
Risotto ai Funghi Porcini e Nepitella
Risotto ai Funghi Porcini is a heartwarming dish in the autumn. It’s often made with dried porcini – but nothing beats the incredible flavour and texture you get with fresh mushrooms in this most seasonal dish. Adding a little nepitella (calamint in English), lifts this dish brilliantly with its green aromatics (here is a bit more information about nepitella). This dish should be crowned as the king of autumn.
Ingredients for 4:
1 medium sliced white onion
400 g fresh porcini mushrooms
1 glass dry white wine
A few sprigs of nepitella (you can substitute this with a few leaves of mint, origano and basil, shredded)
350g of risotto rice (carnaroli or arborio)
1lt rich vegetable stock
Parmiggiano cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – a central Italian EVOO works perfectly with the base notes of the porcini. We love Villa Magra Grand Cru from Frantoio Franci for this dish. This oil can be found in the Monocultivar & Single Grove Box.
Method:
Heat the stock up to a simmer
Separate the heads of the porcini, cut these in slices and set aside. Cut the rest of the porcini in small cubes and fry in olive oil and a little salt for 4 minutes, add a little white wine, a ladle of the stock and keep cooking for a further 4 minutes. Set aside.
In a separate pan, gently fry up the sliced porcini heads in olive oil for 4 minutes and set aside.
In a wide skillet, gently warm the extra virgin olive oil, add the onions and cook gently until they are transparent. Add the rice, mix well to ensure it’s all coated, then the wine, continue to stir constantly, letting the moisture absorb. Add the stock a ladle at a time, mixing well for 10 minutes. Add the cooked cubed mushrooms, and then continute to add the stock 1 ladle at a time, constantly stirring until the rice is cooked al dente – take off the heat. Add a swirl of Villa Magra Grand Cru Olive Oil and a very generous amount of grated parmiggiano cheese, and the nepitella. Mix well once and leave for a couple of minutes to rest.
Serve with a few sliced porcini heads on the top of the each plate, and a further drizzle of Villa Magra Grand Cru.