It is the perfect dish to charm or seduce your special someone here’s why first Risotto is rustic but it’s still fancy enough for date night kind of like a cross between jon snow and jamie lannister or leonardo dicaprio on the remnant meets leonardo capri in the great gatsby risotto is a dish that requires a lot of attention and focus so you both have to put your phones away and really be present with one another and it’s not what everyone wants at the end of the day finally when you make risotto you gotta open a bottle of wine which gives you the opportunity to impress your date with your fancy wine knowledge at charles shaw 2019 we should let this one breathe all right now you know why risotto is super sexy so let’s do it make the risotto not the other thing you were thinking about to get your mind out of the gutter we’ve got our large non-stick frying pan medium high heat let that heat up we’ll add some olive oil and once it’s hot we’ll add the Mushrooms today i’m using a mixture of mushrooms from the farmer’s market and grocery store cremini mushrooms which are inexpensive but still flavorful maitake mushrooms which have a robust chicken-like flavor some meaty and firm shiitake mushrooms these lovely velvety oyster mushrooms nutty and buttery beach mushrooms and finally some king trumpet mushrooms let the mushrooms cook undisturbed for a few minutes so they get some nice color on them and while the mushrooms are cooking we’re gonna prepare our miso butter we need four tablespoons of vegan butter that have been softened at room temperature once the butter is softened we’ll mix in some white miso paste and you’ll use a fork to cream everything together until it’s well combined and has sort of a whipped consistency traditionally risotto uses parmesan cheese which is a really potent source of umami all those rich savory notes so to mimic that in a plant-based way i use miso butter and it really really makes a difference cook the mushrooms until they’re nicely browned about eight to nine minutes during and shaking the pan occasionally let’s reduce the heat to medium and we’re going to enhance the flavors of the mushrooms with some garlic and thyme we’ll need to mince six garlic cloves half of this will get added to the mushrooms and we’ll use the other half later with the rice and we’ll roughly chop up two tablespoons of fresh thyme add it to the garlic and these guys get added to the mushrooms along with some kosher salt to season and the reason we’re salting the mushrooms now instead of at the beginning is that mushrooms are really spongy and they’re already pretty high in water content so if you add salt at the beginning it draws that water out so your mushrooms end up being a little bit more watery so if you want crispier mushrooms that are a little bit meatier you gotta wait until the end of cooking the mushrooms to add the salt cook this mixture for two to four minutes and stir to prevent the garlic from burning next we’ll add in that creamed miso butter and stir it into the mushrooms let’s cook that for two more minutes and then we’ll take this pan off the heat and we won’t need it until the end all right the mushrooms are done just gonna have a little taste test this is the definition of like an umami bomb we’ve got all these different kinds of mushrooms we’ve got miso paste we’ve got vegan butter it’s very delightful so we’re going to set these mushrooms aside and we’re going to get started on the risotto the reason i’m not cooking these with the rice is that it’s going to make it harder to stir the rice if everything’s in the pot but also cooking the mushrooms with the rice will make the mushrooms mushy mush it will make the mushrooms mushy and you don’t want mushy don’t want mushy mushrooms you want a velvety luxurious creamy risotto but not mushy mushy no mushiness so we’re going to put these aside now it’s time to heat up our vegetable broth on the stove and today i’m going to use a store-bought vegetable broth but if you want to make this dish truly epic you can use mushroom broth whenever i cook with mushrooms i save all the scraps and pieces that are too small to cook any leftovers any tough stems i put those in this mushroom bag i stick that in the freezer and when i have enough mushrooms i make mushroom broth i have a recipe for mushroom broth in my cookbook it’s actually the first recipe and it’s made with onions red wine a lot of mushrooms soy sauce it’s rich and hearty actually describe it in the book as having a stunning sensual bouquet so it would make this risotto even more seductive but regular store-bought vegetable broth also works great heat the vegetable broth in a separate saucepan and bring it to a simmer you want to keep it warm for when you add it to the risotto and two main reasons why you want to be using hot vegetable broth first if you add cold or room temperature broth to hot rice it’s going to cool things down take longer to cook and secondly when you use cold or room temperature broth you’re going to have more uneven cooking so some rice grains are going to be creamy whereas some are going to be firm but if you use hot broth everything’s going to cook continuously and evenly so you’re going to have a consistently creamy texture while the vegetable broth is heating up we’ll prepare our leeks they have this mild delicate flavor that pairs really well with the earthy bold nutty mushrooms and they get slightly sweet when they cook down trim the dark green tops off of the leeks they’re a bit tough and i’ll show you how to use those in a minute then peel these papery outer layers off and you want to bisect the leeks in half lengthwise

rings then you’re going to want to wash these thoroughly in a bowl of cold water because leeks are dirty little things just swish your hands around to loosen the sand from the leeks and then scoop them out using a slotted spoon or just your hands so that you leave all the sand and dirt behind in the bowl with the water to the leeks we’re going to add that reserved half of the minced garlic we did earlier and cook those together and for these dark green tops you can save these to make homemade vegetable broth or you can add them to soups to simmer and then take them out but my favorite new thing to do is slice the tops really thinly fry them for a couple minutes in some olive oil medium-ish heat stir frequently then transfer them to a paper towel to allow them to crisp up and they make a great crispy topping for savory dishes now let’s get cooking on that risotto

i’m heating up this deep nonstick saute pan to cook the risotto in you can also use a dutch oven but you might need to use a little bit more oil to prevent it from sticking we’re gonna add the olive oil right now then go in the leeks and the garlic and we’ll cook this mixture for two minutes maybe three until the leeks start to soften and now it’s time to add in our rice if you’ve ever made risotto before you know you can’t use just any old rice you have to use a very certain type of rice medium grain white rice so here in the states the most common variety you can find in most grocery stores is arboreal rice but if you can get your hands on some carne roli rice it’s essential to roll yours it’s an italian rice that’s known as the king of risotto rice it’s even creamier than this stuff but it is a little hard to find where do you get your box oh this i wanted off an italian grandmother in a game of cards yeah you didn’t think i could play cards but i can you can’t play

no i can’t i just lied i got it at an italian grocery store add the rice and stir quickly you want to toast this rice for about 60 seconds maybe two minutes until it smells slightly toasty and the reason you do this is because toasting the rice helps it absorb the liquids slowly and without becoming soggy next comes my favorite part adding the white wine we’re going to deglaze the pan with a dry white wine such as a pinot grigio or a sauvignon blanc you want to get in there and stir up any of those brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot especially important if you’re not using a non-stick pan plus that’s also going to infuse more flavor into the risotto make it easier to stir and we’ll cook the wine until it’s mostly evaporated and no longer smells like alcohol three to four minutes now it’s time to gradually add in our hot vegetable broth about one cup at a time one of the keys to good risotto is to stir frequently but contrary to what you might have heard you don’t want to stir constantly because that can actually lead to gluey rice but also don’t forget to stir at all because then you’ll end up with rice that sticks to the pan and gets burned so you want to aim for something in the middle like stirring every 30 seconds once the rice has absorbed the liquid it’s time to ladle in another cup of broth and the reason you add the broth gradually and stir frequently is because that process agitates the rice grains and that releases the starch in the rice and that is what makes risotto naturally creamy if you were to instead just dump all the broth in at once you’d be basically boiling the rice which does not lead to creamy rice that said if you do want to take the lazier low effort route i do have a similar recipe for mushroom risotto in my cookbook the vegan instant pot cookbook it’s really tasty but doesn’t require the stirring continue this process of ladling in more broth stirring frequently waiting until the liquid has been absorbed until you add more until the rice is slightly firm and creamy it shouldn’t be soft or mushy and it should take about 20 minutes and as soon as the risotto seems done you want to take it off the heat one of the trickiest parts about making risotto is knowing when it’s actually done because it’s very easy to overcook it and that is where the smush test comes in handy the smush test like it sounds is a lot more fun when you do it with a partner just ask my friends branston and pickle [Music] take a grain of the rice and put it on a cutting board or counter and smush or smear the grain downwards with your finger it should be pretty smooth but you should still see some of that al dente white center in the middle when the risotto is done add in those miso butter mushrooms we made earlier and stir to combine so they’re evenly incorporated and warm them through for just a minute or two now this is totally optional but if you have vegan parmesan at home you can add a little bit in now no worries if you don’t have any it’s still really good without it and don’t add too much because you want the main flavor to be the miso mushrooms taste the risotto add a little bit of salt or pepper as needed i like a lot of freshly cracked pepper on mine before serving risotto is the best as soon as you make it it retains its creamy and velvety texture so be sure to scoop up some while it’s still hot and for a pop of color i like to add a little chopped parsley time for taste test [Music] this is so velvety and creamy and luxurious and it’s got those rich savory notes i’m gonna go share a bowl of this with my special someone and if you’re in the mood for more mushroom recipes check out my incredible mushroom stroganoff

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