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Porcini Mushroom Risotto

📍 Italy
⏱️Prep: 10 min
🔥Cook: 25 min
Total: 35 min
🍽️4 servings
Difficulty: Medium

Porcini mushroom risotto is northern Italy's definitive autumn dish. Dried porcini are first rehydrated in warm water — don't discard that liquid — then combined with Arborio rice cooked ladle by ladle in warm vegetable stock. The final mantecatura, beating in cold butter and Parmesan off the heat, is what gives the dish its characteristic silky wave when the plate is shaken.

🛒 Ingredients

4 servings
  • 320g Arborio rice
  • 50g dried porcini mushrooms
  • 1L vegetable stock
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 glass dry white wine
  • 50g grated Parmesan cheese
  • 30g butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Parsley
  • Salt, pepper

👨‍🍳 Step-by-step instructions

  1. Rehydrate the dried porcini mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes. Reserve the strained liquid.

  2. Heat the vegetable stock in a separate saucepan. Keep it hot throughout the preparation.

  3. In a saucepan, sauté the chopped onion in butter and oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the Arborio rice and toast for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the rice becomes translucent.

  5. Pour in the white wine and stir until fully absorbed. Add the drained and chopped porcini mushrooms.

  6. Gradually add the hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly and waiting for each addition to be absorbed before adding the next.

  7. After 18 minutes, remove from heat. Stir in cold butter and grated Parmesan cheese vigorously.

  8. Cover and let rest for 2 minutes. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan on top.

💡 Chef's tip

Save the water from rehydrating the dried porcini: it is the most flavourful stock you will add to the risotto. Strain it first to remove any grit.

📝 Our take

Porcini mushroom risotto is more intense than any version made with button mushrooms. Rehydrated dried porcini have an earthy, musky flavour that transfers to the rice during the mantecatura process. Constant stirring is required, yes, but the result—creamy, dark, and aromatic—is worth those twenty minutes of attention.

🍷 Wine & food pairing

A young Barolo or Nebbiolo from Langhe. Piedmontese red wine is the canonical pairing with porcini.

Suggested wine: Barolo joven o Nebbiolo delle Langhe

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