Mushroom Risotto

This week’s featured recipe is a classic Italian dish known as Risotto. Risotto comes from the northern region of Italy. A blend of butter, onion, garlic, and parmesan flavor,  super creamy arborio rice dish is cooked in broth. I always find it fun to take a traditionally non vegan dish and make it vegan. That’s just what we’ve done with our Mushroom Risotto. Traditionally you would serve risotto before a main course of grilled meats or chicken but we’ve gone down our own dining path and served it as the main course with a side of sauteed asparagus. We’ve all heard it before–”but where is the protein?” Rest assured, there is plenty of protein in the nutritional yeast we’ve substituted for the parm cheese. This would also be great served with fried or baked tofu.  So, let’s get cooking!

MUSHROOM RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS:

*1½ cups Arborio rice

*6 cups vegetable broth

*1 medium onion, chopped

*1 clove garlic, chopped

*2 small cartons mushrooms, sliced

*1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

*2 Tablespoons vegan butter

*salt and pepper to taste

*1 Tablespoon dried parsley

*¼ cup nutritional yeast

*handful fresh parsley, for garnish

METHOD:

*Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add onions, saute until onions become translucent. 

*Add sliced mushrooms and garlic. Saute about 1 minute then add rice, saute another minute.

*Pour in 3 cups of the broth. Stir well, cover for 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed in the rice.

*Pour in 1½ cups broth. Stir well, cover until broth is absorbed in the rice. About another 10 minutes.

*Add the last 1½ cups of broth. Stir well, cover about another 5-10 minutes until broth is absorbed.

*Turn off heat. Add butter, salt & pepper, nutritional yeast, and dried parsley.

*When ready to serve, garnish with a little fresh parsley.

*Enjoy!