Wild mushroom risotto

A fabulously indulgent supper dish or starter. Even hardened carnivores will love this luxurious veggie risotto.

For 4 good sized portions, you will need:

• 400g of carnaroli rice (arborio is fine, but carnaroli is best)
• A litre of vegetable stock
• A big knob of butter
• A small glass of dry white wine
• 50g of dried porcini mushrooms
• 150g of fresh, wild mushrooms (chanterelles work well) roughly chopped
• A big glug of extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4-5 shallots, finely chopped
• A big bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley or basil
• About 50g of freshly grated parmesan

This will take about 40 minutes to make, and it's easier if you do all the prep and chopping first.

1. Soak the dried porcini in hot water for 20 minutes. Save a little of the liquid and add it to the stock
2. In a large pot, heat up the stock and keep it simmering. At the same time, take a large pan, heat the oil and then add the chopped shallots and garlic
3. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the rice becomes slightly translucent, then add the wine with a good pinch of salt and keep stirring
4. Once the wine has evaporated, throw in the porcini, then the herbs, and then begin to add the stock to the rice, a ladle at a time
5. As soon as the rice has almost absorbed the stock, it's time to add another. Keep doing this and gently stirring all the time and massaging the creamy starch from the rice. This will probably take about 20 minutes
6. Meanwhile, in a separate pan heat some oil, fry a little garlic and add the fresh mushrooms
7. When all of the stock has been absorbed (remember the risotto should be creamy not dry) and the mushrooms have cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the cooked mushrooms, butter and parmesan to the rice
8. Stir the whole thing well, cover and leave for 5 minutes for the risotto to settle. This is the most important part of the process, where the risotto becomes very creamy and oozy and lovely!

Serve immediately with black pepper and some more parmesan.