I am a self-proclaimed risotto queen, its a simple dish which you can make fancy and I love ordering it every time I go to an Italian restaurant so I thought why not learn to make risotto with my favourite flavours so here it is! This is a chicken and mushroom risotto and it is a super easy midweek meal. My signature dish is a seafood risotto but I had some mushrooms that needed to be used so I thought why not do a chicken and mushroom risotto, stay tuned for the recipe to my signature dish. I made two servings of risotto and my portion sizes have been reduced significantly so use the measurements to your preference.
Here's what you'll need for the risotto
Ingredients:
-half a cup arborio rice
-1 chicken breast diced
-1 small yellow onion
-3 cloves of garlic
-handful of fresh basil
-handful of fresh parsley
-2 stalks of celery
-handful of mushrooms
-half a cup of frozen peas
-1 chicken stock pot
-a splash of dry white wine
-dried basil
-dried oregano
-dried parsley
-half a cup grated Parmesan cheese
-butter
-olive oil
Firstly, start off by washing your rice, rinse it until the water is running clear, then set aside. You need to then start prepping your vegetables, I diced a small yellow onion, you can use any time of onion, I chopped two stalks of celery, do not skip this step, the celery gives the risotto a unique flavour, you can include as many cloves of garlic as you like, I included three big cloves because I wanted the garlic to stand out in the risotto which I minced. I then washed my mushrooms and sliced them thinly and soaked some frozen peas in water to help defrost
We can now move onto the chicken, wash your chicken breast with vinegar and lemon juice, don't be lazy with this step! I then died my chicken breast and seasoned with some olive oil, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, basil and oregano. I baked my chicken in the oven for about 20 minutes on 175 degrees so the seasoning can stick to the chicken. While the chicken is baking we can move onto the cooking of the risotto.
After the veggies have been prepped you can move onto frying them in some olive oil allowing the flavours to release, when the onions, garlic and celery are starting to become soft you can add a teaspoon of butter along with the rice to toast the rice. Once the rice has been toasted you can then add your mushrooms and season it to your preference, I seasoned with white pepper, dried basil and oregano, I did not add any salt because the Parmesan is salty and we will also be adding chicken stock which will also have a lot of salt in it. Now you can add a splash of white wine to the rice and let the wine evaporate, I added another teaspoon of butter and let that mix into the rice that is when I gradually started adding the Parmesan. You can also at this stage take the chicken out of the oven and add it into the rice.
You can then boil 500ml water and leave in a separate pot and then add your chicken stock pot, you can also use a vegetable stock if you'd like, mix in the stock and leave on very low heat. Take a ladle and add some of the stock gradually to the rice and let simmer, you can cover the rice in between adding each ladle of stock, you will start to see the rice becoming creamy, keep repeating this step until there is no stock left in the pot, taste your food as you go along to check if the rice has cooked through, if not then you need some more stock or water. Stir the rice often because you don't want the rice to stick at the bottom of the pan, you can add the frozen peas towards the end of the dish they won't need long to cook and you want to preserve the colour of the peas.
For the garnish I chopped a handful of parsley and basil for some freshness and also added a bit of lemon juice for some acidity. I did not add any salt to the dish because the Parmesan and chicken stock were both salty, but if your risotto needs more salt, season to your preference and that's it you risotto is ready! You can add some rocket on top of the risotto to make it a little healthier to make up for the lack of vegetables in the dish. I hope you enjoy the recipe and let me know how it goes for you! Happy Eating!
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