Easy Wild Mushroom Risotto With Pine Mushrooms

This Wild Mushroom Risotto is a warming and hearty Autumn meal that make use of a very special seasonal ingredient - Pine Mushrooms!

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Forage, Foraged food, Wild mushroom

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: people

Calories: 448kcal

1 lb saffron milk cap mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (500g)
1 tbsp butter (more if needed)
1 tbsp olive oil, (or 2.5 Tbsp if omitting butter)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 yellow onion, diced
1.5 cups arborio rice, (this was 300g/10.5oz for me), rinsed really well
½ cup dry white wine
5.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock (start with 5 and add another half if the rice needs more cooking)
2 cups baby spinach
2 oz goat's cheese (optional) (60g - plus extra for serving)
Big handful of thyme, leaves only, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste, (be generous)
1 lemon, (optional)

Put the stock on the stove to start heating through. You want it hot, just simmering but not boiling.
Melt the butter and 1 tsp of the olive oil in a frypan over medium/high heat until the butter foams (use 1.5 Tbsp of oil if not using butter).
Add the mushrooms, season with a little salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until the colour is deep and golden. If your frypan isn’t big enough to take them all in one batch without crowding them, cook them in two lots with half the butter and oil in each. Set aside the mushrooms once cooked.
Heat a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and add the remaining oil. Once it has heated through, add the onion and garlic. Fry for 5-6 minutes or until softened and translucent.
Add the rice and stir through for a minute or two until it is coated with the oil and becomes shiny.
Add the wine and stir until completely absorbed then add a ladle of the hot stock and stir occasionally until fully absorbed.
Keep adding the stock one ladle at a time and stirring occasionally until each is absorbed to ensure the rice cooks through evenly.
Once all the stock has been used and the rice is cooked, season with salt and pepper then stir through the baby spinach.
Once the spinach has wilted, stir through the thyme and cooked mushrooms to reheat then add the goat's cheese stirring through genetly just before serving.
Serve with an extra drizzle of olive oil along with some extra goats cheese and a drizzle of lemon juice if desired.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.

To freeze, let the risotto come to room temperature then pour into an airtight container and freeze for up to three months.

Please see the note on safety above if you are going foraging for these mushrooms.