Chez Mostafa

Recipes from our kitchens


Mushroom risotto

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 small leek

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 200g oyster mushrooms, sliced

  • 100g wood ear mushrooms, sliced

  • 2 tbsp grated hard Italian cheese (pecorino or parmesan)

  • 2 cups arborio rice

  • 2 chicken thighs (bone in)

  • 6 cups water

  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed

  • ½ sprig parsley, chopped

  • ½ spring dill, chopped (optional)

Directions

  1. Cut the meat off the chicken bones, dice and set aside. Put the bones in a pot with the water over medium heat. Cut the furry end and the green portions off the leek and add to the water (reserve the good white parts of the leek). Cover and allow to simmer over a low flame on a back burner.

  2. Meanwhile, dice the good parts of the leek and heat, stirring, in a large pot with the olive oil over medium heat. When the leek has started to change colour (don’t let it brown), add the garlic and stir for a minute more, then add the diced chicken.

  3. When the chicken is cooked through, add the mushrooms, stir for a minute, then add the parsley, dill and rice. Turn to coat evenly, then pour in the wine and stir to deglaze. Let the wine mostly evaporate, stirring, and reduce the flame to medium-low.

  4. By now, the pot with the bones and leek offcuts in water should be a nice stock, so strain into a bowl. Add a ladle or two of the stock to the rice and stir.

  5. Keep the rice uncovered, stirring frequently, and adjust the flame to avoid burning. The stock will partly evaporate and partly absorb into the rice. Keep stirring. Whenever it starts getting dry (don’t let it stick or burn), add another ladle of stock and stir again.

  6. Continue this process (stirring, adding stock to replace what’s been absorbed) until the rice has become soft and gluggy: the grains should be  kind of blurry. (If you run out of stock before this point, use small splashes of boiling water instead of ladles of stock.)

  7. Remove from heat, add the cheese and stir. Cover briefly to let the cheese melt into the risotto.

  8. Remove from heat, add the cheese and stir. Cover briefly to let the cheese melt into the risotto. Then serve hot with a nice raddichio salad.