Mushroom risotto

Even my husband, The Meat Eater, enjoyed this without once stating that "there's something missing"!

Serves 2 as a main meal or 4 as a starter

Half an onion finely chopped
Stick celery finely chopped
Oil for frying
100 - 150g mushrooms
3 tbsps of fresh herbs 
50 ml white wine or vermouth
risotto rice
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1l of vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
50-75g fresh or frozen peas
A large knob of butter (50g approx.)
100g cheese

Bread (sliced)
garlic clove
olive oil
tomato

Finely chop the onion and celery and sautee gently in a wide bottomed pan or a frying pan with a lid, until soft and transparent. Add the mushrooms and half of the fresh herbs - I used thyme and lemon balm this time. Next, add the rice. Stir, coating evenly with the vegetables.

Once the rice has started to turn transparent (a couple of minutes), turn the heat up and add the wine or vermouth. Allow the liquor to absorb and then add the garlic, stir and add a ladle of stock. Keep stirring the rice until it has absorbed the liquid and add another ladle of stock. Taste the liquid as you're stirring and adjust seasoning accordingly. As I used a homemade chicken stock, it needed 3 pinches of salt and a good twist of black pepper. Add the peas after about 10 minutes.

Carry on stirring and adding stock, until the rice is almost cooked but with some bite to it and you are happy with the seasoning. When it reaches this stage, turn the heat off and add the butter, the rest of the chopped herbs and half the cheese. Put the lid on and leave for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, stir well then dish up, placing the rest of the cheese on top.

The trick with risotto, I feel, is to use plenty of stock, to continually taste and adjust
the seasoning and to not overcook the rice - there should be a slight bite to it.

This can be served with a slice of toasted bread. Once toasted, drizzle with olive oil and rub with half a clove of garlic, followed by half a tomato.

A simple side salad of chopped tomatoes drizzled in olive oil with chopped garlic would also work well with this.

Enjoy!