Mushrooms are showing up everywhere lately, and this recipe from The Mushroom Lover’s Cookbook looked like a good delivery device for chantrelles… not to mention, our first attempt at making risotto! (Stir, stir, stir… ) The corn and mushroom flavors really complemented each other, and the risotto went really well with our Cinque Terre wine, which finally arrived from Italy!

Chris says:

Hey, our wine arrived, and no breakage!

Lisa says:

Wahoo!

Chris says:

So what do you think — did we succeed with the risotto?

Lisa says:

I certainly think so — just needs a little extra salt…

Chris says:

Part of that is probably due to my using low-sodium broth.

Lisa says:

Well other than that I love it. The mushrooms rule. I thought the corn would be weird, but it’s not.

Chris says:

Yeah, I think this turned out really well. I like how creamy the risotto is, even without the mushroom mixture. I think I probably could have cooked the risotto just a tad more, but other than that I say “great success”!

Risotto with Corn and Chantrelles
3 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz chantrelles, trimmed, cleaned, and sliced 1/2 inch thick
2 shallots, finely minced
2 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a medium-sized saucepan, then lower the heat to just keep warm.
Melt 1/2 the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the rice to coat, then add the wine. Cook an additional minute.
Reduce the heat to low and stir in one ladleful of stock at a time. As each addition is absorbed, continue to add stock ladle by ladle, stirring and cooking, until all but 1/2 cup of the stock remains and the rice is tender but firm. Season to taste with salt and pepper, turn off the heat, and cover.
Heat the remaining butter and the olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and stir until they release their liquid, about 2 minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking until the shallots are softened, 2 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
When ready to serve, add the milk and corn to the mushrooms and stir until the milk is hot. Remove from the heat and stir in half of the cilantro.
Warm the remaining chicken broth and stir into the rice. Ladle the risotto into soup plates. Top with the mushroom mixture and the remaining cilantro.

4 Servings

After spending almost an entire week in Northern Italy, it was time to journey down to Rome for a few days.  We stayed in the Appio Latino district, a few underground stops from the city center.  We found the best restaurants were away from the super-touristy spots, hidden in small side streets, and sometimes didn’t even have menus!  We had a great (and cheap!) dinner our first night in Rome at a place where the owner just asked what we liked, and brought something out to match our requests.  Our favorite find, though, was Pompi, an awesome breakfast/bar/dessert joint just a block away from our B&B.  It didn’t matter what time of day you went in, it was always crowded… with good reason: morning croissants, evening tiramisu, late-night drinks, all were great.  We loved the late-night food/drink culture in Rome!

Favorite cultural “what-the?” moment: We eventually tired of pizza and pasta, so we sought out and found… a Mexican restaurant!  It was surreal being in the center of Rome having an Italian waitress explain to us how to assemble and eat fajitas.  :)

The Cinque Terre region is famous for its white wines (trails connecting the five villages go right through the vineyards), and being right on the Mediterranean, seafood was fresh and plentiful.  We had dinner at Marina Piccola our first night, and I was thrilled with the mixed seafood appetizer plate, which included the tenderest octopus I’ve ever eaten, along with anchovies marinated in olive oil, fried anchovies, an anchovy fritter (they heart the anchovies here!) and a bacon-wrapped scallop.  Fantastic.  Trattoria Dal Billy was a fun find, with great food and quite the entertaining waitstaff.  Nothing like having booze-soaked fruit spoon-fed to you after dinner, while being told that it’s POISON!

The end of our Italian journey took us to Venice, with great beer, bellinis, and pizza at Birraria La Corte.  We enjoyed the feel of the place so much that we ate here two nights in a row.  It also helped that it was 50 feet from our hotel.  ;)  The gelato was plentiful, but our favorite “snack” in Venice were these green pistachio cookies that every other bakery in town seemed to make.  I’m pretty sure we had six of these fist-sized cookies in just a couple of days…

If it weren’t for all the hiking, walking, stair-climbing, sightseeing, etc., I’m sure we would have packed on quite a few pounds on this trip — but hey, the site’s called We [Heart] Food for a reason!

As mentioned in a previous post, Lisa and I just returned from our honeymoon in Italy: almost three full weeks of hiking, sightseeing, riding the rails, and of course, eating!

Our first week in Italy was spent far north, hiking in the Dolomites.  Hiking up there bore little resemblance to hiking in the States, due to the presence of rifugios — overnight “huts” that free overnight hikers from having to pack bags, tents, food, etc.  These “huts” are more like small hotels/taverns that serve full meals, beer, and wine.  What could be more enjoyable than spending a long, taxing afternoon on the trail, and discovering that right at your destination is a hot plate of food and an ice cold beer?

The food of the Dolomites is heavily German-influenced: strudel, sauerkraut, and wurst made frequent appearances in menus.  Our favorite find, however, were canederli, tennis-ball sized dumplings usually flavored with speck, a juniper-flavored prosciutto.  We had them alone and served in a broth, and loved them in any preparation.  Mushrooms were also very popular in this region of the country, and by the time we left the mountains Lisa was ready for funghi-free food.  :)

We were able to find a cookbook that featured many of the local Dolomites specialties, so look out for some canederli to be featured her relatively soon.

Next up… delicious dishes from Rome, Venice, and the Cinque Terre.