Autumn is here, it’s finally appropriate comfort food weather and risotto was number one on our list. It’s my husbands favourite and to be honest I was never much of a fan until recently. It’s just such a great dish to sort of use up different beautiful ingredients. I love to play around with risotto combinations now. This is the first one of the season but I’ll definitely be posting more …like a pumpkin, spinach, sage and soft white cheese one and more ragu versions. I’ve used buffalo mince here from our friends farm but you can use any mince you can find. I also really recommend using some homemade broth or stock – that way you have more control of the salt levels. So next time you have some roast chicken bones left over or any other meat – save it and make a stock out of it!
Recipe for Risotto with buffalo meat, mushrooms and garlic
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: approximately 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients:
400g or 5 handfuls of risotto rice
600g buffalo mince (or beef mince) – add less or more depending on how much you would like
2 cups x mushrooms (sliced)
1 x garlic clove (keep it whole)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
700ml bone broth/stock (beef or chicken) or water (this amount varies depending on how you cook the risotto but aim for using anywhere between 700ml-1L
4 sprigs of saffron
1 tsp chilli flakes
salt
pepper
parmesan rind (optional)
parmesan (however much you like)
1 x bunch of fresh parsley
1 tbsp ghee (or butter)
Method
- Warm the broth in a separate pot and set it aside, keeping it warm.
- Melt the ghee or butter on a hot pan and add the garlic clove, cook for 1 minute then add the mince meat. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring a couple of times and add the white wine. Once the liquid has evaporated, add the mushrooms, the rice, the chilli flakes and saffron, stir through well to combine. On a medium heat begin adding the broth. Add 2 ladles of the broth at a time and stir through often. Add the parmesan rind (if using) Keep the consistency simmering on a medium-high heat and continue adding the broth and stirring. After approximately 20 minutes test the rice to see if it has cooked through and soaked up the liquid. Continue cooking and stirring until you see that the risotto is ready – the rice needs to be soft and most of the liquid reduced and thickened into a sauce. Remove the parmesan rind. Season with salt and pepper. Crush the garlic into half. Stir through an extra knob of butter if you like!
- Serve with fresh parsley and grated parmesan.
Tips:
- Season the risotto once nearly ready as different broths/stocks etc have different salt levels.
- The amount of stock/broth is always ‘more or less’ of a quanity, I really encourage just tasting the rice throughout the cooking time and just add enough bit by bit.