This recipe was handed down to me from my mother after she visited a villa in Tuscany. The wild mushroom risotto recipe was given to her by the lady who ran the villa and made this very dish for her and her sisters.
What I like most about authentic Italian dishes is their simplicity. Often, we like to add a bunch of extra ingredients to our recipes in order to make them taste better, but sometimes the simplest dishes are the best! The way I see it, why mess with perfection?
This is a copy of the handwritten recipe and a picture of the beautiful villa. After making this recipe I found the last line of this note to be have a lot of truth in it.
The mushrooms you use are completely up to you, however I found that Cremini mushrooms work the best, they are baby Portabellas. I also used Shiitake in this recipe in case you were wondering.
A nice bottle of Chianti washes this down quite nicely!
Live to Eat!
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Onion (chopped finely)
- 2 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
- 1½ Pounds Mushrooms (Cremini works Great!)
- 1 Cup Arborio Rice
- 4 Cups Vegetable Broth (low sodium)
- 3 Cups Water
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper
- ¼ Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano (grated)
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley (Optional)
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan.
- Boil water and vegetable broth in a pot, lower heat and keep warm.
- Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook on medium low until mushrooms are soft (5 minutes).
- Add the rice and cook until the tips are translucent (1-2 minutes)
- Add ¾ cup of vegetable broth / water mixture and gently fold into risotto.
- Cook until broth/water have almost completely dissolved (about 5 minutes)
- Add another ¾ cup broth/water and repeat this process until the rice is soft but has a small crunch to the bite (approximately 20-30 mins).
- There will be broth/water left over - you can use this to add to risotto if it sits out too long and drys.
- After risotto is cooked, add cheese and leave a little to sprinkle on top afterwards.
- OPTIONAL: add chopped parsley for garnishing.
- Serve risotto immediately.
7 Comments. Leave new
This is the perfect time of year for a bowl of risotto with a glass of wine and bread of course.
This recipe is right on target.
Perfect winter night dinner. Yummy.
I loooove risotto so will definitely have to try this. How cute that your mom hand-wrote you the recipe!
Thanks! Actually that was handwritten by the Italian woman who ran the Villa that my mom and aunts stayed at… It’s 100% authentic Tuscan Risotto 🙂 When you read it you can see the broken English, it was actually kind of hard to follow hahaha.
Very nice! I love risotto!
Yes, that recipe is straight from a Tuscan native!
Just made this for a rainy fall Halloween dinner. Simply delicious!