Mushrooms used to be on my Absolutely Never Ever Will Eat, Seriously Ever list. But that has changed, sort of. Once upon a time I was at a restaurant with absolutely no entree dishes that appealed to me, so I turned to the sides list. Mushroom risotto was listed and despite my hatred of the squishy, slimy things, I had an insane craving for it. I ordered it and with the exception of a few larger chunks of mushroom, I devoured it. The umami, heady, earthiness of the mushrooms mixed into the rice, and lightly hidden with freshly shredded Parmesan was intoxicating.
I sought to replicate the experience at home, but at a deeper level. I wanted no chunks to pick out of whatever I had complete control over, and frankly, I didn't want to touch the things, the gills looking like they were undulating on their own, trying to swallow my fingers in their foreignly soft folds. So I destroyed them — in the food processor. Tipped directly from the plastic mushroom box into the food processor chute, I didn't have to touch them at all, and they shredded perfectly into little rice-sized pieces that would impart their flavors into the swollen rice, and then disappear like an ex you used to feel better about yourself for a week, and stopped calling.
The Food Processor Process
All food processors are different, but use the one with the cheese grater style holes instead of a slicer or blade-like attachment to give you small, rice-like pieces. There may be a few bigger chunks left in there from the shredding process, but you can either set them aside for your vegetable stock bag, or re-shred them with the attachment or a knife.
Send them down the chute and use a spatula to scrape out the errant shreds. That's it!
Shredded Mushroom Risotto
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 3 - 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms (or fresh mushroom of choice)
- ½ medium yellow onion diced
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup dry white wine (like pinot grigio)
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ - ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium high heat.
- In a separate, small pan, heat the chicken or vegetable stock over medium heat.
- As soon as the butter melts, add the onions and stir to coat. Cook for 2 minutes, do not let burn.
- Add the rice and stir to coat. Let the grains toast for 1 minute.
- Pour in the white wine and stir. Let the wine mostly absorb into the rice, this will take a few minutes. Once you can use the stirring spoon to make a part in the rice, add a cup of warm stock and stir in. Add the mushrooms at this point too.
- Let the rice mixture simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, and add another cup of stock until it absorbs each time, until you get to the last one. It should have been absorbing liquid for 15-20 minutes by this point.
- Once the last cup of stock has halfway absorbed into the rice, about 3 minutes, remove from heat. Stir in thyme, salt, pepper, and cheese. Season to taste and serve immediately.
Can you use dried mushrooms?
I have no idea, I am a mushroom naive. I don't know about canned or pickled ones either. What kinds are best for this recipe? No idea! Check out a mushroom chart and let me know if you go with something besides shiitake.
I make a lot of risotto recipes on here, I know. But I LOVE IT SO. You can start with my basic risotto, or try beer cheese risotto, and then, goat cheese risotto. Just buy a big jug of Arborio rice and go nuts.