Mushroom Risotto

This is Jamie Oliver's recipe. What I like about this is the way how the mushrooms are prepared, instead of mixing the mushrooms in the risotto at the beginning of cooking,  it is saute separately. I used a mix of Dried Cepes (Porcini), Morille, Girolle and fresh Champignon de Paris. They are first saute in olive oil and mince garlic, throw in chopped parsley at the very last minute and scoop it on top of the risotto. Easy, tasty and no fuss :)

Jamie said "No button mushroom please!!" but I don't want to blow up my budget for just one meal, so I used button mushrooms to add volume. Of course,  it would be tastier to use fresh wild mushrooms but looking at the price of over 15 - 25 euro per kilo (gulp), I prefer to use a 4 euro per kilo button mushrooms :)

Here's what you need for 4 servings:

30g               Dried Porcini, Morille and Girolle (I didn't use a lot of Porcini coz I don't want it to be too strong)
300g             Fresh Champignon de Paris (Button Mushrooms)
3 gloves        Garlic (minced)
1 medium      Onion (chopped)
2 sticks         Celery (chopped)
300g             Risotto Rice
some             Parsley (Chopped)
150ml           White wine
50g               Parmesan Cheese (grated)
1L                 Hot chicken stock ( I used chicken cubes)
1 tbsp            Butter

1. First in a sauce pan boil some hot water, when it starts to boil throw in a chicken cube and your dried mushrooms then lower down the heat to a simmer. Once the mushrooms are soft, fish out, chopped and keep a side. Keep the liquid in a low simmer.
2. In a large pan, lightly fried the chopped onion and celery without browning them. Once the onion is ready, turn up the heat and add in the rice. Give it a good stir then add in the white wine. Keep stirring until the rice absorb all the wine.
3. Now add in the hot chicken stock, laddleful by laddleful. Make sure the rice absorbed all the liquid before add in another laddleful of stock. Keep stirring until rice cooked to your likeness.
4. Meanwhile, fried all the mushrooms in a very hot pan with a tbsp of olive oil. They might gives out some liquid which you can add it into the stock for cooking the rice. Once the mushrooms are dried, add in another spoon of olive oil, chopped garlic and gives them a good stir, season with salt and pepper then add in the chopped parsley.
5. Take off risotto from heat, check the seasoning, add in a tbsp of butter and the grated Parmesan cheese.
6. Serve your risotto topped with grilled mushrooms, sprinkle with some extra Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Hope you like this recipe. I am sharing this with Weekend potluck , This week's craving

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Spanakopita

Spanakopita / Spinach Feta triangles



Pan fried Spanakopita triangles



While chating with my dear friend (Dal) not long ago, she mentioned that she had Spanakopita. Huh?? Spa.. what?? what's that, Dal?? sounds so alien.. "No Syl, it's actually a Greek spinach feta cheese pie." "Try it and blog about it.."

So tried and blog about it I am.. Yes, I googled it and it's such an easy recipe and great for dinner or even party food. Love the idea of making LM eat vegetables without complaining.. He actually ate 6 of these triangles.. Happy me :)

So here's the recipe adapted from allrecipes:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds spinach, rinsed and chopped (I used frozen spinach)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 sheets phyllo dough (I didn't have phyllo pastry so I used spring roll wrapper)
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in spinach (If use frozen spinach, preheat the spinach in microwave as per instruction from packet.)and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach is limp, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in spinach mixture. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan, and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top, brush with olive oil, and repeat process with two more sheets of phyllo. The sheets will overlap the pan. Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold overhanging dough over filling. Brush with oil, then layer remaining 4 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each with oil. Tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling. Bake in preheated oven 200C for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve while hot.
3. Since mine are in a triangle form, so I pan fried them till crisped and serve with a green salad for a light and healthy dinner.