom risotto just to see if there could be any left over to make the risotto balls Frugal Feeding made. Only he called them Rosemary and Garlic Arancini. I suppose that is the correct Italian name for them more than “risotto balls.”

By any other name they are still just as good.

Let’s make  Mushroom Risotto and if you have any left, you can hop over to Frugals site and make the Arancini.

But first a note on how to clean mushrooms:

Think of them like little sponges. if you run them under water or (horrors!) soak them in a bowl of water to ‘clean’ them, you are water logging the poor little mushroom. The mushroom will release that water while you cook, you will not get a good color on them when cooking. Instead of saute, you will be braising them.

Instead, wipe them with a clean towel, trim the tough part of the stem (shiitake – remove the entire stem, it is tough) your are ready to go.

Portobello mushrooms can be ‘peeled’ to create a prettier mushroom. Use a spoon to scrape out the gills and then peel the lip of the mushroom to remove the top layer, peeling towards the top middle of the mushroom cap.

Save the scraps for flavoring stocks for soup or sauces.

Mushroom Risotto

1 cup arborio rice

2 tablespoons finely minced shallots

1 tablespoon  fresh minced garlic

1 cup cleaned and sliced fresh mushrooms of your choice

If you use Portobello mushrooms, be sure to clean the gills out from under the cap. They turn everything a dark, almost black color.

1 up to 1 quart of warm chicken stock

If you use a stock that has salt in it, adjust your salt flavor at the end. Salt concentrates as liquids evaporate.

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded, not graded

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the mushrooms first in the same pan you will cook the risotto. This allows the mushrooms to develop that deep flavor for which mushrooms are so famous.

Sautéed Mushrooms

• 1 pound mushrooms of your choice, cleaned and sliced
• 2 tablespoons oil or clarified butter
• 1 shallot sliced
• 2 clove fresh garlic smashed and minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the pan over high heat, add oil.

Add mushrooms sliced shallots, garlic saute until they begin to develop color and start to release their juices. Add white wine to deglaze and cook until the pan is nearly dry.

Now add the rice and continue with the risotto recipe below.

Note: This is a great way to saute mushrooms for any other way you want to eat mushrooms, steak, Quiche, soup

• Heat the chicken stock in a pot and have it nearby with a ladle.
• In the same pan you cooked the mushrooms above, add the rice.
• Saute for 2 minutes. Stir to coat the rice with the mushroom goodness in the pan.
• Ladle about 8 ounces of warm stock into the rice pan.
• Stir to combine and continue stirring until the stock has been absorbed.
• Repeat 3 more times.
• Taste the rice, there should be a slight bite to the grain, known as “al-dente.”
• The last addition will be 1/2 cup white wine, stir until the wine has been absorbed.
• Stir in the Parmesan cheese and the butter.
• Adjust seasonings and serve.

I learned to make risotto the old-fashioned way; by stirring a lot. Stirring makes it creamy. There are some methods where you cook it much like you do plain rice. I don’t find the results as creamy as the stir-like-a-madman method.

Besides, it gives your arms a decent work out.

If you want to make risotto and hold it for serving later, take it only half way through the steps of adding stock. Cool it down.

When you are ready to finish, heat more stock, add the rice and finish the cooking process.

Serve immediately as risotto can get quite gluey as it cools down after it finishes cooking.

I made enough to have some leftover for the Arancini but when I went to make them, there was no leftover risotto.

So the myth continues, there is no such thing as leftover risotto.

I haven’t seen much leftover wine either.

Why is that?

Robert said to just make more risotto and make the Arancini immediately.

I think he just wants more risotto.

Related articles

• Like warm hug: Truffled mushroom (& leek) Risotto (grazingbears.com)
• Sauteing Mushrooms (ahealthylifeforme.com)
• Pearl Barley Risotto with Mushrooms and Leeks (happygoodtime.com)