All cooks will tell you they simply can’t cook certain dishes!  I’m no exception at this, where my dish is risottos.  Yes, I know these are quite easy to make and I’m not really sure what it is about risotto that makes it sooo difficult to achieve a really great end result.

Saying this, I have found a cheats way of getting a perfect risotto - using the oven!  Now, I call it cheating, because only one time, do you actually stir the risotto - at the start!  So, for all those people like me who cannot be bothered being glued to the pot, this one’s for you!

You’ll be surprised how well the risotto will taste near the more labour intensive one and be regularly making this one.  Who knows, those doing the labour-intensive versions might just swap to the cheat’s version!

Makes:

• 1-2

Ingredients:

• 100 grams uncooked risotto
• 1 cube of vegetarian “chicken style” stock
• 10 grams died porcini mushrooms
• 1 tbs margarine
• 250 mls boiling water
• 2 tsp truffle oil
• 1 tsp grated parmesan (optional)
• cracked pepper for serving

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C or 390 F.
2. Break up the dried porcini mushrooms and drop into a casserole dish that has a lid.
3. Pour risotto, stock, water, and margarine in and stir thoroughly to mix the ingredients through.
4. Place the lid on the casserole and place in to the oven.
5. Leave for 30 minutes and allow to sit for 5 minutes before stirring.
6. Serve topping with parmesan (for non-vegans), truffle oil and cracked pepper.