Love Like Winter Part I

Like mentioned on my Twitter, the next 5-6 postings (depending on how it goes), will be based on last night's dinner... and to be on the lazy side (easier to search), all the blog titles will be based on AFI's song.. Love Like Winter... (sing it with me.. Ohhh OohhHHh)

The theme of the night was Rice in Winter.... and the Boy and I were stuck in competition mode =)

The reason? We had the Boy's cousins coming over (just 2 of them), and one of them was leaving for Adelaide soon (for the next couple of months).

The Boy wanted to send her off with a *bang*... since Adelaide is sooooo depressingly boring... *ahem*

For today, we shall start with my Mushroom Risotto 'ala Curtis Stone's style... (sorta)

Because we were having so many dishes, I cut down on the arborio rice... recipe was for 500g, I only used about 1 cup of that...

You'll need some butter, Parmesan cheese, half an onion (finely chopped), white wine (3/4 cup dry wine), thyme, lemon, 2 garlic cloves and some mint (for garnishing)



I used 2 Portabella Mushrooms and 1 flat white mushroom



I also used 500ml of chicken stock (recipe for 500g rice was 1.5 litres of stock)

Slice the mushrooms and chop the onions finely



Heat up in a pan 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

On the other fire, heat up the chicken stock in a small pot.



Fry the onion, thyme, garlic (2 cloves, chopped finely) in the heated oil



When the onion becomes transparent or tender, add in the rice.

Coat the rice in the oil thoroughly until it becomes transparent.

Add in the white wine (3/4 cup) and stir through for about 2-3 minutes.



Add in the chicken stock and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes (or until the liquid is gone)



This should be how the rice would start to look like



Once the rice starts to become Al Dante, add in the mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes (until the rice is cooked)

Turn of the heat, and stir through about 4-5 tablespoons of butter...




Mix in the Parmesan cheese as well (quantity is up to you, I used about 2 small handfuls)

Squeeze 1 wedge (or 2) of lemon into the rice and mix well



To serve, decorate with some mint leaves