Riverside Ovens
Test Kitchen

Mushrooms are a wildly usable natural ingredient. It's hard to think of many things that it would not be suited to compliment.  Of the top of my head, I could see a diced portobello enhancing the texture and flavor of virtually any soup, both broth based or tomato based; nearly any kind of meat except for

maybe fish; salads and definitely rices.  The Wild Mushroom Risotto recipe calls for only 2/3 cups of diced porcini mushrooms, a type that wasn't available at the store, so a quick swap to portobello worked just fine.  Start the dish with a standard shallot sauté in oil, then a pinch more oil and 1 and 1/2 cups of Arborio rice, a large and silky style that is well suited to soaking up the mushroom liquid, 1/2 cup of white wine and a full 4 cups of chicken broth.  As the recipe suggests, the process of making the rice is to slowly dissolve the broth, ladling in smaller portions at a time, absorbing the

liquid, then ladling more for what could take up to 35 minutes constant stirring.  The result, however, is a very fluffy and flavorful batch, not sticky or burnt (because of constant stirring).  I placed a batch of boiled asparagus over the arborio and alongside slices of lemon pepper pork loin. A small bowl of cauliflower hummus lined by carrots and this became an earthy, fresh dinner, with hints of coming spring spiced in.