1 ½ cups arborio rice

2 shallots, finely minced (each piece no bigger than a grain of the rice)

4 cups of sliced wild mushrooms

2 -3 slices of dried porcini

½ cup warm water

½ cup white wine or white vermouth

4 cups stock – chicken, beef, veggie – your choice

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 sprig of fresh thyme, left whole (optional)

Juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon of olive oil

3 tablespoons of butter, divided

¾ teaspoon salt

Start by doing your prep – soak the dried mushrooms in the warm water for about 10 minutes, or until softened.  Remove the mushrooms and chop finely.  Strain the soaking water and add it to your stock.  Slice your mushrooms and shallots, grate your cheese, measure your stock and heat it in a saucepan to a bare simmer so that it will be ready when you are.  Measure out everything you’ll need - risotto won't wait while you suddenly have to chop up something you forgot.

In a medium-large sized saucier or heavy-bottomed pan with high sides, heat the olive oil.  Add the shallots, and stir until softened and becoming translucent.  Add two tablespoons of the butter, and the sliced fresh mushrooms, stirring well over medium heat until mushrooms become tender.  You may need to add a splash of water or extra vermouth to keep them from sticking as they sautée.  Remove mushrooms from the pot and hold in a dish until later in the recipe.  Some of the shallots will come out with the mushrooms, but that’s okay.  It’s also okay if there are shallot pieces still left in the pan.  Add the last tablespoon of butter to the hot pan that you just moved the mushrooms out of.  When it has melted, add the arborio rice, stirring well to make sure none of the grains stick and burn. 

When the grains of rice are all coated with the butter and they start to catch at the bottom of the pan and a little golden colour starts creeping in to the bottom of the pan, add the vermouth or white wine, all at once.  Stir vigorously to make sure everything is scraped up from the bottom.  Add the salt, the minced porcini mushrooms, and the sprig of thyme (if using).  The vermouth will disappear pretty quickly, so be prepared to start ladling stock into the rice.  Use a small-ish ladle at first, or only half-fill a large one.  Add the stock, a little at a time, stirring well over medium heat, and waiting until most of the liquid has been absorbed before adding more.

When you are half-way through your stock, add the sautéed mushrooms and any accumulated juices back into the pan, and stir in the lemon juice.  Continue to stir and add stock until you have no more liquid to add.  Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let stand for 5 minutes.  Remove the lid, remove thyme sprig, stir in the parmesan cheese, and serve.  Freshly ground black pepper is very good on this.