The realisation that I will soon be the same age that Callum was when he placed second in the 2010 series of Masterchef Australia brings with it an overwhelming sense of un-accomplishment. I won't pretend to remember the dishes Callum plated every week, but to get him to the top two, they must have been amazing. Since Masterchef, Callum decided to use his magical cooking powers to write a cookbook for the peasants, aka those who want to cook delicious food without requiring any fancy skills or ingredients; aka me.
I love this book. Besides from plenty of easy-to-recreate dishes, Callum has included sections aimed to help master some cooking basics, as well as teaching foundational cooking knowledge, with everything from how to find the right cut of meat to basic food safety and hygiene guidelines.
This dish comes from the 'Something Special' section and is one of the more time-intensive recipes. Nevertheless, it was well worth the time and resulted in a deeelliciousss concoction of some of my favourite things; carbs, mushrooms, and carbs.
When cooking for this blog, I do attempt to stick to the recipes as closely as possible so as to achieve the purpose of actually testing the quality/reliability of each cookbook. I did make some tweaks to this recipe, mostly due to the availability of ingredients. Winter has turned our once beautiful herb garden into a few bare and broken stems, so I had to make do with a small sprinkling of dried herbs in lieu of fresh parsley and thyme. I'm not big on goat's cheese so er... the recipe strayed from its actual name (Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Risotto) but er doodedoo let's ignore dat1. Also, we only had regular button mushrooms at home so unfortunately the dish lacked the intensity of mushroomy flavour that could have been provided if I used a mixture of shiitake, king brown etc as suggested. However I still enjoyed this risotto very much and although I couldn't fully appreciate the flavour of this dish (excellent idea to make something like this when my sense of taste was severely compromised due to sickness...), it was still fabulous. Try this out when you're feeling particularly patient, it's well worth the wait!
Mushroom Risotto
Adapted from The Starter Kitchen by Callum Hann
Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
2 garlic gloves, crushed
2/3 cup arborio rice
30g butter
60mL white wine
10g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1/4 cup hot water, drained (reserve the soaking liquid)
500mL salt-reduced chicken or vegetable stock, diluted with 125mL boiling water
250g mixed mushrooms, cut into pieces
3 thyme sprigs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese and black pepper, to taste
Method
In a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, cook the onions with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook until soft, and then increase the heat to medium-high and add the rice. Toast for one minute, stirring to combine the grains with the onion mixture.
Add half the butter, allowing it to melt and coat the other ingredients. Then add the wine and allow to bubble away for about a minute. Add the poricini soaking liquid and a ladleful of stock. Continue to add the stock one ladle at a time, allowing the previous amount to be absorbed before adding the next. Stir occasionally so as to keep all the rice coated in the liquid. If all the liquid has been added and the rice is still not cooked through, add some extra water and continue cooking. I used approximately 1/2 cup stock mixed with 1 cup of water extra as I like the rice to be on the soft side of al dente, but the amount you need is obviously dependent on your desired consistency. Taste after every extra addition to make sure you do not overcook it.
While the risotto is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a smaller frypan over medium-high heat and in two batches, cook the mushrooms until browned. Add the porcini, season with salt and pepper and keep warm until the rice is cooked through.
When you are satisfied with the risotto, season with pepper and add the parmesan, parsley and remaining butter. Callum serves his risotto with the mushrooms distrubuted equally amongst the bowls of rice. To me that feels like serving spaghetti with the bolognaise on top as opposed to mixed through, something I've never really warmed to, and so I stirred the mushrooms into the rice; do what floats ya boat!
Sit down, eat and enjoyyyyyyy :)
Hann, C 2012, The Starter Kitchen, Murdoch Books Australia, Millers Point.
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