Ingredients
Serves 4-64 tbsp butter
Olive Oil
½ cup minced spring onion
½ cup minced celery
A dash of white wine
1¼ cups arborio rice
1½ cups vegetable stock
1 packet dried porcini mushrooms
A bunch of 4 different varieties of fresh mushrooms (preferably chantarelles and Swiss brown)
A dollop of cream
½ cup of crumbled fetta
½ cop of grated parmesan cheese
And you need a rice cooker!
Method
This recipe is controversial because it is made in a rice cooker and not in the traditional (and in my opinion laborious) way. I have had many culinary snobs eat their words (along with a second helping) after tasting the results. I like this recipe because you only need to stir it a couple of times and you can add all the stock at once.
Start by placing the dried porcini mushrooms in 1½ cups of very hot water (as hot as you can get from the tap). Let them soak until soft. The water will form half of your stock for the recipe.
Turn on the rice cooker and set it to cook. It will have to stay on this setting for the entirety of the cooking process. Don’t let it switch to keep warm; that will ruin everything.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with a good pour of olive oil. When it starts to sizzle, add the spring onion and celery and brown. When it starts to turn to a nice mush, add white wine and allow it to simmer for a few minutes. Then add the rice and stir for a minute, coating it rice.
Then add all of the mushrooms and all of the stock, stir once and put on the lid. It will now cook for 20 minutes. During this time, stir it three times.
After 20 minutes it will be thick and the rice cooked. Add parmesan and remaining butter. Stir thoroughly and put the lid back on for two minutes. This will melt the cheese.
Finally stir once and serve with the feta crumbled on top.
It is vegetarian, hearty, easy and done in 30 minutes including preparation time.