Chicken and mushroom risotto
I love a good, tasty risotto and they are so easy to cook. In fact I am happy to make a risotto any time of the year, but my good wife only likes them at this time of the year, so here we go – one of my favourites. Serve with a simple rocket and shaved parmesan salad
This is not a complicated risotto recipe requiring stock to be added as the risotto cooks – all the stock goes in at once, too easy!
This recipe makes enough risotto for eight but you can simply halve the ingredients if you prefer. Risotto will easily reheat in the coming days – you just have to add a little bit of stock each day prior to heating
Ingredients
6 cups of vegetable stock, warm (a 1 litre tetra pack of Campbell’s stock is 4 cups)
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 packet of pancetta or bacon (approx. 100 gms) – cut into small (approx. 2 cms pieces)
½ to 1 cup white wine (optional)
5-600 gms of chicken thigh fillets cut into 3-4 cm pieces
750g assorted mushrooms - Swiss brown, Portobello, white button etc - stems trimmed and sliced into approx 2-3cm pieces (don’t cut too small/ bigger is better!)
2 cups Arborio rice or other suitable risotto rice (I simply use one full packet of Delmaine Arborio or Carnaroli which is 500gms)
1 cup grated Parmesan
Olive oil – approx. 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and cracked pepper
Handful of rocket leaves and shaved Parmesan (for garnish)
Cooking instructions
1 Bring stock to the boil in a covered saucepan, turn heat off and leave until needed
2 In a non-stick frypan, drop a small amount of olive oil and on low-med heat, gently fry the pancetta until crispy– it should take about 2 mins. Remove and place on some handee towel. Drain half the oil
3 Heat the rest of the oil in the same frypan on med heat and cook the chicken for 6-7 mins until browned and cooked, turning occasionally. Transfer to a separate bowl
4 Cook the mushrooms and Porcini powder and cook until brown, about 5 mins. Add to the chicken (you may need to add a little butter)
5 Heat a little oil in a heavy based large pot and gently cook the onion and garlic until soft (if you enjoy risotto, it is worth investing in a large risotto pot).
6 Add the rice and stir on high heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly (called "toasting"). If using wine, add and then let evaporate
7 Add all the simmering stock all at once and bring back to the boil.
8 Turn down to simmer, cover and cook for 15 - 18 mins - check and gently stir once or twice during this time
9 Once the rice has cooked, add the chicken, mushrooms and pancetta/bacon and heat up for 2 mins. Season as required...some cracked pepper works well
10 Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan - to make the risotto creamier, you can also add some more butter or oil
11 Serve onto plates and garnish with three or four rocket leaves and shaved Parmesan
Serves 8