Porcini risotto

Are you still sticking to your New Year’s resolutions? I’m not. I didn’t make any. I did, however, resolve to do something for an entirely different reason. On 2 January, my friend turned 40, and as we were born in the same year, it dawned on me that I’d be turning 40 this year too.

Do you understand? 40. Just two digits, supposedly. Not such big ones, supposedly. You’d think 4 wasn’t even halfway up the scale. And yet it somehow hurts. When our friends walked into Bartek’s singing “Czterdzieści lat minęło…” — “Forty years have passed…” — it struck me that engineer Kwiatkowski, who had always seemed like an old codger in the television series, was precisely that age. An old codger?

Well, let’s not go too far. With a little effort, perhaps he won’t be so old. My outlook on life isn’t that old, after all. But because of that 40, I decided that by the day I reached it, I’d improve a little. If you read the blog, you’ll know that things improved when I gave up cigarettes a year and a half ago. My health, perhaps, but definitely my waistline — it expanded.

So by my birthday in May, which gives me some time, I’d like there to be a little less of me. Perhaps considerably less. That brings us to today’s recipe, which is how I began the year. I’ve made it several times already, but thought it would be good to start with something that breaks every resolution. You know how resolutions work: breaking them is the best part, or at least the easiest. Perhaps that’s even a method: break them straight away, then go back to them. I’ve got some time, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

And this New Year, I wish you resolutions broken only in ways as pleasant as this porcini risotto. Because, believe me, it is unbelievable. Beyond imagining. If you don’t like risotto because it’s usually bland and reminds you of rice gruel, this one will change your mind.

It’s the sort of risotto that lifts this Italian dish to the level of a restaurant with several stars. Best of all, it isn’t that difficult. Admittedly, you need to stand at the pan and stir non-stop for half an hour, but you’ll discover just how worthwhile that is when you break your New Year’s resolution. Everyone, break yours with this porcini risotto. Highly recommended!

At a glance:

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Serves: 3 – 4 people

Calories: if your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, come back to this recipe in a fortnight; that’s when even the most determined resolutions go out of the window

Ingredients for brilliant porcini risotto:

• 500 grams frozen porcini mushrooms (fresh ones are fine too, but definitely not dried)
• 300 ml dry white wine
• 3 shallots (you can substitute 1 large white onion)
• half a red chilli 
• half a block of butter
• 200 grams Parmesan
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 500 grams arborio rice (use anything else and it won’t be risotto)
• a large bunch of fresh parsley
• salt
• ground black pepper
• olive oil

Creamy porcini risotto recipe:

It’s fairly straightforward. It’s best to prepare all the ingredients beforehand: finely chop the parsley, grate the Parmesan, finely chop the chilli and onion, and thaw the mushrooms and slice them, not too thinly. I prepared the stock; it can be lukewarm, although you can also use it quite hot in this recipe.

One important thing: if you buy frozen porcini or other mushrooms, or have frozen ones you’ve picked yourself, don’t thaw them completely. Take them out of the freezer, wait about 10 minutes and slice them while still half-frozen. Otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy mess 😉

What next? I put a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a frying pan and heated them. I fried the onion and chilli for about 5 minutes, then added the sliced mushrooms. After about 3 – 4 minutes of frying, I added the rice and kept stirring and frying until it turned translucent. Then I poured in the white wine and, still stirring, waited for the rice to absorb it. At that point, I started adding stock, two soup ladlefuls at a time. Repeat this process about 5 – 6 times, adding the next portion of stock once the rice has absorbed the previous one. The whole trick is to keep the heat moderate — 4 – 5 on my induction hob’s 1 – 10 scale — and keep stirring while the rice absorbs the stock and the mushrooms’ aroma. Continue until it’s al dente, which for risotto means the rice isn’t completely soft, but slightly firm on the outside and perfectly soft inside. Start checking after about 20 minutes, tasting to see whether the rice is right. Add stock slowly and in small amounts so you don’t overdo it and end up with rice sitting in stock in the pan. The liquid needs to reduce quite substantially, as you can see in the photographs.

Finally, I took the pan off the heat and added the fresh parsley, keeping some for decoration, almost all the grated Parmesan and half a block of butter. I covered it and left it for 5 minutes without stirring. After 5 minutes, I mixed everything together — the Parmesan and butter had started to melt — and served it garnished with parsley leaves and the remaining Parmesan. And that’s the end of the recipe. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!