My husband’s Italian heritage.

I always thought that making risotto was hard and wasn’t game to give it a go. This is a meal my husband grew up on given his father is Italian. Whenever my mother in law came to stay with us, she would make a lovely pumpkin risotto so one day I watched her avidly to learn the secret behind making a good risotto. Eventually, I decided to give it a go myself. This chicken, leek & mushroom risotto was one of the first risottos I ever made and is now a firm family favourite.

I make my own style of risotto to pack the vegetables in so the kids especially get a lot of goodness with this meal. Now I’ll often make risotto for the family as it’s become a firm favourite, especially with both kids! They love this meal and will often ask for 2nd helpings!

Risotto originates from northern Italy and is a one-pan meal where the rice is cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. While risotto is traditionally served as a first course, we have it as our main meal. Sometimes we’ll accompany this with a rocket salad or garlic bread but often just by itself.

The key to making risotto is using arborio rice which is Italian short-grain rice. When cooked, the short rounded grains become firm, creamy, and a little chewy that absorbs well with other flavours.

One thing to note is that the principles of making risotto are the same. In the tips below I give you a ratio of rice to liquid. Once you know this, you can then add whatever vegetables to your risotto. This chicken, leek & mushroom risotto is truly delicious but try other flavour combinations. I will include a few different risotto recipes here to give you inspiration. However, I particularly love the flavour combination of chicken, leeks and mushrooms – it’s a really homely comfort food flavour. If you’re not a mushroom fan, you can leave these out.

Yes, it has wine!

This recipe includes a cup of white wine. I go with the cheapest normally for cooking. Many are cautious about cooking with wine for their family. Cooking down wine concentrates the flavour, including both the acidity and sweetness. The alcohol evaporates from wine when it cooked thoroughly. You need to cook for at least 20 to 30 seconds after adding wine to it to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Since alcohol evaporates at 78°C (or 172°F), any sauce or stew that is simmering or boiling is certainly hot enough to evaporate the alcohol. It’s a personal choice but there is nothing wrong with incorporating alcohol into meals if you have kids.

Chicken, Leek & Mushroom Risotto

This is definitely our family's favourite meal of them all. I haven't yet met someone who hasn't liked this chicken, leek and mushroom risotto dish when they've had it. Don't be put off by the fact this is a risotto recipe... it's actually incredibly simple to make!

Family Favourites, Italian, Main Course, Rice

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Servings 5 people

Ingredients

 

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks, chopped into 5mm rounds
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 500 g chicken fillets, finely diced (preferably skinless thigh)
• 150 g mushrooms, diced
• 1 1/3 cups arborio rice
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 120 g baby spinach
• Salt to taste

Instructions

 

• In a large frying pan add oil, onions, leeks and garlic. Gently sauté over medium-high heat until the leeks start to caramelise and turn golden in colour.
• Add chicken and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes while stirring then add rice and cook for a further 2 minutes while stirring constantly until rice grains become glossy and toasted. The rice might stick a little to the bottom of the pan and that's fine, just use a wooden spoon to unstick them as much as possible.
• Turn the heat down to low-medium so that when liquid is added it is still gently bubbling. Add the herbs and wine, stir to mix together and let simmer until it almost fully absorbed - approximately 5 minutes. Then add 1 cup of chicken stock, stir and let simmer until almost absorbed... then repeat with remaining stock until the rice almost absorbs all liquid. You can constantly stir through this process if you prefer but I tend to take a shortcut and not do this, only when liquid is added.
• Turn off the heat. Add the cream, Parmesan cheese and baby spinach, mix together and let sit for about 2-5 minutes until the spinach leaves wilt.
• Season if required with salt before serving. I often find this isn't required if you're using a good liquid stock.

Notes

• The ratio to remember is 1 cup of rice combined with 3 (or slightly more) cups of stock - this makes 4 servings of risotto.
• You can substitute the fresh parsley and oregano for dried to give the same flavour. You might need a little less than what the recipe has above so just add to taste.
• Another substitute is with your stock. I use chicken stock but have made it with vegetable stock and this is just as delicious, it not more. Never ever use water instead of stock - the result will be disastrous!
• I have also substituted the chicken for about 350g bacon and this was also delicious.
• I often thought that with risottos you need to stir constantly for the whole duration it takes to cook it. That's not true. As long as the heat is evenly distributed in your large flat base frying pan, you don't necessarily need to stir constantly. I stir every time I added in liquid and maybe one or two times after that. It's not as high maintenance of a meal as I had originally thought and the rice turns out perfect!
• You can remove any of the vegetables in this dish or substitute it for something else depending on your tastes.
• Traditionally butter is used at the end instead of cream but I find cream gives a less heavier outcome to the risotto. If you want to use butter, add about 40g of really cold butter and beat it into the risotto with a wooden spoon until you reach the right texture - often an intense process that will leave your arm hurting.

Keyword Family Favourites, Italian, Main Course, Rice