Tess Freeman/ The Bulletin Mushroom risotto garnished with basil germolata and cooked carrots can be used as a main dish or as a delicious side dish with grilled meats, chicken or pork.

Whether you’re making rice or soup or sauces, Cascade Culinary Institute chef instructor Wayne Yeatman told us in January “starting with a good stock is basic. If your stock isn’t high quality, your soup, risotto or sauce isn’t going to be high quality.”

So we hope you made some homemade stock using last month’s recipes, or will make some, and use it to create a restaurant-quality risotto at home.

Today’s risotto expert is Cascade Culinary Institute’s Chef Instructor David Trask. He recently returned from a month teaching cooking in northern Italy at the Scuola Alberghiera. It was a culinary exchange made possible by Cascade Culinary Institute’s Culinary Ambassadors, who also arranged for an Italian chef instructor to teach in Bend this month at CCI.

“Being in Italy and teaching was a great experience,” Trask said. “Be sure to use Italian Arborio rice for risotto. It’s a shorter, fatter grain of rice with a higher starch content (than regular rice). You’re drawing that starch out of those kernels when you make risotto, and that’s what gives you that rich, thick, unctuous texture, without adding any cream to it.”

One tricky thing about making risotto, especially if you’re making it for a party, is that it takes about 30 minutes of constant stirring and attention. Invite a guest or two into the kitchen with you as you make risotto and hand one of them a spoon to help you stir.

“You’ve got to get the right texture on that kernel; you don’t want it overcooked or undercooked. And you can’t hold it. Once it’s done, you’ve got to get it to the table right away,” Trask said.

Risotto is not hard to make. It just takes time and focus.

“It takes a little bit more attention to detail than cooking a regular pot of rice, where you just put liquid in with rice and walk away,” Trask said. “Like so many things, the first-time students at CCI make it, we taste it and talk about it, and I often hear, ‘Oh, that wasn’t as hard as I thought.’”

You’ll see that some white wine goes into the risotto before you begin adding broth. Even though you can use all broth instead of adding wine, Trask cautions against it.

“The wine is a good counterbalance to the stock. It gives you some acid. We’re always talking about balancing out the flavors in cooking school,” Trask said. “You have the butter and cheese and the starch cooking out of the rice kernels, which is all rich and creamy, and that’s why we add the wine and the pungent gremolata garnish, to give the dish that foil to all the richness.”

Trask suggested using any dry wine in the risotto that you’d also enjoy drinking.

“We say don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink, so plan to serve the same wine with dinner — a glass of that same sauvignon blanc on the side really draws the flavor of the risotto out,” he said.

Another tip Trask shared was to use a heavy pot or skillet to cook risotto.

“A heavier pot is always better because it retains heat and spreads the heat out more evenly,” he said.

A garnish of gremolata on top of the risotto is the kind of finishing touch that will make you feel like you’re really cooking like a chef.

“It’s like a rough-chopped pesto that gives the dish a little bit of texture from the pumpkin seeds, plus the pungent sharpness of the lemon zest and the fresh flavor of the basil,” Trask said.

Risotto makes a simple but elegant and soul-satisfying main dish. It’s being served with a green salad at Elevation, the student-run restaurant at Cascade Culinary Institute, this winter.

A smaller portion of risotto can also make a great side dish.

“Risotto is delicious as a side with grilled meats, chicken, pork. It’s a nice break from rice pilaf or mashed or steamed potatoes,” Trask said.

We hope you enjoy making risotto like a chef. Your guests are certainly going to love it. Buon appetito!

— Reporter: ahighberger@ mac.com

“Risotto is delicious as a side with grilled meats, chicken, pork. It’s a nice break from rice pilaf or mashed or steamed potatoes.” — David Trask, 
COCC chef instructor

Editor’s note: Cook Like a Chef is a feature designed to help you master cooking techniques that will give your homemade meals professional style and carefully crafted flavor. Each month, a chef instructor from Cascade Culinary Institute at Central Oregon Community College walks us through a skill or recipe. 
See a video of Cascade Culinary Institute Chef Instructor David Trask and visiting chef Renis Canal crafting risotto 
at www.bendbulletin.com/chef.

Mushroom Risotto (Serves four as main dish, or six side dish servings)

Note: This is on the winter menu at Elevation, the student-run restaurant at COCC’s Cascade Culinary Institute. You can try it there, and then recreate it at home with this recipe.

6 C vegetable stock (or chicken stock), divided

3 TBS olive oil, divided

1½ lbs assorted mushrooms, thinly sliced (cremini, chanterelle, morel or whatever you prefer)

2 shallots, diced

1½ C Arborio rice

½ C dry white wine

Kosher salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 TBS finely chopped flat leaf parsley

4 TBS butter

1/3 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, warm the broth over low heat.

Warm 2 TBS of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until soft, about three minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.

Add 1 TBS olive oil to a large skillet, and stir in the shallots. Cook for one minute. Add the rice, stirring to coat with oil, about two minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in the wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. Add ½ cup broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding ½ cup of broth at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes. You may not need all of the stock. Taste throughout the cooking process, and adjust stock and seasoning as you go.

Remove from heat, and stir in the mushrooms with their liquid.

Finish the risotto by stirring in the 4 TBS of butter, chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The finished risotto should have a creamy, relaxed look. Top each serving with about a teaspoonful of basil gremolata.

From: Chef instructor David Trask, Cascade Culinary Institute, Central Oregon Community College, www.cascadeculinary.com