Porcini Walnut Risotto

My sister Céline lives in Frankfurt, Germany. She is to come back to work in France at the beginning of next year, which makes me deliriously happy, but until then we have to make do with the weekends she comes to spend with us. This Saturday, after the traditional afternoon of shopping together, Céline came over for dinner. She is very appreciative of my cooking, so it's always a pleasure feeding her.

As a main dish, I prepared a porcini walnut risotto. The trusted recipe I always start from is the Basic Pressure Cooker Risotto recipe that Val posted on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board a while ago, which I tweak to include whatever ingredients my risotto happens to star.

Each of us was served a little mound of risotto, on which I ground black pepper and sprinkled parmesan, with a green salad on the side. Alternatively the risotto could be deposited on a bed of salad in a shallow bowl, or circles could be used to shape the rice neatly, but this was just us, so I forwent the fuss.

Risotto is always a very satisfying dish, and here the creamy rice was particularly well complemented by the soft porcini and the crunchy walnuts. The three of us polished this off nicely but, had we had any leftovers, I would have made risotto cakes the next day, sautéed in a little olive oil in a skillet.

Porcini Walnut Risotto

- 720 ml (3 cups) vegetable stock (prepared with a cube of bouillon)
- 30 grams (1 ounce) dried porcini (bought at the market in Gourdon)
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 3 cloves pink garlic
- 290 grams (1 1/2 cups) Arborio rice
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) crumbled walnuts
- 40 grams (1/3 cup) freshly grated parmesan + more to serve

(Serves 3 to 4.)

I heated up the stock in a saucepan and dropped the dried porcini in to soak.

In the pressure cooker over high heat, I heated olive oil and sautéed the onion and garlic. To that I added the Arborio rice, stirring to coat. When everything had turned golden, I poured in the bouillon, the porcini and the white wine, stirred and closed the lid of the pressure cooker.

When it started whistling (mine whistles the tune to The Wizard of Oz, go figure), I lowered the heat and counted 7 minutes. I then released the pressure, opened the lid and tasted the rice. The texture was just right, so I stirred in the crushed walnuts and the freshly grated parmesan.