PORCINI MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Do you love to go hunting for mushrooms? Well here you can find the perfect recipe in case you manage to find some good porcini. Try it, you will feel the scents of the forest in your mouth: an autumnal and creamy first course.

Clean the mushrooms carefully, without letting come into direct contact with water or they will become soggy. Use a small sharp knife to scrape the end of the stem and remove any soil still clinging to it. Mushrooms always have soil on their stems because this is the part that sits underground.

Once you have removed all the soil you can then finish cleaning them with a brush. This fundamental tool lets you get rid of even the finest dirt, which tends to get stuck in more hidden parts, like for example in the gills (the spongy part under the cap). Wipe the mushrooms with a piece of damp kitchen paper or with a damp tea towel. Make sure to remove any of the residues that tend to stick to the surface of the mushrooms. You should not, however, rinse them under running water, unless it is just for a very few seconds, but even so they will tend to soak up the water like sponges.

For a more fragrant risotto with a slightly roasted flavour, cook the mushrooms separately. First of all, they need cutting up, so separate the caps from the stems. Slice the caps and cut longer pieces again, and cut the stems into cubes. If you like, you can cut one of the small mushrooms into slices with cap and stem attached to make very photogenic slices that are perfect for decoration.

Finely chop the garlic clove and soften in 20 g of the butter. Once softened, add the mushrooms and cook without adding anything else for about 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and put to one side, saving the slices of whole mushroom for the garnish. Dry fry the rice until it is boiling hot, stirring all the time, then pour it into a bowl and put to one side. Into the same pan, put another 20 g of butter with the finely chopped onion.

Add a pinch of salt and the wine. Boil to evaporate. When the pan no longer smells of alcohol, add the rice and boiling stock as needed, stirring fairly frequently to release the starch in the rice grains and make the risotto nice and creamy. Halfway through the cooking time, add the mushrooms and when the rice is ‘al dente’, take off the heat. Add the grated Trentingrana cheese, the remaining cold butter, a twist of black pepper (freshly ground is best) and the finely chopped parsley. Why cold butter? Because the difference in temperature makes the risotto swell.

Serve immediately, garnishing each plate of risotto with a slice of whole porcino.