It feels like ages since I made risotto! But it is so good, and easy (although time-consuming). This was a mushroom risotto, but of course the variations are infinite.
About 5-10 g dried mushrooms
500 ml boiling water
1 Knorr (or Own Brand) vegetable Stock Pot
20g butter
1 tbs olive oil
5 small "pickling" onions (what I had - an ordinary medium-sized onion would have been fine)
2 large cloves garlic
2/3 punnet mushrooms
1/2 cup risotto-type rice (arborio or the one that begins with c whose name escapes me and I cba to look up!)
125 ml white wine
Seasoning to taste
About 60g Parmesan cheese, grated
Pour the boiling water over the dried mushrooms, add the Stock Pot (or stock cube - or make your own stock from scratch if you feel that way inclined), and leave to stand.
Peel and chop the onion(s), peel and crush the garlic cloves, slice the fresh mushrooms. Put the fats into a large saucepan and add the vegetables. Let them begin to cook for about 5-10 minutes. Then add the rice, and stir until all the grains are coated with oil. Now add the white wine and stir vigorously. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 the stock (let the dried onions, now reconstituting themselves, go in too - chop them if they are too big), stir, and letcook for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining stock, and let cook for a further ten minutes - if it seems very liquid, leave the lid off, and it really is nicer if you can be bothered to stir it during this stage.
When most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked, stir in the grated Parmesan and serve. With or without a green vegetable, as you prefer.
