I've always heard that risotto is difficult to make. I like a challenge, so I decided to give it a go. Fortunately, I found it to be rather straightforward, just time-consuming. So if you have some time to spare and want to spend it babysitting a saucepan full of rice, I really recommend trying your hand at this risotto. On top of that, it's mushroom risotto. Perhaps the PERFECT type of risotto and an absolutely delicious addition to this Fall Flavors series. Enjoy!

The Recipe

What to use:

8 c. chicken stock
½ a red onion, finely chopped
12 oz. mixed mushrooms
2 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
1 t. thyme
1 lemon
2 c. Arborio rice
½ c. Parmesan cheese
salt + pepper

What to do:

Warm the chicken stock in a stock pot over low heat. This is really important because you only want to add warm stock to the rice; never cold stock.

Heat 1 T. olive in a large metal saucepan. Add and sauté the red onion for 2 minutes on medium heat. Add your mushrooms, 1 T. butter, the thyme and some salt + pepper. You can be rather creative in your choice of mushrooms. I used portobellos (roughly chopped) and button mushrooms (sliced). You just want to make sure that the pieces are bite-size when they are cooked.

Cook the mushrooms until they are softened and set aside all but about 2 T. of the mixture. Add the rice along with the remaining olive and butter to the pan. Stir the rice until it is coated and opaque. Add the juice of the lemon.

Now comes the fun! Over the next 20 minutes, you are going to slowly combine all that chicken stock with that rice. To do this, ladle 1 cup of stock into the saucepan and stir the rice until the liquid is completely absorbed. Then repeat that process until you run out of stock and the risotto has become a creamy, al-dente masterpiece If you do this right, you won’t even need to add any cream to make it creamy. The final step is add the rest of mushrooms back into the risotto, season with salt + pepper and stir in the Parmesan.