Sometimes I create recipes on the go, for example when I am shopping. This time we found some nice chanterelles, Edita insisted she wanted risotto and I also bought an avocado, because I felt like eating one. Ok, one thing has to be said: these experiments don’t always work out, but this time it was perfect: the creamy texture of avocado is a great addition to risotto. Still not convinced? Give it a try.
For 2 portions:
100 g arborio rice
50 g butter
1 unpeeled onion
2 radishes
100 g chanterelles
1 tomato
1 avocado
50 ml dry white wine
30 g parmesan
some chives
a pinch of whole cumin seeds
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
celery leaves for garnish
I like to use mushroom stock for risotto – compared to a veggie one it contains minimum of vegetables and mostly mushrooms. There is no need to use chanterelles only, you can add any leftover mushrooms that you have.
First, clean the mushrooms and sort them – leave the nicest pieces for the risotto and use the remaining ones for the stock. It consists of 1 thinly sliced onion, onion skin, bay leaf, salt and 300 ml water. Cook for at least 10 minutes (the longer the better, 10 minutes is the absolute minimum). Onion is always the base of risotto, so I just added it to the stock. When it’s ready, strain it.
Melt 20 g of butter in a pan, add rice and sauté it for a bit. Add the whole cumin seeds, they will support the taste of mushrooms. Pour in some wine and stir. If you want to eat immediately, cook the rice al dente, if you prepare it in advance, it is better to undercook it. Then you can put it in the fridge and use it the next day. That is what we do in the restaurant, the rice is fine for about 3 days.
I cooked the rice al dente, added the remaining butter, chives and finely grated parmesan. The risotto should be creamy – when you put it on the plate, it should spread nicely in one layer. It isn’t easy, we discuss the proper technique at work all the time (if you’re interested you can find more tips here).
Sauté the chanterelles with butter and salt. Cut the avocado, slice the radishes, cut off the yellow celery leaves and grate the cheese.
Put everything on the top of the risotto – every ingredient has its specific taste, so I prefer not to stir everything together – this way, I enjoy it much more. If you want to emphasize the creaminess, you can stir in some avocado. Enjoy!!
