My Biggest Fears About Grocery Shopping Revealed!

Mushroom Blend

Today was my first day of cooking since I started school, and I'd say it went pretty well! After cooking I still had enough time to clean up, get my all homework done, relax, and even write this blog post! The whole getting out early on Wednesdays thing really helps me out. On the menu for today was Wild Mushroom Risotto with Peas, and Risotto al Salto. With mushrooms being one of my most favored vegetables, I was looking forward to making this risotto. Last month, I made basic risotto and I really liked the flavor, as well as the texture of Giada's recipe. For this risotto it was the same method, but with a few extra steps. The recipe called for dried porcini mushrooms, which I never heard of, but assumed the grocery store would contain. Sadly, I was wrong. When grocery shopping, one of the things I fear the most is not finding an item on my list... and running my cart into someone else's when turning around a corner.... Once I can't find an ingredient, (this brings me back to my smoked mozzarella/pepper jack fiasco) I think of a substitute, or look at the situation as an opportunity to experiment with other ingredients. Once I figured out dried porcini mushrooms were no where to be found, thoughts flowed through my head on what to do, while I skimmed through the mushroom section in the produce aisle. I noticed a package stating "Mushroom Blend." Ah ha! I figured this blend of baby portabellas, shitake, and oyster mushrooms would add a depth of flavors that could maybe make up for the absence of dried porcini mushrooms. The recipe also called for some white mushrooms, so I purchased those as well.
To make Wild Mushroom Risotto, you start with sauteing onions in butter and adding the mushrooms and minced garlic once those onions are tender. After the whole mushroom/onion mixture is cooked for about 10 minutes, arbrio rice is added, followed by white wine. If you remember the last time I made risotto, I wasn't able to get... or rather, go with my parents to get dry white wine in time to make the recipe. This time I was able to get the dry white wine, also known as Chardonnay (according to the guy at Wine and Spirits) for my risotto. So, I added the white wine and cooked the mixture until the liquids were absorbed by the rice. In one cup intervals, I added simmering chicken broth to the rice mixture, giving the rice enough time to absorb the broth slowly. After about 30 minutes of slowly adding broth, the risotto was cooked. Thawed frozen peas and Parmesan cheese were the finishing touches to this risotto. This was a very good recipe, and an awesome side dish! The white wine really added a nice flavor to the risotto, which surprised me because I usually don't like the flavor of wine in food. The Chardonnay complemented the other flavors very well. The mushroom blend didn't make as big as a flavor impact as I had hoped. I couldn't really tell the difference between the shitake, oyster, and baby bellas, from the normal white mushrooms. I hope to eventually try this recipe with dried porcini mushrooms as Giada intended. Although I really liked the flavors in the risotto, and I would say this was successful.

Once the risotto was done, I realized there was a recipe in Everyday Italian that used Wild Mushroom Risotto as its main ingredient. Risotto al Salto, translated as "rice cake," consists of Wild Mushroom Risotto with extra Parmesan mixed in, pressed into a skillet and cooked until it has a brown crust. I didn't want to use all my risotto for this recipe, so I made a mini Risotto al Salto. Like the Arancini di Riso I made last month, it was a really abnormal recipe that I never would of thought of making. The golden crust on the bottom was interesting and I liked the taste, but I didn't think the recipe really had a point to it. I prefer just to eat the risotto in its basic form. It was still cool to try out a different technique though!

Time Spent: 2 hours