Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme #181

Porcini or cepe mushrooms are one of my absolute favorites and when the season is right you can find loads of them here in Sweden. Whenever I get my hands on fresh forest mushrooms I go with a classic recipe like pasta, risotto, a mushroom toast or serve them as a side for meat dishes but I almost always keep the additional flavors classic. This time that meant Parmesan cheese and thyme with mushrooms in a creamy risotto. 

Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme

arborio rice

fresh porcini mushrooms (the recipe of course works fine with other mushrooms as well)

garlic

shallot onion

dry white wine

olive oil

Parmesan cheese

fresh thyme

butter

chicken or vegetable stock

salt, pepper

Select the best looking mushrooms and set aside, these will be used for decoration later. Chop remaining mushrooms into cubes. Finely dice the garlic and shallot onion. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to a pot or sautese with some olive oil. Cook the mix in the oil until it is soft on low heat, season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and let it cook for a few minutes then add a bit of white wine and let it reduce until almost dry.

Add the stock a little bit at the time and keep stirring while the rice cooks, when the rice is almost cooked through add grated Parmesan cheese, a few leafs of thyme and a bit of butter and set aside. Roast the sliced mushrooms in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir the risotto and season if necessary, if it get´s to dry add a bit of water. Add the risotto to a plate and the add the sliced fried mushrooms, shave some Parmesan on top and a more leafs of thyme. Serve!

New Years recipe ideas with Asian flavors

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is the sixth and final post in this series and it will be focused on Asian flavors and inspiration

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu with Asian flavors

Appetizers - these appetizers is quite light in flavor and is a great start to any meal.

Vietnamese spring rolls with sesame seeds and soy dipping sauce
Calamari with cilantro, lime and spring onion
Mussels with Thai flavors

Starter

Scallop in dashi with wakame and chili oil

I love this dish, the sweet scallop in combination with the wakame and dashi makes it one of my own favorites and I think it´s perfect as an Asian inspired starter.

Main course

For the main course it´s time for some meat, soy braised ribs with some Momofuku quick pickles and rice balls on the side.

Soy braised ribs with chili and cilantro
Momofuku quick salt pickles
Rice balls with cilantro and chili soy dip

Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds & black pepper #137

Risotto is always a good choice and I really like to serve it on it´s own, you don´t have to serve that much because most risottos are very rich. This one is slightly lighter thanks to the lemon.

Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds & black pepper

Italian arborio rice
dry white wine
Parmesan cheese
lemon
shallot onion
garlic
salt, black pepper
sugar
light chicken stock
olive oil
butter

Cut away the rind from the lemon, you´ll need all of the skin and let a little bit of the meat stay attached to the rind. Cut the rind in cubes, bring water to the boil and add the lemon rinds, let simmer for ten minutes. Then discard the water and repeat three times. This will remove most of the bitterness but will still keep a little bit of the lemon flavor. Also the remaining bitterness will give the dish great flavor and a little bit of contrast to the acidity of the lemon juice. Once the rind is cooked bring equal parts water and sugar to the boil and add the rinds together with a few drops of lemon juice. Let simmer for ten minutes and then leave to cool.

Dice garlic and shallots and add to a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Let the onions cook on low heat for five minutes, then add rice and let cook another five minutes on low heat. Turn up the heat a little bit and add a little bit of white wine and lemon juice and stir gently. Once the lemon and wine is almost gone add chicken stock a little at the time constantly stirring until the rice is almost done. You will want to keep a little bit of bite to it and the rice will keep cooking even after you remove it from the heat so be careful not to overcook it. Once the rice is almost done add a knob of butter and grated Parmesan cheese and a few drops of lemon juice.

Let the risotto rest for a few minutes and then adjust the flavors with salt, pepper, Parmesan and lemon juice if necessary. Plate the risotto and add some extra black pepper, olive oil, Parmesan and the pickled lemon rinds on top. Serve warm.

Truffle risotto #10

A truffle risotto is perfect for almost any occasion, it works especially great served as a small tapa because
it´s so rich and full of flavors. When a risotto is served as a side I almost always think it´s to powerful. For the truffle flavor I used thinly sliced summer truffles that has been marinated in truffle flavored olive oil.

Some food snobs think that you shouldn´t use truffle oil at all but I got a sneaky suspicion they don´t pay for their own white truffles. I think a good quality truffle oil is a perfect substitute for the real thing. But don´t be too generous with the oil since it is usually very strong in taste.

Truffle risotto

arborio rice
shallot onion
garlic
olive oil
truffle oil
salt, pepper
dry white wine
light chicken or vegetable stock
butter
parmesan cheese

Finely dice the onions and garlic, add some olive oil into a pan with the garlic and onion and slowly cook on low heat. Add the rice and let it cook in the oil for a few more minutes. Add salt, pepper and then the white wine and let it reduce until almost gone. Add the chicken stock a little at the time and stir the rice throughout the process, this usually takes about fifteen minutes.

When the rice is almost cooked through add a little bit of butter, truffle oil and some grated parmesan cheese. Combine and season to taste. If the risotto isn´t creamy enough then add some more stock.

Rice balls with cilantro & chili soy dip # 41

Rice balls with cilantro & chili soy dip

Cooked basmati rice
Fresh cilantro
Dried chili flakes
Japanese soy sauce
Sesame seeds
Sriracha sauce (or any other hot chili sauce)
Sesame oil

Finely chop the cilantro, save some leafs for decoration. Combine the chopped cilantro with the rice and form round balls.

Combine soy, sesame seeds, sriracha sauce, sesame oil and chili flakes into a dip. The soy is the base so this should be the dominant flavor and go easy on the sesame oil because it can easily get to dominant.

Decorate with some sesame seeds, cilantro leaves and chili flakes. Good luck.