The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of Melbourne Food Geek and Jess of Jess the Baker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.
This is the point where I am in the habit of making excuses: excuses for why I opened a bottle of wine approximately 15 minutes after rolling out of bed, for why I’m eating mushroom risotto by myself for breakfast on a Sunday morning, for why I waited until the last possible moment to complete the Daring Cooks assignment for this month.
No excuses today. It’s just what I did.
In my defense, I will say that I did complete the most involved segment of the challenge, making chicken stock from scratch, well in advance, and had it standing by in the freezer. This was a first for me, and I loved the result.
I’ve made risotto before, and felt comfortable enough with the basic process to feel my way to a mushroom and goat cheese version. (I know, how uncharacteristic of me to demonstrate any sort of independence in these challenges. I don’t know myself any more.) Starting with the given recipe, I made these (allowed, I hope) modifications:
- I added 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms and 6 ounces of fresh mixed wild mushrooms (oyster, shiitake, and some other kind).
- I simmered the porcini mushrooms in a cup of the stock for 20 minutes, and added the cooking liquid back to the stock for the risotto. The volume was short due to the absorption of some of the liquid by the mushrooms, so I made it up with hot water.
- I added the fresh mushrooms after the wine, and the hydrated porcinis after the risotto was done cooking.
- To finish, I added 2 ounces of crumbled goat cheese, a tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.
Delicious!
Thanks to our hosts, who have inspired a host of risottos by Daring Cooks everywhere. Take a look.
P.S. It seems I can’t avoid excuse-making altogether. The wine was for the risotto, people.
I couldn’t help but notice we have a lot of the same cookbook I make a lot of bread and have your books several dozen times and have done most of the recipes even more times.
A very funny write up and a wonderful results and I love how you are changing and adding your own tweaks to the challenge recipes next you might create some new recipes LOL LOL.
Wonderful effort on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
LOL LOL, such a funny post! No Susan, you don’t need an excuse for opening that bottle of wine or eating risotto for breakfast.. it’s all breaking out of norms and all that right?! :))
Such a delicious risotto.. so intensely mushroomy.. love it!
love it and think you did a great job. I myself had my balsamic roasted beets risotto this morning… 2 hours after getting out of the bed.
you are not alone.
Wine: The breakfast of champions!
Enjoyed reading your post.
Oh, I also own 6 of your bread books and enjoy baking from them…
The wine was for the risotto.. which I seem to remember actually called for a fairly small amount… and you had the rest of the bottle for breakfast? 😉
Looks great – very creative!
I was tossing items in the car and phoning friends, el pronto! reading that you had opened a bottle of vino, after hitting the floor, only 15 minutes prior, had several of us concerned. Thank goodness one of us had the where-with-all to read the full content of your post before tearing galactic from the driveway.
P.S. Can you drop-ship a bit of that risotto for us?
😉
I’ll have this for breakfast with a glass of white wine! Sounds like a good start to the day. Cheers~
Somehow I just stumbled onto your blog today. I am surprised I have not found it before as for the past 9 months I have been lurking on lots of baking sites as I bake my way through Peter Reinhart’s Bread Bakers Apprentice book.
Your site is just wonderful and you have so much knowledge to share!
Thanks
I could eat risotto for three meals a day.
now, there is nothing wrong with wine and risotto in the morning.
Way to redefine “daring kitchen”, Susan! But I reallyt don’t think you need to excuse yourself for making and eating risotto for breakfast. Especially that risotto. I looks wonderful. (Love the idea of adding crumbled goat’s cheese)
…just looked at the recipe. Must try adding allspice and lemon peel to our next chicken stock.