Posts tagged rice

Thai ‘Papaya Noodle’ Salad

January 25, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood, Vegetables and Salads

I bought a Papaya on a wim. As an extremely disciplined person by nature, I find it annoyingly frustrating that I can never resist a supermarket food offer! After freely placing it in my basket without a second economic thought, my mind began racing over what to make with it. On my walk home, sat in the cinema that same afternoon and whilst relaxing in the bath the culinary devil sat on my shoulder. With salmon in the fridge I couldn’t resist the flavoursome attraction of Thai ingredients to combine with from the pantry.

This recipe is loosely based on one by ‘The Hairy Bikers’. However it does emit some of the ingredients suggested as the pantry let me down (shocker) on tamarind water….but it tasted delicious! And who knows, it could taste even better? The important thing here is to make the dressing seperately and taste as you go along adding more of any ingredient you need depending on the taste which is how I came up with the below. Only then, once you have it to your liking, should you dress the salad. This may sound hard but trust your instinct and taste buds! See below for help.

Serves 2-3 depending on appetite!

1 large papaya, peeled and chopped into matchsticks of julienned with a peeler
3 oz red camague rice
1 small red chilli, finely copped
2cm knob ginger, half grated, half finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, grated
Juice 1 lime
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp fish sauce
1 ½ tbsp sugar (palm or brown sugar)
Bunch mint leavves, chopped roughly
Bunch basil, chopped roughly
Large handful roasted peanuts
2-3 salmon fillets
1 head broccoli
2 tsp sesame oil

Start by simmering the rice in boiling water for about 20 minutes until cooked. Drain and keep warm
Next make the dressing. In a large bowl, mix together the chopped chilli, garlic, ginger, lime juice, soy, fish sauce and sugar. Give it all a good mix and taste. Add more of what you think it needs. This may be hard but use your instinct. Add more lime for sharpness, sugar for sweetness and soy for savoury saltiness. Quantities will all depend on the ingredients you start with. The soy I used here for example was even new to me – a very dark, intense type unlike my usual light soy which is less pungent.
Set aside the dressing when you’re happy with it while you julienne the papaya. I have a special peeler for this which I highly recommend if you’re into your raw vege noodles (see here). If not, chopp into matchsticks.
You want to assemble the salad at the last minute when ready to eat so cook your salmon and broccoli before this. Heat a large fryng pan until medium-hot. Add a tbsp olive oil and fry the salmon fillets, skin side down for about 3 minutes on the skin side. Once the skin is nice and crispy turn onto the flesh side and cook for a further 2 minutes to brown it all over and create a lovely charred crust on the outside. Don’t be tempted to cook the salmon longer, the crust on the outside will be a delicous contrast to the soft just-pink inside. No matter what thickness the salmon, it should (generally) never take more than 5 minutes in a medium hot pan. Additionally, it will continue cooking while you bring it to the table.
Steam or boil your broccoli and drain. Drizzle with the sesame oil.
When ready to serve, combine the rice with a few tablespoons of dressing. Add the papaya, chopped herbs and peanuts and mix (reserving a handful or herbs for garnish). Add enough dressing to your liking but make sure its not swimming in the stuff!
Top the salad with your tender salmon fillets alongside your freshly cooked broccoli and scatter with the reserved herbs.

WINE: Excellent served with a delicious Riesling (see here for a suggestion)

Wild Mushroom and Black Garlic Rice

April 7, 2014 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

This mushroom rice dish was thrown together whilst I was at uni when embracing the challenge of living on a second hand shoestring. It is one of those staple vegetarian meals I often make when I fancy an evening off meat. Mushrooms have such a deep and earthy flavour that you never miss the meat here and this really is just as satisfying. I like to top mine with a quenelle of cool, smooth cream cheese to off set the garlic hum but a molten poached egg with a cascading larva of golden egg yolk would also sit on top here as naturally as clotted cream on a pillowey toasted scone.

However, today I experimented with black garlic. Garlic is undoubtedly good for you. From warning off infections and fighting your bodies battles to pungently and helpfully keep away any unwanted attention from the opposite sex….! Double bonus. I don’t think anyone walks past their local pizza place or Indian with the waft of freshly baking garlic bread suctioning up their nostrils not to momentarily drift into garlicky cloud nice. I love nothing more than the delights and simple efforts of roasting a whole garlic head in the oven before squeezing the obliging sweet contents into a pestle and morta, mashing to a paste and stirring into risottos or sauces. There is nothing as effortless that imparts so much amazing flavour.

So surely black garlic is to be even better. Delicious I can conclude but on a totally different level. Sweet but amazingly deep in flavour these gooey and pastey gloves are like jelly cubes of balsamic vinegar, a ‘fruit pastel’ of balsamic if you will. It is only a matter of time before Heston makes this imported Korean fad into an ice cream (I will await this patiently….very patiently, no rush Heston.) I’m only at the tip of my black garlic experiments using it tamely sliced here. But mashed to a paste, stirred into stews, risottos and sauces I am sure I will be sharing these soon…..the ice cream however will have to wait for now. Black garlic pasta or gnocchi…however…!

Serves 2

250g mixed mushrooms, chestnut, oyster etc, chopped roughly in chunks
4oz wild rice (a mix of brown, Camargue, wild rice)
2 gloves of black garlic OR 2 gloves garlic, chopped
1 large knob of butter
Handful of flatleaf parsley, chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
4 tbsp cream cheese/2 poached eggs to serve

Begin by simmering the rice for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.
Heat a generous knob of butter with a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat until the butter foams.
Add the chopped mushrooms and some generous salt and pepper and fry for about 10 minutes over a medium heat.The water will be released so continue to cook until this evaporates and the mushrooms are soft and golden. (Now Julia Child fans, remember- don’t crowd your mushrooms, they won’t brown! So cook in batches if necessary)
If using normal garlic, chop finely and add now and fry for a few minutes turning the heat down if starting to catch.
Now, tip in the rice and stir into the mushrooms with the sesame oil and fry for a few minutes.
Add the chopped black garlic and the parsley and mix to combine and heat through.
Serve in large warmed bowls with an extra scatter of parsley some slices of black garlic and a creamy quenelle of cream cheese. Alternatively add that molten poached egg and crack on with devouring.

Moroccan Lamb Steaks with Pistachios and Feta

January 12, 2014 Comments Off read Meat

I can never pin down my favourite cuisine when asked. However….one which I always seem to default to if I feel like a speedy, tasty meal which requires enough attention and time to satisfy my creative kitchen energy but not enough to have me slaving after a long day at work is Moroccan. I love this style of food. I nearly ventured to Marrakesh for a long weekend last year but sadly without success I cannot say this is totally authentic based on experience but the flavours are along the lines of those used.

I created these dishes as a (candidly) selfish means of using some of my favourite ingredients together in one final meal of 2013. This is all about assembly really….get all your components chopped or toasted or diced or chilled as per the ingredients list before you start and its a doddle. Simply a case of chucking everything together in a Jamie style approach at the last minute will guarantee to keep everything as fresh and crisp as possible!

Serves 4

Lamb

4 lamb leg steaks
2 tbsp spice mix (toast 1tsp of each fennel, cumin, coriander and fenugreek seed, mustard seed with 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamon pods and 1 star anise in a dry frying pan until hot, fragrant and beginning to pop, remove and grind in a pestle and mortar until fine) If you don’t want to make one then use a good tbsp of Ras el Hanout which will also be delicious
2 tbsp olive oil
Large handful pistachio nuts (crushed finely in a pestle and mortar)
60g feta, crumbled
½ pomegranate- seeds picked
100g plain yoghurt
1 lime, juice and zest

Jeweled Rice Salad

6 oz wild or brown rice
Handful of flaked almonds
Handful of dried cranberries
1 orange, juice only
Bunch coriander, chopped
3 spring onions, sliced

Salad

2 x red chicory
2 baby gems lettuces
½ cucumber, sliced thinly

Start with the lamb. Massage with the oil, a little seasoning and the spice mix and leave to marinate at room temperature for about an hour.
Next, start the rice salad. Cook your rice according to the instructions. Meanwhile, soak the dried cranberries in the juice from the orange for at least 20 minutes until they have plumped up a little (do this while the rice cooks and the lamb marinates). Chop your spring onions into slithers and toast your flaked almonds in a dry hot frying pan if you haven’t done so already.
Once the rice has cooked, drain and tip back into the warm saucepan. Tip over the soaked cranberries and the remaining orange juice and keep warm with the lid on while you finish the rest of the components.
Assemble the salad by tossing together the chicory leaves, lettuce leaves and the cucumber.
Heat a frying pan until hot. Cook the lamb steaks for about 2 minutes on each side based on a thickness of about 2cm for medium. Once cooked, transfer to a sheet of foil, wrap tightly and leave to rest while you finish the salads.
Mix the yoghurt with the lime juice and zest and place in a bowl on a serving platter.
Mix the warm rice with the chopped coriander and spring onions in a serving dish and scatter over the toasted flaked almonds.
When you are nearly ready to serve, dress the salad leaves lightly with a little fresh lemon juice and some olive oil and season lightly.
Finally, once ready to serve, slice the lamb into finger width strips. Scatter the crushed pistachios on plate and coat the lamb strips in the nut crumbs. Arrange the lamb on a serving platter and drizzle over any resting juices. Scatter over the crumbed feta, the pomegranate seeds a few flecks of coriander and serve alongside the yoghurt.

Serve the salad, lamb and rice all together at room temperature straight away and devour immediately with a warm cup of peppermint tea if you like!

Caribbean Rice Salad

August 1, 2013 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

Today is ‘forage in the pantry’s’ 1st Birthday! It been a delicious year of cooking and blogging. Looking back on my first entry, ’The Best…Peanut Butter Cookies’, I feel compelled to make something peanut infused! However, with all this fantastic hot weather we’ve been enjoying and with today being yet another scorcher, the cleansing flavours of the Caribbean seem appropriate. Cold rice salads are totally underrated as rice is normally associated with curries and hot meals. This delicious one comes courtesy of Ottolenghi- the salad king. I always eat brown wild rice or Camargue as its healthier and full of flavour and adds a welcome component to a meal. This salad definitely needs the Camargue rice as it adds colour and an amazing nutty flavour. Even cooking it infuses the kitchen with its tasty aroma. Don’t use white rice here as it just won’t work….on any level.

While this is devoured, its time to crack on with a proper birthday cake…..

Serves 4-5 easily (Adapted from Ottolenghi’s Plenty)

150g Camargue rice
100g wild brown rice
Bunch of basil, shredded
Bunch of mint leaves, shredded
Bunch of coriander, shredded
1 red pepper, sliced thinly
2 spring onions, sliced
1 fresh red chilli, chopped (seeds and all if you like it hot)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Juice ½ lime
1 mango, cubed into 2cm dice
60g roasted salted peanuts
50g desiccated coconut
Salt
1-2 tbsp oil

Boil the rice for about 20 minutes until cooked. Drain and spread out onto a large plate to cool.
Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl apart from the lemon and lime juice and the oil.
When the rice is cool, add to the other ingredients and gently toss together until combined. Squeeze over the lemon and lime juice and add enough oil to moisten the salad to your liking- I only added about 1 tbsp but add more if you like.

Note: This would be lovely with my Asian Salmon recipe!

Asian Salmon and Coconut Rice

May 17, 2013 Comments Off read Seafood

I’ve cooked this recipe far too many times in the past couple of weeks. With revision STILL on the go it is a fresh but really satisfying meal which is also a hopeless attempt at consuming some more oily fish to fuel my brain! I’ve been unhelpfully vague in the method as all depends on the rice, coconut milk and salmon you use which will vary the cooking time and the quantities a little. The timings will vary but use your instincts and aim for a crispy skinned dark soy salmon that is moist and just cooked with a creamy coconut rice. You may not get the timings perfect on the first shot but I guarantee you’ll make it again to get it right!

Serves 2

1 can coconut milk
4 oz brown/wild rice
2 salmon fillets
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp runny honey
2cm grated ginger
1 lime, zest and wedges for serving
Scattering of sesame seeds

Mix the soy, oils, ginger and honey together and leave the salmon to marinade in the mix for at least 1 hour in the fridge.
Bring the coconut milk to the boil with a small cup of hot water and simmer the rice gently for about 20-25 minutes until cooked. The coconut milk you use in terms of thickness will vary so top up with hot water if it starts to look dry or if it is a thick variety, dilute down. What you’re aiming for is for the rice to cook in the time that it takes the coconut milk to reduce so you should end up with a creamy rice. If it is still looking drowned towards the end of cooking, turn the heat up and simmer more strongly. I like to use brown rice for its nutty flavour and texture.
Once cooked, stir in the grated zest of the lime and keep warm.
While the rice is cooking, preheat your grill to high and (skin side up) grill your salmon for about 5 minutes depending on thickness, until just cooked and moist with a dark soy crisp skin.
Simmer the remaining marinade in a saucepan to warm and thicken.
Serve your salmon on top of your coconut rice drizzled with a little of the warm marinade. Scatter with a handful of sesame seeds and a wedge of lime for squeezing. Serve with steamed broccoli.

Green Risotto with Crispy Parma ham and Almonds

March 27, 2013 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

Risotto is such a versatile and satisfying meal even when, like last night, I was simply using up loose ends from the cupboard because I’d run out of food for the week. It can be made fancy and gourmet by the easy addition of some little tasty toppings which are totally open to interpretation….a poached egg on top is always a favourite of mine! As a risotto lover (and sane person) I always have risotto rice, parmesan cheese and butter in the house and with white wine never more than a stones throw away these few ingredients can always be used to make an endless amount of different variation on a risotto with whatever ingredients are to hand.

I tend to make risottos by instinctive quantities. It really doesn’t matter how much rice or stock you have weighted out as long as you taste as you go along and make sure that the consistency resembles that of loose porridge when ready. I usually use a large handful of rice per person and a pinch more for luck as cold risotto is perfect for arancini (see here).

Serves 2 generously

2 large handfuls of risotto rice
40g butter
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
2 sprigs thyme, leave picked
Small glass dry white wine
Hot chicken/vegetable stock
Handful of finely grated parmesan
2 handfuls of frozen peas
Small bunch mint, chopped
Handful of rocket leaves
½ lemon
2 slices of parma ham
Small handful of flaked almonds
Creme friache

Begin by boiling the peas for a good 5 minutes. (Keep a handful aside for garnish if you like) and blend the rest in a food processor with a splash of the stock until really smooth. Set aside.
Continue by melting half the butter in a pan with a teaspoon of oil. Soften the onion gently until translucent. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
Turn the heat up a little and add rice and fry until really hot. Add the white wine to let the rice simmer to absorb the wine.
Now add ladelfuls of the hot stock as each addition of liquid becomes absorbed by the rice, simmering gently over a low heat. The rice takes about 18 minutes to cook so keep adding as much stock as needed until the rice is just cooked and soft. Keep stirring all the time to make sure the starches are released and you get a really creamy texture.
As soon as the rice almost appears to plump up and double in volume and it is just cooked and soft to taste, add the lemon juice and season.
Now stir in the pea puree and mix evenly. If it thickens too much, add a splash of stock to keep it loose.
Add the other half of the butter, cut into cubes, and the grated parmesan. Cover quickly with a lid and take off the heat to rest.
While it rests for 5 minutes, fry the parma ham and flaked almonds in a little oil until crispy and golden and then drain on kitchen paper.
Now stir the melted cheese and butter evenly through the rested risotto and add the rocket and mint and stir to wilt down in the residual heat. If it thickens, add a splash of stock again to get a loose oozing consistency.
To serve, pour a generous portion into a warmed bowl. Top with a few whole peas, the crispy parma ham and toasted flaked almonds and a few teaspoons of creme fraiche if you like!

For tips on the perfect risotto or more definitive measurements, see here.

Horseradish Arancini with Roasted Beets

November 21, 2012 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

Leftovers can be all the more delicious if you give them a bit of time. With some leftover horseradish risotto….arancini were on the list, with some seasonally roasted beets and a vibrant and sweet pea puree.

1 quantity of leftover risotto, cold
Large bowl of fine white breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp plain flour
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley

Lay out 3 shallow bowls. Place the flour in one, the beaten egg in another and the breadcrumbs in the last.
Chop the parsley finely and add to the breadcrumbs with some seasoning.
Now take a spoonful of your cold risotto and form it into a golf ball. First roll in the flour, then the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs to coat. You can re-roll it into the egg and breadcrumbs again if you like, for a thicker coating.
Do this with the rest of the risotto.
Now heat some olive oil in a pan with a knob of butter. When it starts to sizzle, add the arancini and fry on a medium high heat until golden and the risotto is warm through. If they brown too quickly before they are hot in the middle, pop them in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.
Roast some beetroot in oil, with a scattering of cumin seed, salt and pepper for 45 minutes and serve alongside with some crushed peas.

Red Wine Poached Fillet steak on Horseradish Risotto

November 20, 2012 Comments Off read Meat

The first years harvest of our own homegrown (miniature I add) horseradish roots was the most judicious and pleasing reason to bring out the humble roast a few weekends ago. Star of the show, grated generously like hot, fierce confetti for a meaty beef groom and a fluffy, brunette, Yorkshire bride!

However, I love the smack this root gives and thought it would go dreamily in one of my favourite dishes- risotto. So this Sunday, instead of a roast, I opted for a rather extravagant (but all the same, delicious) wine poached steak to top my horseradish risotto. Drizzled greedily with a thick deep red wine reduction and some seasonal kale, I am set for the week!

200ml red wine
2 thyme sprigs
1 sprig rosemary
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
200ml beef stock
tbsp butter
tbsp flour
100g fillet/sirloin steak per person

Begin by adding together the wine, stock, herbs and garlic and one a medium heat, simmer until reduced by about half the amount.
It is important to ensure that the heat is too high so that the liquid is not boiling but gently simmering so your don’t boil your steak but poach it. Add your steak making sure that it is covered in the liquid but not drowning.
Poach gently for about 7 minutes for medium depending on the thickness of you steak. Mine was about 2cm thick.
Remove from the heat and allow to rest, covered, while you do the sauce.
Turn up the heat again and simmer to reduce by about half again.
Mix 1 tbsp of butter with 1 tbsp of flour in a bowl until you have a paste. This is called a beurre manie and is a method I regularly use to thicken sauces without the flour going lumpy and as a way to get yet more butter into a recipe!
When you have a soft paste, whisk this into the sauce and allow it to thicken. The addition of the butter will also add a nice creamy shine to your sauce. Once it is to the right texture, taste, season and sieve.
This can be served on anything from butternut squash, potato, celeriac or parsnip puree but I served mine on a horseradish risotto. I simply made a plain risotto recipe (minus the parmesan) with the addition of some rosemary and thyme and added 3 good tablespoons of fierce horseradish sauce (per 200g rice).
Top the risotto with your poached steak and drizzle with a splash of red wine sauce and some nutmeg seasoned kale.

Pumpkin, Pancetta and Sage Risotto with a poached egg

November 7, 2012 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

This seasons allotment pumpkin harvest certainly and surprisingly earnt its keep this year which is my excuse for the popular pumpkin theme these last few weeks. As ten chubby, overfed pumpkins sat apprehensively on the wall outside my backdoor, I had originally thought them unsuitable for eating, I had already devised a family tree of characters to make my own set of halloween faces! However, as I cut into their dense, creamy flesh, I realised they were much too good to waste.

So I knocked up a vat of oozing, cheesey, creamy and vibrantly orange halloween-themed risotto. Topped with a poached egg, or as pictured, a cool quinelle of mascarpone, it went down a treat. I roasted my pumpkin to get the most from its flavours with a little added crushed coriander seed to give you a crackle of surprise in every other mouthful.

Serves 4

1 small pumpkin/butternut squash
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a pestle and mortar
3 garlic cloves, left in their skins
Olive oil
200g risotto rice
Hot chicken or vegetable stock (about 1 pint)
1 glass dry white wine
1 onion, chopped
Few sprigs thyme
25g butter
Parmesan, grated
Handful of sage leaves
150g pancetta or smoked bacon
1 egg/Mascarpone to serve

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut the pumpkin in halve and scoop out the seeds and reserve (you can fry these in oil). Cut into small quarters or large chunks and drizzle with oil, scatter with salt and pepper and the coriander seeds. I chucked in a few garlic cloves in their skins here too, as I never miss this opportunity as they go all sweet and sticky.
Roast for about 40-50 minutes until the flesh is soft and scoopable. Use a spoon to scoop the flesh out into a food processor or a large bowl and throw the skins away. Squeeze the sugary garlic from their skins and add to the pumpkin. Mash in a processor with a splash of hot stock to loosen or with a masher in a bowl. Set aside to keep warm.
Meanwhile or afterwards, begin the risotto base. Melt the butter with a splash of oil in a large pan over a medium low heat. Soften the onion until translucent and then add the thyme leaves and season.
Add the rice and stir until beginning to turn translucent and it is hot to touch. Add the wine and simmer until absorbed.
Now turn the heat down so that it gently simmers and add ladlefuls of your hot stock to the rice, adding another once each had been absorbed. Don’t let it dry out however. (For tips on the perfect risotto see here) The whole process should take about 15-18 minutes with continual stirring.
Meanwhile, heat a hot frying pan and cook the pancetta or bacon until crisp. Add the sage leaves at the end for a minute until crisp then set aside.
After about 15 minutes, test the risotto. The rice should be nearly done or a little al dente.
Now stir in most of the pumpkin puree. It will thicken considerably so add more stock to get a oozy, loose and molten texture.
Stir in the pancetta and sage and season to taste.
Once the consistency is loose enough and the rice is cooked, take off the heat. Add the parmesan and a squeeze of lemon and cover with a lid and let it sit for a minute or so to rest. Then stir together when the cheese has melted.
Spoon into shallow bowls and top with extra sage, and if wanted, a spoonful of creamy mascarpone or a ‘runny-in-the-middle’ poached egg!

This recipe is also lovely with walnuts or chestnuts for added crunchy texture!

Wild Mushroom and Marsala Risotto with thyme and mascarpone

September 17, 2012 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

An oozing, Autumnal, deep, rich, silky and moorish risotto. This can be, and I assure you- will be, eaten with nothing but a trusty fork, eyes closed with a satisfied smile on your face. As the last rays of sunshine tiptoe off back to Australia leaving behind a dark gallery of evenings and a steady chilly drizzle….not to worry, this will solve any post summer blues, I promise. Because, honestly, who doesn’t love cheesey buttery and smooth warming dinners (unless of course you don’t like mushrooms)…

Risotto is the most relaxing way to spend a evening in the kitchen, unwinding with a glass of iced white, music and some mindless stirring with a wooden spoon….bliss. [See my tips for risotto making] (Serves 4)

Risotto Base

300g risotto rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
Bunch thyme, leaves picked
150ml Marsala wine (or white wine)
Vegetable stock- About 1 ½ pints
1 bulb garlic
50g grated Parmesan
60g unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp lemon juice
Flat-leaf parsley to serve, chopped
Mascarpone, to serve
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Mushrooms

500g mixed mushrooms- I used chesnut and button, sliced
Handful of dried wild mushrooms, soaked in 200ml boiling water for 20 minutes
1 clove garlic, crushed
Handful of parsley, chopped
Olive oil
Knob of butter

Preheat the oven to 220°C and roast the garlic bulb whole, drizzled with a bit of oil for 30 minutes. Soak the dried mushrooms in boiling water.
Now begin with the risotto base by heating a tbsp of olive oil and a knob of butter in a large frying pan on a medium-low heat and soften the onion, celery and thyme leaves until translucent but not coloured. Season
While this is softening, heat 1 tbsp of oil and a knob of butter in another frying pan and saute the raw mushrooms to release and evapourate the juices (about 8-10 minutes) and to brown them. Don’t be tempted to crowd the pan, so do this in batches if necessary. After about 10 minutes, add the garlic and the parsley and cook for a few minutes.
Reserve the mushroom soaking liquid and chop the soaked dried mushrooms and add them to the frying ones. Then set aside this mixture.
Using forks, remove the (should be) softened, sweetened garlic and crush to a thick garlicky paste in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt.
Back to the risotto, add the rice to the softened veg and toast on a medium heat until translucent and hot to touch. Add the Marsala wine (or white wine) and simmer gently. Now add a ladle of hot stock to the mixture, and on a low heat, simmer gently until it is all absorbed. Continue adding ladles of stock, making sure it does not dry out but is also not swamped. The rice should expand as it absorbs the liquid and this process should take about 18-20 minutes. Keep adding stock until the rice is cooked, with a slight bite and the texture is oozy. Now add the garlic paste and mix in.
Now, the rice should be cooked. Stir in the reserved mushrooms.
Take the pan off the heat, add a squeeze of lemon juice, the parmesan and scatter with the cubed butter (you can add as much butter as you like, the more you add the shinier and creamier it will taste- restaurants are known to use up to 200g to get that decadent texture and taste). Cover with a lid and leave for 2 minutes off the heat.
After this time, mix gently to mix in the melted additions and add a touch of reserved mushroom stock if to thick. It should ‘ooze’ and be served in a shallow soup bowl- not dry and stiff on the plate.
Serve topped with chopped parsley, a spoonful of cool, creamy mascarpone and drizzle with truffle/olive oil if you want!

WINE: The depth and richness of this dish is robust enough to stand up to something regional from Italy. Here I’m thinking a hearty red from Valpolicella, Italy. While you could in fact use a splash in your risotto or make a devine Veronese Risotto as a replacement of the Marsala, better still enough a glass of Amarone della Valpolicella such as the 2010 Musella available at Armit Wines.