Porcini risotto with roast garlic
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Porcini risotto with roast garlic
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Ingredients
For the risotto
- 1 x 50g bag dried porcini mushrooms
- 1.8 litres hot vegetable stock
- 50g unsalted butter
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 x 500g pack carnaroli risotto rice
- 300ml dry white wine
- 100g freshly grated Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative)
- 2 x 125g Taste the Difference buffalo mozzarella, drained and cut into 1cm dice
For the garlic
- 4 heads of garlic, cloves peeled
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp thyme leaves
- a generous squeeze of lemon juice
Step by step
- Heat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 4. Pour 400ml boiling water over the porcini in a bowl and leave to soak for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a measuring jug and make up to 2.2 litres with the stock. Coarsely chop the porcini.
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Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large ovenproof, lidded casserole over a medium heat, add the onion and fry gently, covered, for 10 minutes until softened without colouring. Add the rice and stir for about 1 minute, then pour in the wine and simmer until almost completely absorbed. Stir in the porcini, pour in the stock and season, bring to a vigorous boil, stirring, then cover and cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Scatter the garlic cloves over the base of a small roasting dish, drizzle over the oil and scatter over the thyme. Roast in the oven at the same time.
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Remove the risotto from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan and mozzarella. Cover and leave to stand for a further 5 minutes. Squeeze some lemon juice over the garlic and serve the cloves and oil spooned over the risotto.TipAny gooey cheese will shine in this risotto – also try Gruyère or Emmenthal.
