Creamy Mushroom Risotto with Porcini and Shimeji

This creamy mushroom risotto recipe brings together Swiss brown, dried porcini and shimeji mushrooms for a mix of earthy flavour. The porcini brings the deep, savoury flavour, while the fresh mushrooms keep every spoonful interesting. Risotto is a staple in Italian cuisine for good reason. It’s so versatile that it can be paired with almost any meat or fish, and with countless variations to try, it never has to get boring. In this recipe, I’m sharing how I make risotto with three different types of mushrooms: Swiss brown, shimeji and porcini. Creamy, earthy and savoury, it’s designed to go alongside meals like my seafood stew, Florentine-style T-bone or any of my other grilled meat, fish or protein recipes.

I think risotto has picked up a rather unfair reputation for being difficult. There are a few things to pay attention to, but once your vegetables are chopped, your mushrooms are ready and your stock is hot, the job is mostly adding liquid, stirring and tasting. You can manage that without an Italian grandmother appearing over your shoulder to judge your stirring technique.

Give the rice a gentle simmer and stir regularly so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. You don’t need to beat it into submission, and you don’t need to wait until the pan is bone dry before adding more stock. I want the rice cooking steadily, with enough liquid to move around as I stir. Taste towards the end, because the rice will tell you much more than the clock will.

Ingredients for mushroom risotto

The mushrooms do plenty of the work here, but the rice, stock and finishing ingredients matter too. See the recipe card for the full quantities.

• Arborio rice: This is the risotto rice I use. As it cooks and releases starch into the stock, the liquid becomes creamy. Leave it unwashed so you keep that starch.
• Swiss brown, dried porcini and shimeji mushrooms: Three different mushrooms, each bringing something useful to the pan. More on those below.
• Onion, garlic and celery: These make the savoury base. Chop them finely so they soften into the rice rather than leaving big crunchy pieces.
• Hot stock: Keep it hot in a separate saucepan, ready to add as the rice cooks. If you use stock cubes, taste before adding extra salt.
• White wine: Adds a little acidity to balance the butter and cheese. Use a dry white wine you enjoy drinking.
• Butter and parmesan: Stir these through at the end for a rich, creamy finish.

The Mushrooms: Swiss brown, porcini and shimeji

I like to use the combination of these three mushrooms for the balance of flavour and flavour.

Swiss brown mushrooms bring that familiar earthy mushroom flavour and a little bite. I thinly slice them and divide them into two batches. The first goes in with the softened vegetables; the second goes in about five minutes before the rice is ready. Those later slices still need to cook through, so keep them thin.

Dried porcini bring a deeper, more concentrated mushroom flavour. I soak them first, then chop them before adding them to the rice.

Shimeji mushrooms, definitely not a traditional mushroom used in Italian cooking however these little mushrooms with cute little caps gives the risotto extra character in the form of flavour and texture. Trim off the firm base and separate the cluster into individual mushrooms or small groups before adding them halfway through cooking. Let them cook through in the risotto until tender.

How to turn this into a meal

I like to serve this family style on a large platter for everyone to take as many spoonfuls as they want. Bring it to the table while it’s still warm and creamy, put a big serving spoon beside it and let everyone help themselves. I love a dinner where we can pass dishes around and go back for a little more of whatever tastes good. With this risotto, that second spoonful is a fairly safe bet.

This risotto recipe is so versatile, I love serving alongside any meat or dish dish. Perfect for paring with my seafood shellfish stew is a lovely match: seafood and rich tomato sauce with buttery rice and savoury mushrooms. I keep them on separate platters so everyone can choose their own adventure, with garlic bread nearby for mopping up the tomato sauce. The stew already has potatoes and corn, so start with one serving of risotto and see where dinner takes you.

For a steak night, I’d put it alongside my Florentine-style T-bone. Juicy slices of steak with that smoky flavour from the fire and a spoonful of creamy mushroom rice? That’s a dinner worth calling everyone to the table for. Slice the steak for sharing, bring out the risotto and let people build their own plates. Replace the crispy potatoes with this risotto if you think both is too much carb for your shredding diet.

It would also be a beautiful accompaniment to my one-pan roasted whole barramundi, a recipe I’ll be sharing soon. A whole fish in the middle of the table, with this risotto alongside, is exactly the sort of generous family meal I love. Really, any grilled meat or fish you enjoy will work here. You don’t need an elaborate second recipe; something cooked well, a platter of risotto and a crisp green salad make a very good dinner.

The practical bit is getting the timing right. Have the other dishes ready to serve as you finish the risotto, and give the rice a last splash of hot stock or water if it needs loosening before it goes onto the platter. I want everyone eating it while it’s creamy, rather than admiring it from a distance while it slowly turns into a rice sculpture.

Thee Mushroom Risotto

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Course Main Course, Sauce

Cuisine Italian

Calories 411

4

Ingredients

• ▢ 300 g Arborio rice
• ▢ 1 medium onion finely chopped
• ▢ 2 clove garlic minced
• ▢ 1 celery stick finely chopped
• ▢ 1.5 litre Stock vegetable, chicken or stock cubes
• ▢ 100 ml dry white wine
• ▢ 40 g Swiss brown mushrooms thinly sliced
• ▢ 30 g Shmeji mushrooms firm base trimmed off and cluster separated
• ▢ 10 g dried porchini mushrooms soaked in warm water
• ▢ 50 g unsalted butter
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

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• Prepare the stock and soak the porcini

  Make approximately 1.5 litres of stock following the stock-cube packet instructions, or heat ready-made stock. Keep it hot over a low heat. Cover the porcini with warm water and soak until softened, following any instructions on the mushroom packet. Lift them out and chop them. Keep the soaking liquid, this is flavour!

  1.5 litre Stock, 10 g dried porchini mushrooms
• Soften the vegetables and add the first mushrooms

  Add olive oil and melt 20g of butter in a wide, heavy-based pan over medium-low heat. Gently cook the onion and celery until softened without browning, adding the garlic towards the end. Stir in half the sliced Swiss brown mushrooms and cook until they begin to soften.
• Add the rice, wine and porcini

  Stir in the arborio rice for about a minute to coat it in the buttery base. Pour in the wine and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has reduced. Add the chopped soaked porcini along with the soaking liquid. This will make your white risotto turn really brown, if you do not want this, leave out the porcini soaking liquid.
• Add stock gradually

  Add a ladle of hot stock and maintain a gentle simmer. Stir regularly, adding more stock as the previous addition is mostly absorbed. Keep the rice moist as it cooks; don't let it fry dry between additions.
• Add the mushrooms in stages

  Rice often takes roughly 18–25 minutes from the first stock addition, but use taste as your guide. Add the shimeji around halfway through and cook thoroughly. Add the remaining thinly sliced Swiss brown mushrooms about five minutes before the rice is ready. Continue adding liquid and stirring until the mushrooms are cooked and the rice is tender with a slight bite, without a hard, chalky centre (al dente).
• Finish with butter

  Take the pan off the heat and stir in 30 g unsalted butter. Taste before adding salt; the stock may have supplied enough. Add black pepper if you like.
• Check the texture and serve

  Lift a spoonful above the pan. It should slowly slide or fall back, with the rice and creamy liquid moving together. If it stays stuck to the spoon, gently stir in a little hot stock or water. If liquid runs off like water and leaves the rice behind, it is too loose; briefly return to gentle heat and stir to reduce it. Taste again so you don't overcook the grains. Spoon into a warmed serving dish and serve straight away, adding another small splash of hot liquid first if it has thickened.

Notes

Use risotto rice. Arborio is what I use here. It’s the rice that helps give you that creamy texture, so this isn’t the moment to substitute whatever long-grain rice has been sitting in the cupboard. Also, don’t rinse the arborio first; you want the starch to stay with the rice.

Follow the stock packet. Two cubes might be right for your brand, but it isn’t a universal measurement. It’s much easier to add a little salt at the end than undo a pan of overly salty risotto. I keep some hot water available too, especially if the rice needs more liquid after I’ve used enough stock.

Nutrition

Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 1495mg | Potassium: 127mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1111IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 3mg

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