By Chef Olivier Quinn
My wife and I recently had a great dinner at a small, family run, local Italian restaurant. I was so impressed by the risotto, that I was inspired to share a risotto recipe with you for this installment.
This recipe is from one of my favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Mustards Grill.
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By Chef Olivier Quinn
My wife and I recently had a great dinner at a small, family run, local Italian restaurant. I was so impressed by the risotto, that I was inspired to share a risotto recipe with you for this installment.
This recipe is from one of my favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Mustards Grill.
Heat the stock and simmer in a saucepan to keep it hot. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the leek and onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Stir in the cinnamon and rice and cook for 2 minutes to coat with the butter and oil. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is almost completely absorbed.
Add the hot stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing the liquid to be absorbed by the rice before adding more, until you’ve used 4 cups of the stock. At this point, heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of the butter in a second sauté pan over high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and thyme, season with salt and pepper to taste and sauté the mushrooms as you continue to cook the risotto, adding the remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time as before. Remove the mushrooms from the heat when they are done.
When the final 1/2 cup goes into the risotto, stir in the sautéed mushrooms and their juices and remove the cinnamon stick. Check the rice for doneness. It should be creamy, but slightly al dente at the center. Tasting helps to indicate when the risotto is ready, a total time of about 17 minutes from when the wine evaporated. Add more stock or water if necessary to complete the cooking. Stir in the remaining butter and the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Properly cooked risotto is rich and creamy but still with some resistance or bite: al dente, and with separate grains. The traditional texture is fairly fluid, or all’onda (“wavy”). It should be served on flat dishes and it should easily spread out but not have excess watery liquid around the perimeter. It must be eaten at once as it continues to cook in its own heat and can become too dry with the grains too soft.
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6 1/2 cups stock (mushroom, chicken or vegetable)
4 to 6 tablespoons butter
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, all of the white and 2 inches of the light green parts,
cut in half lengthwise, then thinly siced crosswise
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice
1 cup dry white wine
3/4 pound mixed fresh wild mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces Taleggio cheese, cut into small dice
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