Currently Craving: Mushrooms (inc Mushroom Risotto recipe)

Past Craving's: Fentinman's Botanically Brewed Drinks, Bread, Fish and Popcorn!

Welcome to this month's Currently Craving! I have been waiting to do this post for quite a while now: when my parents went on holiday last year they bought me back a mushroom risotto set and ever since I’ve been hooked on the creamy dish! One of my favourite things about mushroom risottos is that you can use a wide variety of mushrooms which means you can almost make a different dish every time.

This week I mainly used chestnut mushrooms which give a really deep and earthy flavour – to balance the dish, I served it with some broccoli and asparagus tips.

The following are some of the more interesting edible varieties of mushroom that you will be able to find in most supermarkets and specialist food shops: chanterelles, shitake, porcini, king oyster – morels and truffles are also from the fungi/mushroom family! All of these mushrooms can bring something extra special to your cooking.

I’ve always been fascinated by the wide variety of mushrooms; their different colours, sizes, shapes and textures. Going on a foraging course with a particular focus on wild mushrooms is something that I really hope to do in the near future! I don’t know however whether I would be able to trust myself even after attending such a course – there are so many varieties that mimic edible varieties but are in fact toxic! It’s a crazy mushroomy world out there. Some “edible” varieties aren’t actually edible unless they have been prepared in a certain way...something else I would hate to get wrong!

But fortunately for us there is a great choice of mushrooms on the high street either fresh or dried so there’s no excuse not to jazz up a risotto, an omelette, your fried brekkie or a steak!

In the meantime...why not try out this recipe for my Mushroom Risotto, serves four.