The Best Mushroom Risotto
Prep
15m
Cook
30m
Total
45m
Bigly says
Listen. We're doing risotto. The BEST risotto. The most tremendous risotto ever stirred by a human arm — and I have stirred a LOT of risottos, more risottos than any single person walking the planet, probably more than every chef in northern Italy combined, which is saying something because northern Italy has a LOT of chefs, the chef-to-citizen ratio up there is OFF THE CHARTS, every third person is wearing an apron, beautiful region, the best region for risotto until now, because now there is BiglyEats and the playing field has been LEVELED.
Here's what nobody tells you: risotto is not hard. Risotto is NOT hard. People love to make it sound impossible — they love the mystique, they love acting like you need a MASTERCLASS to stir a pot — and it's a lie. A flat lie. Risotto is twenty-five minutes of light stirring while you sip a glass of the wine you're cooking with. That's it. That's the whole job. If you can stir, you can risotto. My grandmother taught me this — and she was a tough woman, the toughest, she once stared down a butcher who tried to slip her week-old veal, the man WEPT — and she said: stand at the stove, stir, drink your wine, don't panic. Twenty-five minutes. Done.
The real secret is the stock. Hot stock. HOT. Boiling next to the risotto like a faithful little assistant. If you pour cold stock into risotto you have committed a crime, an actual crime against rice, the rice will SEIZE UP and you will have made glue. Beautiful glue, maybe, the best glue, but glue. Hot stock. Always. The other thing — and this is the move nobody on the cooking shows admits — you toast the rice in butter until the edges go translucent BEFORE the wine hits. Two minutes. Don't skip it. That's where the nuttiness comes from. That's where the magic LIVES. It's just a fact.
Ingredients
- 6 cupslow-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 ozdried porcini mushrooms(the porcini is the cheat code, do not skip)
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 4 tbsp, dividedunsalted butter
- 8 ozcremini mushrooms, sliced
- 4 ozshiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- 1 tsp, plus more to tastekosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 2 mediumshallots, finely diced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1.5 cupsArborio or Carnaroli rice(Carnaroli if you can find it, Arborio if you cannot, never long-grain, never)
- 3/4 cupdry white wine(something you would actually drink)
- 3/4 cup, plus more for servingParmigiano-Reggiano, grated
- 1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- 1
Bring the broth to a low simmer in a saucepan. Add the dried porcini and let them rehydrate for 10 minutes. Lift the porcini out, chop coarsely, and reserve. Keep the broth at a bare simmer on a back burner.
- 2
Heat the olive oil and 2 tbsp of the butter in a wide heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Add the cremini and shiitake mushrooms in a single layer and season with half the salt and pepper. Do not stir for the first 3 minutes — let them brown. Then stir and cook another 4-5 minutes until deeply golden. Transfer to a plate.
- 3
Reduce heat to medium. Add the shallots to the same pan and cook 3 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
- 4
Add the rice and toast it in the pan for 2 minutes, stirring, until the edges of the grains turn translucent.
- 5
Pour in the white wine and stir constantly until almost fully absorbed, about 2 minutes.
- 6
Add the chopped porcini and a ladle of hot broth (about 3/4 cup). Stir gently and steadily until almost fully absorbed. Repeat, adding broth one ladle at a time and stirring, until the rice is creamy and al dente — about 18-22 minutes total. You may not use all the broth.
- 7
Stir in the sauteed mushrooms, remaining 2 tbsp butter, Parmigiano, and thyme. Beat vigorously for 30 seconds to emulsify — this is the mantecatura, the creamy finish.
- 8
Taste, adjust salt and pepper, and let rest 1 minute off the heat. The risotto should flow like lava on the plate — not stand up in a mound. Loosen with a splash more hot broth if needed.
- 9
Serve immediately in shallow bowls, topped with parsley and extra Parmigiano.
One more thing
You serve this risotto and people will look at you differently. They will. The way they hold their forks changes. The way they say your name changes. Suddenly you're not 'the one who burns toast' anymore — you're 'the risotto person,' and that, my friends, is an UPGRADE in life. Risotto person is a title you carry forever. Nobody can take it from you. Now go pour the wine, stand at the stove, stir slow, and become the legend you were meant to be. Tremendous.
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