Fairy Garden Rice (Green Risotto with Mushrooms)

This is to complete a variant of the Lemon Risotto recipe. The total prep for the extra steps here is about 15 minutes and can be completed in the window while the risotto is cooking in the pressure cooker. The time bar above reflects the time and activity for both the risotto and this finishing work.

Ingredients

For the spinach purée

• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves (baby or mature fine)
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

For the sautéed mushrooms

• 8 oz mixed wild mushrooms, chopped (frozen fine too - see notes)
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Equipment

• large stock pot
• large bowl
• mesh spider or skimmer
• blender (e.g. Vitamix)
• frying pan
• strainer, if using frozen mushrooms (large hole fine)

Instructions

1. Start a large pot of water over high heat to come to a boil while working through Lemon Risotto.
2. Start the Lemon Risotto recipe through the point where the lid is locked and pressure cooking begins (step 7). Use the ~15 minutes of hands-off pressure-cook and release time to work through the steps below.
3. In large bowl, make an ice bath for shocking blanched greens.
4. Mushrooms can take sneaky long, so start them first. If using frozen, there’s so much water released that oil is wasted. Instead, start cooking directly in frying pan over high heat to release water. When water starts boiling, pour contents into strainer to drain water from mushrooms.
5. Add olive oil to frying pan. Add mushrooms (fresh, or now-drained) to pan and cook until liquid mostly evaporated, about 4-6 minutes.
6. While mushrooms cook, remove large stems if using mature spinach, then add spinach leaves and parsley to boiling water in stock pot, submerging and stiring.
7. After 30 seconds, remove from pot with mesh spider/skimmer and transfer to ice bath.
8. Once completely cooled, transfer to blender and add 1/4 cup of water (or broth if you have some around). Blend on high until completely smooth, up to 1 minute.
9. When liquid in mushrooms has evaporated, add soy sauce, remove from heat, and stir to combine. Depending on the audience and the initial prep of mushrooms, optionally transfer to a cutting board and chop into finer pieces.
10. Once the risotto is finished (through step 10 of the base recipe — butter, zest, and Parmesan stirred in), fold in the spinach purée. Don’t adjust thickness of risotto until after adding the spinach purée.
11. Transfer to individual bowls and then top with the sautéed mushrooms.
12. Add a “tree” of a parsley stem for kicks.

Notes

• Original calls for blanching in stock early in process, but that seems way too fussy and inefficient. Using water lets you complete this during risotto cooking “free” phase.
• Original calls for tarragon. I skip it.
• Original calls for scallions. I’d like to use them, but you’re only using the greens at this point unless you prep them before making the risotto (which would be annoying sequencing) so just omit for simplicity.