Mushroom and chicken risotto recipe
Comments(14)
Despite a few clouds this afternoon it has been sunny all day. Only 12 hours ago I was wrapped up like Eskimo Nell and considering collecting twigs for a fire in the igloo.
On a warm summer evening I love concocting a risotto bursting with summer flavours and colour. Last night, I flicked on the heater in the kitchen and mulled over the menu for supper. I wanted deep earthy flavours and tones. Comfort and warmth were a priority. There were chestnut mushrooms in the fridge and Arborio rice on the shelf. Perfect.
I enjoyed making this dish, turning over the rice and mushrooms and savouring the aroma. I tried adding pesto as we did with our mushroomy mushrooms recipe. When it was cooked, I divided the risotto in half. I made enough risotto for 4 so as to have enough to make Richard’s superb arancini tomorrow. In one half I stirred through a couple of small handfuls of cooked diced chicken (actually just one large chicken breast but don’t tell D) and this heated through in one half of the risotto whilst I threw a salad together.
By the end I found that I had made an animal of a dish. The soft mushrooms and rice had a silky pelt feel. The pan of risotto looked as if it would happily spring from the stove and curl up in the basket with the dogs.
We feasted.
Mushroom and chicken risotto recipe (enough for 4 hungry people)
Ingredients:
- 2-3 large tbls of olive oil
- 25g of butter
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 1 fat clove of garlic (crushed and chopped)
- 400g of Arborio rice
- 750ml – 1 litre of stock (I used marigold 2tsp to 500ml of boiling water)
- 200-250g of chestnut mushrooms (quickly rinsed and sliced fine)
- 10g of dried wild mushrooms (soaked in a little boiling water to cover for 10 mins and then chopped fine, reserve the juice)
- 1 heaped tsp of pesto
- 2 large pinches of good Italian herbs, or fresh herbs from the garden such as a mixture of oregano, margoram, thyme, chopped fine (you’d need about 2 tsp)
- 2 large cooked chicken breasts
- 5 tbsp of finely grated parmesan (3 to add and 2 to serve as a garnish)
- 1 tbsp of flat leaf parsley torn (to serve)
Method:
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a sauté pan or large casserole
- Add the onion and cook gently until translucent
- Add the crushed, chopped garlic
- Add the rice and stir to cover the grains with the oil
- Add the dried chopped mushrooms and juice
- Stir in the chestnut mushrooms
- Add the pesto and herbs and the stock, a cupful at a time, stirring the rice until the stock is absorbed before adding the next cup. This will take roughly 20 mins or so. The rice needs to have a softness and bite
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the cooked chopped chicken breasts and 3 tbsp of parmesan. Pop a lid on the pan, these will heat through in the risotto within a few minutes.
- Finally scatter with parsley and serve
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Thanks for the link to the arancini recipe – although the chance of left-over risotto in our house is unlikely (will have to set some aside and hide it).
Snap!!! I am on a bit of a risotto bender at the moment. I have made chicken and mushroom risotto twice already this month. Next time I will try your recipe.
That sounds yummy!!! I do so love rissotto. And just recently made the arancini and they are lovely!!! May have to have this tomorrow for supper.
That looks great – keep us posted about the arancini, please – I’ve never managed to make it for exactly the same reason as Celia!
Joanna
Hi Celia,
I made a massive amount of risotto, divided it and hid it before Danny came downstairs. This worked.
Hi KJ,
I love risotto too. Hopefully soon I will have mastered the arancini.
Hi Pat,
I reckon that the arancini would be great in a packed lunch, as they taste good cold.
Hi Joanna,
This is only the second time that I have managed to keep some risotto. Arancini makers need cunning and stealth!
Looks like a nice recipe. Think we’ll give it a go tonight despite my suspicion that dried mushrooms may be hard to find in our Sainsburys.
Hi David
I do hope that you found dried mushrooms in Sainsbury’s. This is a great dish for a chilly night. Real comfort food.
Thanks alot for your recipe. it worked realy well with my food coursework and can be sure that i will be making it very soon.
Hi Alex
I am so pleased that the recipe fitted the bill!
Tried this last night. Really tasty, loved it. Will definately do again. With my electric cooker on low heat I had to cook for a bit longer but worth the wait! Yum. Thank you.
Hi Heather
I think this is a great risotto for a chilly wintry evening.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Not a big risotto fan, but my husband thought he had died and gone to heaven when I made this. I am however eternally grateful for enlightening me about arancini. I had never heard of them before and on my first try they were more hockey ball/scotch egg size. They are delicious and much to my husbands’delight I will be making risotto more frequently just so I can have these little balls of ambrosia. Thank you
Hi Cher
I love the arancini too and only heard about them last summer. Risotto is worth playing about with as it is so easy. I reckon that it need loads of herbs and punchy flavours.
Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a comment.
[...] I googled for recipes, and found both the risotto and a stock on a cracking little blog called The Cottage Smallholder. I’d noticed that Whittingstall had included sweetcorn, stripping it straight off the cob, so I searched for tips on how to do this and got some indispensable advice from another blog – Something in Season – as to how to ensure that you don’t lose any flavour. These are the type of blogs that I tend to get excited about. They show little pretence of being anything more than one person’s perspective, but with information and insight of potential value to a broad audience. [...]