September Inspired Recipe: Red Wine and Mushroom Risotto

This is the perfect meal for the transitioning season. It is rich, warm and filling without being overly complicated. Because of the red wine, the final product is purple (and awesome). Risotto may sound intimidating, but anyone that says you can't do this can sit down. It's not a hard recipe at all, but like most great things, it requires work and attention. The great thing about this dish is that you can add anything you want to it. In this version I only use baby bella and white button mushrooms and onion. But you can add just about anything you can think of. My version is vegan as I substitute cheese for nutritional yeast, but parmesan cheese would also do quite well. I also use vegetable instead of chicken stock but either will work, just make sure if you use chicken stock that it's organic. Serve warm with a glass of your leftover wine, perfetto!

Okay let's get to work! 

Ingredients:

2 cups arborio rice

1-2 cups red wine of your choice

2-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock 

Giant serving of mushrooms sliced

1-2 onions (either 1 or 2 is your choice)

Large pinch of dehydrated thyme or one large stalk of fresh silver thyme

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast or a handful of parmesan 

2 tablespoon coconut oil

2 large cloves garlic (optional)

Salt

Directions: 

You need two pots and one pan for this recipe.

1. In the first pot drop your first tablespoon of coconut oil and begin to brown your onion(s). 

2. In your second pot add the chicken stock and thyme. Cracked pepper to taste but no salt.

3. In the third pan brown your mushrooms with the remaining oil until they are the consistency you most desire (I like mine pretty well cooked which I think goes quite nicely with the risotto). 

4. Add the rice to the first pot with the onion and stir continuously for about 3 min and then add garlic.

5. Drop in your wine over the rice and onion mix. 

6. Once that starts to to absorb, begin adding your stock slowly about a cup at a time or less. Stir the whole time. Some people say you can leave it for a couple minutes but I say just keep stirring, you do not want this to stick.

7. About 3/4 of the way through your stock, add the mushrooms.

8. Do this until it's done! If you run out of stock then just add water or add fresh stock (you wont need to add more thyme to it). You will know it's done because the rice will be slightly "al dente" like pasta.

9. Add nutritional yeast or cheese and salt to taste. (The kind of salt you use matters, pink himalayan is my personal favorite).

Put some sort of pretty leaf or a sprig of thyme on top and look like a boss when you serve your friends this amazing purple dish. You little chef, you!