Stir it up: a delicious risotto with mushrooms, sage and brown butter

It was getting close to dinner time and I had failed to give any thought to what I was going to eat. Well, I had a half an hour and some basic ingredients: mushrooms, some herbs and some arborio rice. No problem.

This recipe was written on a scrap of paper stuck in a decorative teapot along with about 500 other pieces of paper at my grandmother's house.

I don't know whose recipe it is and, as far as I know, my grandmother never made it. I made it several years ago and loved it but then I misplaced the recipe. I found it recently and thought I'd give it a try.

 So glad I did. It is DELICIOUS.

Risotto is a little labor intensive, but this moves along so quickly that you barely notice. Give it a try.

Risotto with Mushrooms, Sage and Brown Butter

Makes 4 servings

•  3 cups of vegetable stock
•  2 tablespoons of olive oil
•  8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced (I like baby bella but button mushrooms are good as well)
•  6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
•  1 1/2 ounces of shallots, finely chopped
•  2 tablespoons of sage leaves, chopped
•  1 cup of  rice (arborio will make a creamier risotto)
•  1/2 cup of white cooking wine
•  1/2 cup of Parmesan, grated

1. Keep the stock warm in small pan.
2. Put olive oil in a large skillet and put on medium heat.
3. Add the mushrooms and stir, cooking until it's browned. 
4. When they're done, put the mushrooms aside.
5. Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat and add the shallots. Cook the shallots until the butter starts to turn brown and stir in the sage and the rice.
6. Cook while stirring to coat the rice with butter.
7. Add the wine and simmer until it's reduced and most of the liquid as been absorbed.
8. Add a ladle of the warm stock and stir. When the stock has almost been fully absorbed into the rice, add another ladle. Repeat until all the stock is gone.
9. Stir in the Parmesan and mushrooms, serve warm with more Parmesan.

Cooking up some goodness

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