Mushroom and wild rice blend ‘risotto’

Of late, I am feeling very mindful about waste in the kitchen. I am trying harder to make optimal utilization of the food I buy and to keep my refrigerator and pantry fresh and clean. It means that I look for ways to work with what I have on hand. I look to make efficient use of my staples. I enjoy the challenge of being creative, and making something delicious, with a few simple things. And, less waste, saves money too.

There are certain staples that I always have on hand. In the refrigerator, I always have: carrots and celery. In the pantry, I always have: onions, garlic, some kind of potato, olive oil, dried mushrooms, dried beans, dried pasta and some kind of grain, often farro or a mixed wild rice.

Of these weekend/end of grocery cycle meals, I have a favorite right now, a kind of mushroom/onion/leek wild rice blend (and sometimes farro) ‘risotto.’ I switch it up a bit depending on exactly what I have, but it goes like this, here’s what I have on hand:

A leek

An onion

Garlic

A stalk of celery

1 sm. pkg. of dried porcinis

4 lg. “baby bella” mushrooms

Butter

Oil

Wild rice and brown rice blend

Black pepper

Truffle salt (optional)

Parmesan (optional)

I put my leek greens (just the upper middle section) and the onion top in a pan with about 2 cups of water and set that to boil. I put my dried porcinis in a small glass bowl and poured about 1½ cups of boiling water over them out of my kettle.

Then I dice up the following: ½ of the lower, mostly white, portion of the leek, ½ an onion, 1 stalk of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, my fresh mushrooms.

In a large skillet, I warm 1 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of butter (you can use only oil if you do not eat butter). I put all of the diced vegetable bits in the pan to sauté. Because I am Southern, I brown the heck out of these bits. I sauté them on medium-low about 15 – 20 minutes. If they start to stick to the pan, pour in just a little bit, maybe a quarter cup, of either of your stock preparations. When all is cooked though, this can remain on low.

I drain the dried mushrooms and save the stock or jus. I put these reconstituted mushrooms in the mixture in my sauté pan with my vegetable mixture.

I then strain the onion top/leek green stock and save that stock. Discard the onion top and leek greens. Then I combine the mushroom and onion/leek stock.   I measure out 2 cups of that stock. I measure about 1 cup of wild rice/brown rice blend. I then bring the stock and rice together to a boil in a small pot. After these come up to a boil, bring the temperature down to low and cover your pot with a lid. These need to cook about 45 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

Alternatively, I have made this using half farro and half wild rice/wild rice blend. To do so, I cooked the farro and stock alone together for at least half an hour before I added in the other half of wild rice/wild rice blend. This is because the farro typically takes longer to cook. I actually like it a little better with this blend, but it is an extra step and takes a little bit longer.

When this is done, I add about 1 tsp of truffle salt or regular salt and about ½ tsp of black pepper. Then I garnish with Parmesan cheese.

The house will smell delicious! This is inexpensive, easy, healthy and super comforting food.