porcini risotto

Ciao!! This Christmas Eve, my Italian family on my mom's side came over for Christmas dinner. They knew I was a personal chef so I had to come up with something that would surprise them! —No need for the usual scalloped potatoes!

I wore my new Now We're Cookin'! apron, as well. Must have been a good luck charm because this risotto was so delicious that people had at least three servings each! We paired it with a wonderful and tender filet roast.

This risotto uses Giada de Laurentiis's recipe. Ingredients such as dried porcini mushrooms, Parmesan, and white wine make up this flavorful dish. Dried porcini mushrooms are soaked in the broth in order to deliver flavor throughout the whole dish.

I doubled this recipe to make 12 servings to ensure I’d have plenty of leftovers. We even used the leftover risotto for chicken soup which added some extra creaminess to the soup overall.

Risotto requires a secret ingredient that is not on the list— patience! You need to add the chicken broth to the arborio rice slowly to make sure it soaks up the maximum amount of broth to achieve creamy goodness. Arborio rice has a high starch content, and has a fat shape. It creates a pudding-like consistency.

Throw in some salt and pepper each time you add an ingredient. There are many layers of flavor in this porcini risotto, you just need to build them up.

Instead of using peas, we used frozen spinach which were thawed and drained. I added it at the end with the Parmesan. Cheese hack: keep the rind and you can freeze it to use in soups and sauces.

Give the recipe a shot- let me know how it tastes!