Risotto is the perfect filling dish for the chilly winter nights that are sweeping over the country, Shared Kitchen’s Julie Biuso tells Jesse Mulligan.
Her recipe layers the risotto with mushrooms and mozzarella and it can be made ahead of time then baked whenever you’re ready.
Julie Biuso's oven baked mushroom risotto. Photo: Shared Kitchen
Biuso says the key is getting the correct grain of rice; a stubby kind that has the ability to absorb lots of liquid which means they’re packed with flavour and release creamy starch when cooked.
“It’d be an Italian grain of rice you’re after and the most common one is arborio that’s available everywhere, so you won’t have any problems finding that.”
As you cook, stirring constantly helps to stop it from sticking and releases more of the starch in the rice, which makes it creamier.
“If you were to put all of your liquid in in one go, you’d kind of swamp it and you wouldn’t get the same result.”
The Ferron variety, on the other hand, can handle dumping all the liquid in one go but it is on the more expensive side, Biuso notes.
“It’s got more of a husk to the grain of rice, so it’s probably got more nutrition.”
Another tip is not to wash the rice before cooking because you want to keep the clinging starch, she says.
“Once you’ve finished the risotto, whichever method you use, the Ferron or the stirring … you stir in a nice big knob of butter and a handful of parmesan cheese and whip it for about a minute, furiously, and that just changes the creaminess.
“Just plonk your lid on, leave it for about 30 seconds to settle and then serve it.”
Including wine is optional and if you run of chicken stock you can simply use water or vegetable stock, she says.
“When you make them [the stock], don’t season them because as they cook and reduce, if you’ve been a little generous with the salt, by the time that stock has cooked down, it can be too salty.
“The important thing being it’s really hot, so have your kettle at the ready if you need it. Because if you start adding cold stock or cold water to the risotto as you’re cooking it, you lower the cooking momentum and it all changes, it all starts to fall apart.”
It takes about 18-25 minutes to cook.
