Risotto tonight, using the duck stock I made on Christmas day. If you have never made risotto you should try it. You'll never look at rice the same way. This is by far my favorite version that I have tried, but long ago we had a seafood version in Venice that was quite memorable. Quality ingredients are key here. Arborio rice, onion, garlic, dry white wine, flat leaf parsley, crimea mushrooms, dried chanterelle mushrooms (I use fresh when I can get them), best quality Parmesan cheese (please don't skimp here), thyme, rosemary, butter, and duck stock. I usually use homemade chicken stock.
I skimmed the fat off the stock. This will be used for the 4th day of the duck in the near future. Rep to the first person who guesses what I will do with the duck fat.
First task is to reconstitute the dried mushrooms in the duck stock. I filter the stock through a coffee filter to transfer the mushroom flavor to the final dish. This is what the chanterelle's look like after I have reconstituted them.
Meanwhile, I've prepared all the other ingredients. Ready to cook!
Heating the stock, while I saute the onions and garlic in 2 T butter and 1 T olive oil. Yes, my cookware sucks, but I make it sing.
After the onions were tender, I added the mushrooms and now they have been browned. Starting to smell good.
Now, I have added parsley, [no sage], rosemary, and thyme to the mushrooms, along with salt, pepper, and a half cup of wine. Once the wine is absorbed and boiled off, I set this aside and start the rice.
First step in cooking the rice is to saute the other half of the onion in 2 T butter. Then add 1 C wine and boil until it is reduced by half. Now I am ready to add the rice (I already added S&P to the dry rice).
Look at this beautiful stock! When you are making risotto, it is crucial to add hot stock to the rice.
Ok, I added 2 C of the rice to the reduced wine and stirred. Then I added a couple of ladles worth of stock to the rice. The procedure is to add the stock a little at a time, stir frequently until most of the liquid is absorbed, then add more stock. This process goes on for around 25 minutes in my kitchen, but some books say that the rice will be done in 15 or 18 minutes. I don't buy it.
Here is a pic about halfway through the cooking process. See how the rice is starting to get plump. But at this stage, the rice still had significant crunch so it is not done yet.
Keep adding broth, stirring, and tasting the rice. The heat on the rice should be enough to keep it bubbling. You want it to be al dente: soft on the outside, firm in the middle, without any hint of crunchiness. You also want a fair amount of free liquid at the end, not soupy but much wetter than normal rice. It will continue to thicken after you take it off the heat and after you add the cheese.
Here is a pic after I have stirred in the mushroom mixture and added all that cheese you saw piled on the plate. I micro-planed the cheese so it wasn't quite as much as it appeared in the photo. Glorious!
Ta da! Plated with extra cheese and a few twists of ground pepper.
Critical review. I have made the recipe dozens of times and it is a bit different each time due to variations in the wine, stock and mushrooms.
1. This was the best looking batch of risotto I have ever made. The dark brown duck stock really paired well with the mushroom character of the dish.
2. It was delicious tasting. This is always a meal that we look forward to and this one did not disappoint. The best way I can describe it is Thanksgiving on steroids.
3. For whatever reason, this version did not have the epic perfume quality that my best versions of this dish have had. Could have been the wine, maybe the duck stock masked the volatile compounds, maybe it needed the fresh Chanterelles. Overall it was a top 10 version of this dish, but not a top 5.