Mushroom Risotto with Fontina & Sparkling Wine
Rich, creamy, and flavorful. To the basic risotto this dish adds earthy shiitake mushrooms, slightly pungent Fontina cheese, and crisp, sparkling white wine.
Making risotto is easy, just stir it fairly constantly, so the starchy rice doesn’t stick hard to the pan. If you use the right rice and a good vegetable or chicken stock, you will have perfect risotto.
If you enjoy risotto, the easiest way to make it often is to prepare a large batch of vegetable stock (as much as will fit in your biggest pot with a bunch of vegetables), and freeze it in quart-size freezer bags. Then you’ll always have a savory base on-hand for delicious risotto.
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Biba’s Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities by Biba Caggiano
7 cups vegetable broth or canned low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small yellow onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 pound chanterelle or shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean and diced
2 cups Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano rice
1 cup sparkling wine or dry white wine
1/4 pound Fontina cheese, finely diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Heat the broth in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it is pale yellow and soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and stir until lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook until it is coated with the savory base and begins to whiten, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine and stir until most of it has evaporated. Add about 1 cup of the hot broth, or just enough to barely cover the rice. Cook, stirring, until the broth has been almost completely absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring the rice in this manner, adding broth 1 cup or so at a time, until the rice is tender but still a bit firm to the bite, about 17 minutes.
When most of the last addition of broth is incorporated, add the Fontina. Stir quickly until the cheese is completely melted and the rice has a thick, creamy consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley, taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve.
The flavor base
The rice is added, and tossed with the savory base
Simmering in the wine
The rice grows big & fluffy as it absorbs the stock
The Fontina melts into the risotto and brings it all together
