Mushroom Parmesan Risotto

The last time I made risotto was... to put it mildly, a complete disaster. I decided a couple weekends ago to give it another go as a means of making a gourmet style dinner for my boyfriend. This time, I really focused on the preparation and took my time with the risotto to make sure it turned out well. Utilizing Ina Garten's recipe for Wild Mushroom Risotto, tweaking it to my own tastes,  and adding some roasted vegetables, the dinner was a triumph!

Ingredients

3/4 pounds of mushrooms (porcini, white, baby portabello)

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

7 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of minced shallots (3 whole shallots)

1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice

1/2 cup of dry white wine

salt & pepper for taste

3/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Remove and discard the stems of the mushrooms. Clean them with a wet paper towel to remove dirt. Slice them thickly then set aside. 

In a saucepan, heat the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the shallots over medium-low for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for a further 5 minutes. Add the rice, stirring constantly to coat the rice with the butter. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add two ladle-fulls of chicken stock to the rice as well as salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat stirring frequently until the rice has absorbed all the stock, 5-10 minutes. Continue adding stock, two ladles at a time stirring continuously. Each time after adding the stock, cook it down until the rice mixture becomes nearly dry before adding more stock. Continue cooking and adding stock until rice becomes creamy and cooked all the way through. This process should take around 25-30 minutes but it could take a little longer. Once the risotto is done, take off the heat and stir in most of the Parmesan cheese. Reserve the rest for individual extra servings.