precarious panther

As evident in a lot of the cooking I do, chicken and mushrooms are my favourite combination of savoury flavours. I enjoy strong pungent flavours as a starting point for many of the dishes I prepare – with the smell eliciting the first wave of flavour before it’s hit your taste buds, and smoked chicken is a great example. The rich smokey flavour inoculates the entire dish with a luscious, rich smell almost overpowering the mushrooms (which is why it’s important to choose varieties of mushroom that are equally potent) and enhanced by the white wine makes your mouth water well before it is ready to serve.

This particular recipe is inspired loosely by one in Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie At Home” book – “Grilled Mushroom Risotto”. Jamie prepares his mushrooms separately to the risotto and dresses the final dish with them – however I chose to cook them at different stages in the risotto with the chicken to help flavour the arborio rice.

One of our favourite Italian restaurants in Dural – “Biviano’s” make a delicious “Risotto Polo e Porcini” similar to this dish but with the addition of tomatoes, of which is a staple for me when dining there! I’m not a fan of tomatoes personally, so they are omitted from this recipe. If you do like tomato however, dice cherry tomatoes and add them at the same time you add the cream.

As a last note, this recipe makes between 4-5 litres of Risotto meaning there are lots of left overs for lunches this week. Rather than reducing ingredients I prefer to use entire packets to keep everything fresh, however you  could comfortable halve this recipe if you are cooking for fewer people.

Ingredients

Smoked Chicken & Mushroom Risotto (Makes enough for 10 people)

100g Shitake Mushrooms 100g Shimeji Mushrooms 200g Swiss Brown Mushrooms One Large Onion (White/Brown) 1 Tbs Crushed Garlic 700g (approx) Smoked Chicken Breast Fillets 4 Cups Arborio Rice 1.5 Cups Sauvignon Blanc White Wine 3 Litres Chicken Stock 300ml Thickened Cream Olive Oil or Butter Cracked Black Pepper

Directions:

1. 

   Sliced Shitake Mushroom

   Prepare all of the ingredients first into bowls (or the tubs they came in) as once you start making the risotto it will need your undivided attention for half an hour. The Shitake and Shimeji mushrooms are to flavour the risotto, whilst the swiss is to provide meaty texture. Slice the strong flavoured mushrooms (Shitake and Shimeji – you can substitute these for others) into small pieces. Then peel and dice the onion finely and set aside in a separate bowl.

2. The swiss brown mushrooms should be washed and peeled to remove dirt, then roughly chopped into large cubes. Dice the smoked chicken breasts into similar sized pieces and put both of these aside in a bowl together.
3. 

   Hot Chicken Stock - Ladle

   After all of the ingredients have been prepared, you can begin cooking. The chicken stock needs to be hot whilst it is added to the risotto two ladles at a time so you will need to heat it in a medium pot. To simplify this I heated one litre of stock at a time, pouring in the next container as each runs out.

4. In a LARGE pot, heat approx three Tablespoons of olive oil (or butter). Once the oil has heated stir in the diced onion and crushed garlic and let it cook (without browning) for about 5-10 minutes. The onion will be transparent when it is ready.
5. Turn down the heat to medium, and then add in the rice. Stir it well so that the oil and juice from the onion coat the rice. Add one cup of white wine and mix it through.
6. 

   Chicken Stock added to Rice

   Now for the time-staking part. Risotto is cooked by gradually adding stock, letting it absorb/evaporate, then repeating this process until the rice has cooked. The rice mush be consistently stirred through this entire process to avoid burning.

7. Add two ladles of hot chicken stock to the rice mixture and stir it gently over the heat until most of it has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated.
8. Add another two ladles of hot chicken stock and continue to stir, waiting for the stock to have mostly been absorbed before continuing. Repeat this process until you have added approximately one litre of the chicken stock and the rice has lost most of its cloudiness.
9. At this stage we want to start cooking the strongly flavoured mushrooms into the rice to bring out their rich flavours. Add the strongly flavoured mushrooms (Shitake & Shimeji) to the rice, and continue with adding stock and reducing.
10. 

    Added Chicken & "Texture" Mushrooms

    Once you have reduced approx two litres of the stock the mushrooms that you added previously should have slightly changed colour to represent they are cooked. Its now time to add in the diced smoked chicken and the diced swiss brown mushrooms. Stir both through the risotto well and then continue with reducing the stock into the rice.

11. After you have added all of the stock into the risotto the rice should be cooked. Finally add the thickened cream and remaining half cup of white wine and mix it through the risotto over heat.
12. Finally, turn off the heat and let the risotto sit for five minutes before serving.
13. Enjoy! Any leftover risotto can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave.

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