Chanterelle Risotto
It’s finally mushroom season and this year we decided that we would look for our mushrooms ourselves since we love Chanterelles and they can be found in various places around Zürich. We read up on where and when these mushrooms can be found and discovered that the Üetliberg, Hönggerberg and Züriberg were the best places to hunt. We also discovered that you cannot pick mushrooms from the 1st to the 10th of each month (every other day is ok) and that there is a maximum of 1 Kg per person per day. Picking mushrooms always made me feel a little uneasy - what if I was going to pick and eat a poisonous mushroom and was going to feel sick? My uneasiness went quickly away when I discovered that in Switzerland you can bring your hand picked mushrooms to places that check them for you (for free) and tell you if they are ok to eat. You can find more information about this here.
So after heading to Züriberg and finding some delicious chanterelles, we brought them to get checked up and were ready to make risotto! Trust me it’s even better when you have hand picked your own mushrooms (and so cheap). I decided to add some Taleggio cheese to this risotto as I really needed some comfort food with this cold and rainy weather but you can also go without.
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 20 Minutes
Ingredients (for 4 people)
Carnaroli Rice - 350 gr - Order with Farmy
Taleggio - 150 gr
Onion - 1 medium - Order with Farmy
Chanterelles - 250 gr (Pick them yourself or buy them in any supermarket)
White Wine - 100 ml
Butter - 20 gr - Order with Farmy
Vegetable Broth - 1L
Parmesan - 100 gr
Salt & Pepper
How to:
Let's start making our chanterelle risotto by rinsing and cleaning the chanterelles well (I really don’t like biting on dirt so I’m quite fuzzy when it comes to mushroom cleaning).
Cut the onion in small pieces and also cut chunks of the Taleggio cheese after removing the crust (the chunks can be quite big)
Heat up your vegetable broth in a small pot so that it is ready for when you cook the rice.
Take a cooking pot and start by heating some oil (or butter) and throwing the onions in. Once you have cooked the onions for around 2-3 minutes add the rice and stirring regularly let it cook for around 1 minute. Next, add the white wine and stir until it has evaporated.
Once the wine has evaporated you can start adding vegetable broth - always add enough broth to cover the rice but never too much. You will keep stirring and adding water, letting the rice cook for around 20 minutes (depending on what it says on the package, most risottos are ready in 16 to 22 minutes).
It is important to never stop stirring when making risotto in order for it not to get stuck to the bottom of the pan.
In a frying pan heat some oil and cook the chanterelles until all the water has evaporated - add some salt and pepper.
When the risotto has been cooking for around 15 minutes add the Taleggio and the grated parmesan. Keep stirring, you can even add water if you feel like the risotto is drying up.
2 minutes before the time is up also add the chanterelles and keep mixing until the risotto is ready. You want your risotto to be creamy and a tiny bit liquid not hard and stuck to the pan.
Once the cooking times has passed your risotto will be ready for plating (always use a flat plate for risotto).