The Fell Foodie’s mushroom and thyme risotto recipe

Harrison Ward is your guide to how to create a restaurant-style mushroom risotto on a camping stove in the open air

Outdoor cooking often requires a degree of patience – as does a properly crafted risotto. Take it slow, adding stock in small quantities, allowing the rice to absorb and not boil in the liquid. When autumn comes along, why not search out a local forager, or a quality greengrocer, and make this with some seasonal fungi? Make sure you trust them, though, as some mushrooms are only edible once!

Ingredients

1 litre vegetable stock
20g dried porcini mushrooms
150g mushrooms (chestnut or shitake work well)
oil
½ white onion
1 carrot
1 celery stick
2–3 garlic cloves
200g Arborio rice
187ml/small bottle of white wine
(or non-alcoholic alternative)
sprig of fresh thyme
salt
pepper
vegetarian hard cheese or vegan alternative*
salad leaves

Method

1. Heat the stock, add the dried porcini mushrooms and decant it into a flask to keep it hot.

2. Chop the mushrooms into slices or quarters. Place the saucepan on a low to medium heat and add oil. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until browned then set aside.

3. Finely dice the onion, carrot and celery. Add the diced veg to the pan to soften but not colour.

4. Finely chop the garlic cloves and add to the mix. Stir in the rice and then add the white wine. Wait until it has reduced and been absorbed then add a small amount of stock from the flask.

5. Keep stirring, letting the stock reduce and absorb before adding a little more. Repeat until the stock is finished and the rice is soft with a little bit of bite.

6. Stir through the cooked mushrooms and fresh thyme, season to taste and serve with grated cheese and salad.

Harrison Ward’s new book, Cook Out is out now. This ultimate outdoor adventure cookbook contains over 80 of easy-to-prepare gourmet recipes that will keep you fuelled all day long. Purchase here.