2For66

January 13

A week or so ago Carla asked me “Could you make something vegetarian once in a while?” My eyes bugged out, then glazed over and I broke out in a cold sweat. “Can I at least use chicken stock?” I asked. “Oh, sure – your chicken stock is great.” Phew.

I thought and perused for a bit and settled on making a mushroom risotto I found on Serious Eats. All the mushrooms it calls for along with soy sauce and miso paste would impart a rich umami taste that we get from meat. I figured it would be a beginner’s step to vegetarian cooking. We wanted a mixture of mushrooms but had to settle for crimini and those white ones.  If you are a vegetarian use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

A few minutes of prep and we have everything ready. Back in the day making risotto was very time consuming requiring a constant stirring and adding stock a little at a time. A pressure cooker makes it so, so much easier – another reason for splurging investing in a pressure cooker.

To get the most mushroom flavor, simmer the dried porcini mushrooms in chicken stock in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Then remove the mushrooms from the stock and roughly chop. While we wait to add the stock, soak the discarded mushroom stems from the other mushrooms. Next sauté the crimini mushrooms in olive oil until they lose their moisture and start to brown. SeriousEats says this will take 8 minutes; it took me double that in my Instant Pot Duo 60 electric pressure cooker.

Next add the butter, onion, and garlic to the pot until the onions are softened and the garlic fragrant. Then we toss in the rice to be coated with the fat and toasted. Once that is accomplished add the soy sauce and miso paste and we are just about ready for the liquids.

Add the wine and cook it off completely. Finally, add the stock, straining it through a fine mesh strainer to catch those crimini stems. Pressure cook for 5 minutes on low. Well, the recipe says low; perhaps low on a stove top cooker is the 10 PSI they call for but Instant Pot on high ranges from 10.2 ==> 11.6 so I used high.

Quick release the pressure and stir in cream, herbs, and cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) [please don’t  use that stuff in the green can].

This was excellent. We used tarragon as one of the herbs and it imparted a licorice flavor I wasn’t fond of. I may have also not cooked off the alcohol enough.

Rating: ★★★★ It could easily get to 5 stars when I try it again without the tarragon. My copy of the recipe with my notes and formatting can is here.

This makes plenty – at least 4 dinners for us. After dinner I filled three 2 cup containers with the leftovers and put them in the freezer; we’ll eat them within a week to 10 days.