Tuesday’s Risotto – Sunday roast, garlic mushroom and sausage flavour.

There are certain programmes on the tv that I just can’t bring myself to watch. I really was happy not knowing (ignorance is bliss and all that jazz) that there are people who buy and roast a whole chicken remove a few slices of breast meat and bin the rest. I was taught chickens always make more than one meal, and we ate our first on Sunday – Roast tarragon chicken, roast potatoes, cabbage and carrot/swede mash. On Monday I started on the second dinner – Tuesday nights risotto, you could eat it on Monday if you wanted but we like to break up the “same old same old”.

I striped the chicken carcass of what was left of the meat (about a side plates worth) and put it in the fridge.

The bones and skin, an onion, some garlic (unless its pudding, there is often garlic) a couple of bay leaves, a leek, a carrot some pepper corns and a couple of celery stalks all got chucked in a large pot  along with the left over veg. This was then covered with cold water, brought up to the boil and left to do its thing for about an hour and a half or there abouts.

The usual magic had happened – some rather nasty looking bits, raw veg and plain old water has transformed into a lovely pot of stock. This gets left to cool and strained through a sieve. Put the stock in the fridge overnight (The fat from the chicken solidifies and rises to the top of the stock which makes it easy to remove).

These are  the two main parts to our next chicken meal, if I was really pious I could stretch it to three meals, by splitting the stock to make soup or using the chicken in sandwiches but I feel good when I feed the five of us twice from the one chicken.

I know that cooking risotto is quite hands on, but if you prepare all the ingredients before you start its no more difficult than cooking stir-fry.

• 1 pack of porcini mushrooms soaked in about 300ml boiling water
• 3-4 tbs Olive oil
• a white/brown onion chopped
• three or four garlic cloves chopped fine, smash with salt or use a garlic crusher
• 200g (more or less as you like) mushrooms thickly sliced
• a pack of Arborio rice
• thyme fresh or dried
• tarragon fresh or dried
• a slug of sherry or glass of wine
• a pepper diced (mine was yellow and I forgot to put it out of reach)
• the stock I made yesterday
• the left over chicken meat
• 1 or 2 mattesons sausages chopped (I chop them small so the mix through the rice more evenly)
• parmesan cheese to finish in lieu of parsley (it was dark and raining)

The key to a good risotto is  to remember to add the stock little by little, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid, this is what gives it the flavour. Keep stirring to keep the rice grains separate turning it, will cook it evenly. When your risotto is ready the grains of rice will have transformed from being white and and hard to looking milky or translucent with a small white spot in the middle. If you are unsure check the rice packet guidelines but a  risotto should be cooked in approximately 18-20 minutes.

- now with this in mind lets get started

Gather all the ingredients, put the porcini mushrooms in a jug and cover with boiling water, leave them to soften for about half an hour or so, the longer the better.

Chop the ingredients that need chopping and make sure you have everything with in easy reach of the stove.

Put the fresh, sliced mushrooms in to a saucepan with half of the oil (you could use butter here) and half the garlic, some salt and pepper put on a lid and cook on a low heat, shake the pan from time to time – you are looking or cooked but firm garlicky mushrooms, cooked enough to lose the raw taste but not cooked so much that they are dark and slimy.

Put a large heavy based pan on to heat, while it is heating chop the porcini mushrooms, remember to keep the liquid, its a good idea to strain it, so all the grit from the mushrooms doesn’t end up in the risotto, which is horrid! Use a tea strainer if you have one or if you are brave like me just stop pouring when you can see the grit in the bottom of the jug…. I live on the edge – can you tell?

Add the rest of the oil to the pan and stir in the onion cook untill it starts to soften (1-2 mins) chuck in the rest of the garlic, stir and add the rice.

Stir the rice to coat with the oil, onions and garlic and cook on a moderate heat until it starts to smell hot – almost toasted (do not burn), you need to keep stirring and be vigilant at this point or the rice will burn and it’ll taste bitter.

Add the wine or sherry and stir, cook until the alcohol  has evaporated.

Add the chopped porcinis to the rice.

At this stage the heat may need adjusting, you are looking to cook the rice not so fast that the liquid you add dissipates leaving the the rice to stick to the pan and burn but not so slow that the liquid sits in the pan and the rice gets soft and mushy or just doesn’t cook. I have the pan hot enough that when I add the liquid ingredients it quickly becomes a rapid simmer (it would be quite violent and mess up the stove if left alone but because you are stirring pretty much constantly its fine)

Add the mushroom soaking liquid to the rice – I usually do this in 2 parts.

When this has been absorbed you can start adding the stock, a ladle is good thing to use here, but you could always just use a jug or pour direct from the bowl/saucepan that the stock is in.

After you have been adding stock, stirring and cooking for about 12 minutes add the chicken and the sausages to the pan stir through and add more stock as required. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, make sure all the meat is thoroughly mixed through and properly hot!

Add the mushroom slices in the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Adjust the seasoning to your liking - decadent last minute additions can be a knob of butter or a slosh of double cream, some freshly grated parmesan or some freshly chopped herbs, you can add them all or none depending on your mood and what you have in the fridge.

The risotto should be just about done but now, and being a one pot wonder meal, it is very hot – I have taken to putting a lid on it removing it from the heat and leaving it for 10 minutes

happiness on a plate

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