Clay Pot Oven Cooked Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

• 350g risotto Rice

  Rice

  Great as an accompaniment or for making risotto and pilaff.

  • White long grain rice is good for salads, and its absorbent qualities go well with sauces and casseroles.
  • Risotto rice has an incredible capacity to absorb a great amount of cooking liquid and still retain bite, just like paella rice.
  • When cooked, basmati rice gives a light, fluffy, separate grains perfect to accompany curries or biriyani and pilaff dishes.
  • Rice can replace breadcrumbs in stuffing’s and a few grains can be added to soups to thicken the broth.
  • You have to be careful when reheating rice as there is a nasty little bacteria called bacillus cereus which may be present in cereals, particularly rice, and it is resistant to heat.
  • It’s important always to cook rice for a hot dish just as you need it and serve it piping hot. If the rice is for a cold dish, once it’s cooked, cool it as quickly as possible and chill within two hours. To do this, drain the rice in a colander, rinse with cold water then tip into a large shallow container. Once it is cold, cover and keep refrigerated for no longer than a day.
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil

  Olive oil

  Usually the darker green the oil, the richer the flavour.

  • Extra virgin olive oil is good for drizzling on salads and should never be heated as this destroys the fine properties
  • Lighter olive oil is good for adding to bread, or to flavour a salad or marinade for chicken, meat, fish or vegetables. Lighter olive oil can be gently heated and added to marinades and baking.
• 1.2 litres vegetable Stocks

  Stocks

  Made from your meat and fish bones.

  Frozen in ice cubes for gravies, risotto and cooking rice. Once frozen, remove from the ice trays and pack into freezer bags. Use stock powder or cubes if you do not have any home made available.

• 50g Butter

  Butter

  Unsalted is better for cooking.

  Easy spread butter is ideal for sandwiches and toast.

• 75g left over Cheese

  Cheese

  Add to eggs for omelettes, grate onto soups or salads.

  • Parmesan often goes rock hard or becomes horribly sweaty. Ideally, all cheese should be stored in a cool, airy place at a temperature of 46-50F/8-10C. However, most of us put it straight into the fridge. This is fine providing the cheese is kept loosely wrapped in its own airtight container so it isn’t tainted by other foods.
  • Store it in the salad drawer, which is not quite as cold as the rest of the fridge and use a micro plane for grating.
• Ground Black peppercorns

  Black peppercorns

  Best used as a condiment.

  They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.

  • Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
  • Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
  • Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
• Salt

  Salt

  Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.

  Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.