Mushroom Risotto

Tonight I decided to make a pan of mushroom risotto. Mushroom risotto, you say? Yes, and it was tasty. It is hard for me to imagine that at one time in my life I liked neither onions nor mushrooms, but those days have passed, fortunately. This dish was about as time consuming as any I've ever prepared, but I am pleased to say that we enjoyed the fruit, er fungus, of my labor quite a lot.

Probably I never would have ventured into the risotto realm had we not stopped meating (that's meat eating.) My cooking books would have continued gathering dust, and we would have missed out on a world of goodness. I am not saying that a dish as calorific as risotto should be eaten daily, but on occasion it's a nice treat.

To begin, I chopped a very large leek. Leeks are new to me, but I have been enjoying using them lately since we bought a huge batch of them this past weekend at the Farmer's Market. Along with what must have been two pounds of sliced shiitake, cremini, and portobello mushrooms, these items cooked in the pan with a few pats of butter and a couple tablespoons of olive oil until they softened. So far so good. When these ingredients were ready, into the pan went quite a bit of arborio rice. I cooked that for a bit, and then I was ready for the liquid.

In another pan, I put to simmer some vegetable broth and some Chardonnay. I really like the flavor wine imparts to food. A few crushed red pepper flakes, Salt, Pepper, and a little Pasta Sprinkle, and my broth was good to go. Now comes the busy part. At the rate of half a cup of broth into the rice and mushroom mixture, it is imperative to stand at the stove and stir the risotto to prevent sticking and burning. When the rice absorbed the liquid, I added another half cup. I continued stirring and adding liquid in this manner for about 25 minutes. Seems like a long time, but like many cooking endeavors, the time is well spent. Napoleon and The Walrus usually hang out with me while I cook, and today was no exception, so the company was good.

By now, the rice is cooked and creamy, and I am ready to eat. I garnished with some fresh basil, more cracked Black Pepper, and a little bit of feta. Deeeelicious. Lunch tomorrow will be excellent, also. I almost feel bad for the people I see eating deli-meat sammiches and Doritos.