new favorite risotto recipe

[Run Amok]

I made this last night. It's amazing. It's sooo rich though, I would probably reduce the cream and butter substantially and it woudl still be fine. As always- there is room for tweaking but, as-is, it was pretty damn good!

Leeks:
2 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), halved, thinly sliced crosswise (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup whipping cream

Mushrooms:
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, cut into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick slices
1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 tablespoon white truffle oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

Risotto:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, divided
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups (or more) hot vegetable broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons shaved or chopped black truffle (optional)
Chopped fresh parsley PreparationFor leeks:
Bring leeks and cream to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until leeks are tender and cream is thick, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm before continuing.

For mushrooms:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss all ingredients on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until mushrooms are tender and light brown around edges, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

For risotto:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and stir until almost all liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup hot broth. Simmer until broth is almost absorbed, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add more broth, 1 cup at a time, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding next and stirring often, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes longer. Stir in leek mixture, mushroom mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cheese, and truffle. Transfer to large bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.

Market Tip
White truffle oil is sold at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets. Black truffles are available at specialty foods stores and from igourmet.com. A flavorful substitute for the shaved truffles is the Truffle Gatherers Sauce ($19), which can be ordered from fungusamongus.com.

[sweetie darling]

That sounds REALLY good. I've got some white truffle oil that's fabulous. Did you also use the black truffle?

I'm going to put this on my list of to-trys. Thx! 

[Desert Tortoise]

Looks interesting. I'm a big risotto fan and make it about once every two weeks or so. The butter and cream do seem a bit heavy since most require no cream and about 3 tbls of butter, but butter is essential to making good risotto. So I see no harm.

I'll probably give it a try. Thank you.

[Run Amok]

It was decadent, to say the least. I am not sure the leek cream mixture added significantly to the dish so I think you could either leave it out all together or I think I will try just doing the leeks in olive oil next time. I found the mushrooms needed about 1/2 the butter called for- next time I might just use olive oil though. I would use 3 tablespoons of butter next time for the risotto- or, if I went for the cream and skip the butter at the end.

The recipe, as written, is a bit time consuming because they have you do it sequentially. If you can multi-task in the kitchen I would prep the leeks, shrooms & onions. Then, get the shrooms roasting* and start the risotto. Do the leeks while the risotto is cooking. About the time the risotto is done- the shrooms will be too.

I would probably do 1.5lbs of shrooms next time and/or put them on top because I felt they got lost in the mix and they were SO tasty.

I used the truffle oil (I found an itty bitty bottle of it for $10- which wasn't too bad) but skipped the shaved truffle on top. Instead, I just added about 1 tablespoon of the oil to finish. That was just fine for us, but YMMV.

I love risotto and am a veg so made this as a main dish. I had 5 people over and they licked the pan clean. This would make a fabulous acompanyment to a roasted bird of some type (chicken or cornish hens). I paired it with a beet salad and a friend brought a squash side that was yummy also.

*watch them- some people reported they didn't take the full 45 minutes- I stirred them every 15 minutes and they did take the full 45- but I like them VERY roasty

[parsarothy]

I make lots of risotto dishes, too, and though this recipe sounds yummy, it looks unnecessarily rich.  I'd probably leave out the cream entirely and replace a good amount of the butter (if not all) with olive oil.  I'd also probably use some dried mushrooms and use the soaking liquid for flavor in place of the truffles.

[Run Amok]

I think there are a lot of ways you could tweak this and it would still be delish (the beauty of risotto!). I was specifically searching for a truffle risotto recipe because it was a celebration for a friend who had asked me to make risotto and her favorite dish is truffle mac & cheese. I was looking for something that combined her faves and this hit the nail on the head. But, yeah, not something I'd make every night! 

[parsarothy]

I think there are a lot of ways you could tweak this and it would still be delish (the beauty of risotto!). I was specifically searching for a truffle risotto recipe because it was a celebration for a friend who had asked me to make risotto and her favorite dish is truffle mac & cheese. I was looking for something that combined her faves and this hit the nail on the head. But, yeah, not something I'd make every night! 

Wow, you're an awesome friend.   

[sweetie darling]

FWIW ... I found white truffle oil at both TJ Maxx and Marshall's - 8.5 oz. bottle for $5.99.
What a flavor!

[Run Amok]

wow! I never would have thought to look there!

I *love* the flavor. It's everything I love about garlic and then some!

[Desert Tortoise]

I just discovered a neat little trick for risotto and thought some folks might like it. I was making some risotto tonight but realized half way through the cooking that I didn't have any Parmasan cheese. (Yes, I know that was dumb and I should have gotten all the ingredients out before and blah, blah, blah.) 

So I'm digging through the fridge trying to figure out what to do for the cheese, and there's the mozzarella and the feta cheese. This is stupid, of course, since mozzarella does not have the bite of Parmasa and feta doesn't melt into a creamy sauce, but fuk it. I got a kid to feed and I don't care.

It worked, at least for us.

The mozzarella does a good job of melting and blending in with the risotto to form the sauce, while the cubes of feta became hot and soft but maintained their form to a degree. They acted like little soft cheese bombs mixed in with the risotto.

[martiniqueeni]

My "go to" risotto recipe calls for 1/4 cup of cream.   I substitute a 1/4 cup of whatever white wine is open.   The arborio rice and parmesan cheese carry the "creaminess" of the risotto without the addition of cream.

[caribougrrl]

I defer to Jamie Oliver on risotto... lots of vermouth, home made stock, lots of cheese.

[martiniqueeni]

lots of vermouth,

Excellent suggestion!    I'm going to try that next time.   Thanks, Bou!

[caribougrrl]

Excellent suggestion!    I'm going to try that next time.   Thanks, Bou!

thank the Naked Chef!

the vermouth holds better in risotto... less likely to get lost (flavour-wise) than white wine, particularly if you put other flavourful things in it... good for someone like me, since I approach cooking the same way with most things in my life; I'm not much for subtlety...

[Ileneforward]

 

[caribougrrl]

bump

and why not?  another risotto recipe: http://moosecurrry.blogspot.ca/2013/08/ode-to-chanterelles.html