Mushroom Risotto

This recipe isn't special because it is particularly fast or easy, (although it is not particularly difficult or time consuming either). It's just good, that is, it completely makes up for in taste what it lacks in convenience or ease. It's a good weekend dish if you don't cook everyday- or double it and freeze half.


Serves: 2 people for dinner and 1 lunch the next day

Ingredients:

• one small bag of dried mushrooms (i.e. shittake or porcini) like about 12 oz (can you have too many mushrooms?)
• 3/4 cup fresh mushrooms of any type (portobello, or the little blue box kind, or whatever)
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons Smart Balance Buttery Spread
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 teaspoon basil
• a little bit of pepper
• 1/2 cup short grain rice
• 1/2 cup long grain or brown rice (I used the Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley and it was pretty good)

1. First you have to soak the dried mushrooms in boiling water according to the packaging (somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes) so just put them in a bowl, go do something else and then come back- I don't count that as cooking time. By the way, you can buy these mushrooms somewhere in the grocery store I'm sure, but I always buy them at Asian grocery stores in the dried mushroom section, so I don't know where they are in Safeway.
2. Boil the vegetable broth in one saucepan while melting the "butter" in another (I know, 2 pans!)
3. Chop the mushrooms and onions and cook them with the spices in the "butter" for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the rice to the mushroom/onion/spice/butter mix and cook until the rice is coated with "butter."
5. Add half the stock to the mix and let it boil off (maybe less than 10 minutes-just watch it in between emails or something), then add the rest of the stock and let that boil off until the rice is a normal consistency, stirring occasionally.
6. Eat it right away, or put it in the fridge, but make sure it's really hot when you do eat it because that is just really tasty.

This was a winner, plus it was fun to try using the dried mushrooms.