Mushroom Risotto from the Wood Fired Oven
The wood fired oven is a great place to cook some risotto – there is a huge school of thought that says you have to stand over the pan of rice on the hob stirring pretty much all the time to release those creamy starches; another group are quite happy to bung it all in the oven and wait. This dish is pretty much of the latter!
Taken from our first Wood Fired Oven Cook Book, it’s a real winner – serve it by itself as a vegetarian main or as a side with some roast chicken or pork. Do check out how David cooks it on the Alfa 4 Pizze on our youtube channel and the recipe is below.
Our latest wood fired video
Ingredients
30g dried porcini, chopped and soaked in 120g boiling water for 30 minutes
1 medium leek, finely sliced, washed and drained (include the green bit, not just the white bit)
120g button mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
3tbsp olive oil
120g arborio rice
150g dry white wine
Hot vegetable stock
2tbsp creme fraiche or double cream
100g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2tbsp chopped fresh chives – easier to snip them up with kitchen scissors rather than chopping them with a knife
Salt and pepper
Oven State, door, equipment etc
Method
- Heat a frying pan in the oven and toss the mushrooms and leeks with the olive oil in a bowl. When the pan is hot, add the leek mixture and fry in the oven until cooked through and the leeks are wilted. While they are cooking, heat the dish you are going to cook the risotto in in the oven; we used a ceramic dish with a lid.
- When the leek mixture is cooked, put it in the ceramic dish – or whatever you’re using – with the garlic, soaked dried muhsrooms and their soaking liquor, rice, wine and season well. Cover the rice mixture with the hot vegetable stock by about 2cm; stir everything together.
- Put the lid on the pan and put it in the oven with door on ajar. Cook the rice for about 15 minutes, then stir it all again. Test the rice and put the lid back on the pan; cook the rice until tender – this took us about 25 minutes but keep checking.
- When the rice is cooked, stir in the snipped chives, creme fraiche or cream and the grated Parmesan cheese. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and serve at once.
Alternatives
Risotto is a staple in our house and it changes with every season.
- Try lovely spring veggies – asparagus, peas, broad beans, mint, spring onions, spinach and goats cheese.
- How about one for the autumn of wood roast pumpkin flesh, kale and blue cheese.
- Add a little roast chicken or smoked ham if you don’t want to keep it vegetarian or add some bacon lardons at the start.
- Use whatever fresh herbs you have in the garden as they grow throughout the year – fresh oregano or marjoram is lovely as is flat parsley and basil. These softer herbs go in at the end of cooking otherwise they will lose their flavour but harder ones like thyme can go in right at the start.
- Change the dried mushrooms to other ones to see what different flavours they offer.
Wine Suggestion
How about an oak aged Chardonnay or a Cabernet Sauvignon to match the earthiness and umami of the mushrooms.
That’s it for now; Happy cooking to you all – back next week with more from the wood fired oven.
Catch up soon
David and Hollyx
