WINE & FOOD AFFAIR RECIPES

Main Dish

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Pellegrini Wine Company

4055 West Olivet Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
pellegrinisonoma.com

Grab a fork and get ready to dig into this mouthwatering mushroom risotto.

Ingredients:
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 6 ounces golden chanterelles or other similar wild mushrooms, cleaned and broken into medium pieces
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 6 cups chicken or duck stock (preferably homemade)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 star anise
  • 2 pancetta slices (preferably dry cured), cut in 1/2-inch crosswise slices
  • 1 1/2 cups Vialone Nano or Carnaroli rice
  • 3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano or Vella dry jack cheese, grated
  • Frehly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon (optional)
Directions:
In a sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add half of the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until limp and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Add the mushrooms and toss, and season with salt and white pepper. Add the wine, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover the pan, increase the heat to high and cook until the wine is almost completely reduced. Set aside.

Pour the stock into a saucepan, add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and add the star anise.

Set a deep sauté pan or wide saucepan over medium heat. Cook the pancetta, stirring occasionally, until it releases its fat. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat and return the pan to medium heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the remaining shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until limp and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly in a circular motion, until the rice turns opaque, about 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock and stir until it is absorbed by the rice, adjusting the heat as needed so that the liquid boils but does not evaporate before the rice can absorb it.

Continue adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time, and stirring constantly until the rice triples in volume and is nearly tender. Continue to stir and add stock 1/4 cup at a time until the rice is completely tender but not mushy; there should be just a bit of resistance in each grain.

Fold in the mushrooms and the cheese. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, then add several generous grindings of black pepper. Set aside a bit of parsley for garnish and stir the rest into the risotto, along with the tarragon. Remove and discard the star anise and quickly stir the remaining stock into the risotto. Immediately ladle the risotto into soup plates, garnish with a little parsley and serve immediately.