Mushroom risotto got to be one of our favourite midweek dishes at all times. It’s one of those dishes you have to stand by and patiently watch it to cook, which I don’t particularly enjoy but it is so worth it.
Making it dairy free hasn’t lost any of its flavour for me. I love mushrooms and and I usually add lots of fresh herbs from my garden such as thyme, basil and parsley for taste and colour. This time I decided to try beetroot in our risotto for its funky colour and of course for the taste.
The smell of this risotto reminds me of autumn and walks in the wood. I grew up in Czech where mushroom picking has its tradition. Even little kids know which mushroom is edible or which is poisonous. There are tons of recipes for mushrooms, including pickled mushrooms (they look like slugs ewww).
So far, I haven’t seen any wild mushrooms in our nearby woods so I buy mine dried. I soak them up for about an hour and then use the water in cooking. It is nice to have a homemade stock too. I combine the mushroom water plus the stock.
I roasted the beetroot with some olive oil, garlic, sea salt and a sprinkle of honey. It took about 25 minutes to get the right consistency. It should be soft and sweet to taste.
For the risotto I used the arborio type rice and I slowly cooked it on some sweated onions, gradually adding ladles of stock. I added the mushrooms which I chopped slightly and I also added the beetroot once ready. I kept the garlic and squeezed the ‘puree’ out of it into the almost ready risotto. This added such a nice flavour!
| Prep Time | 1 hour |
| Cook Time | 25 mins |
| Servings |
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- 200 grams Arborio Rice
- 600 ml vegetable stock
- 1 Onion
- 50 g dried mushrooms
- 1 Beetroot
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp honey or maple syrup
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients
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- Sweat the onion on a bit of olive oil. Add the rice and ladle a stock to completely cover the rice.Leave to simmer until the stock is absorbed. Add mushrooms and repeat the process of adding small amounts of stock until the rice is cooked. Add the beetroots and garlic. Season and serve with fresh herbs. Enjoy!
