Aubergine & mushrooms vegetarian risotto

     My grandma Pélagie, who actually razed me in the atmosphere of passion for food, always said, that the devil lays in the details. She was a very wise woman, who not only survived the II World War with 5 children, but also decades in ‘soviet’ Poland, where every day was a fight for at least appearance of normality.

     She was the one who taught me all the basis and how to fall in love with cooking. Let’s be honest… it’s not always like in Martha Stewart’s program, all happy and in pastel colors. There is blood, there is sweat, there is dirt, there is even pain, but at the end of the day, that’s what makes it all so amazing. By the way – I love you Martha!

     The other day I was in  the office thinking… what to cook for dinner? I love to feed people, my significant other, family and friends are lucky, I believe in healthy, balanced meals… being a kid who was sent to sport schools from the very beginning of my educational path, I was introduced to special diets at the very young age. I was lucky enough  not to eat chips, creepy bisques with 1213% of sugar or all the fast-food awful plastic-tasting imitation of meals. The worse think is, that this kind of ‘food’ is full of stuff you normally find in oil refineries, nuclear plants and in ‘zone 51’. I can’t think of any excuse one can have to eat it… And I’m god dammit pretty creative.

     Anyhow, back to the most important thing in our house – food! On the way home I thought: aubergine! Not many people know, that eggplant – how it’s also called – is a close cousin of tobacco, tomatoes, pepper and even potatoes. Such a beautiful family! I knew I had some stuff in the fridge, and I totally and utterly hate to waste food, so I thought, whatever will be, will be… just like Doris Day sang once or twice, or tousled of times on YouTube.

What you’ll need to prepare this simple, but yet tasty and good-looking dish…? Nothing more but:

·        a cup of risotto rice – I’m not a master chef, so I normally use the one I can find in the shop… over here where I live, we don’t really get much of variety of this product… up to 4 different kids in local supermarket is a big success

·        glass of white wine – dry or semidry

·        half liter/1 pint of vegetable stock – ideally homemade, however we all know it’s not always the case

·        2 small spoons of butter – but hey, if you want to use a bit more, go for it

·        a bit of olive oil

·        sea salt and black freshly grounded pepper to taste

·        one medium red onion – I like it’s delicacy

·        garlic – I use a lot of garlic and I guess everyone knows what’s their limit, I would recommend 2 medium gloves

·        juice from half of the lemon – I really like the sour twist

·        one medium aubergine

·        mushrooms – I wish I had scale in my eyes, it must be more-less 225g/8oz

·        fresh parsley – leave some for garnish

·        tomatoes and violet (I’ve heard it’s Thai – correct me if I’m wrong) basil – just to have something nice on the side – after all, we also eat with our eyes

     Start with the aubergine, it needs to sweat a lot if you don’t want to have it bitter. Slice it and salt both sides, leave for few minutes. This will not only save you from  tart notes in your dish. Salt makes the flesh less spongy, so the eggplant won’t steal all the fat while frying.

     While aubergine is in the ‘salt sauna’ chop the onion, slice the garlic – I like when it’s in thin slices, but if you like, you can also chop it, squeeze it, you name it. With mushrooms, I like to cut them in 4 or so, not slice them. Cut them in half and then in half gain, so you would get nice quarters. If they’re huge like your hand or spaceship, cut them furthermore, so that you’ll be able to eat them with fork, not a pitchfork.

     Now chop parsley, whole of it, even the green ends. It’s good for you, just chop it small and it will be cooked through. Plus it does have a lot of flavor.

     Now the aubergine, with this dish there are couple ways of dealing with it. First of all, dry the slices with kitchen paper, that will remove the salt and the bitter liquid. What you’ll do next is interlay up to you.

     First of all, we can put them on electric grill or grill frying pan with some olive oil on it. It will take few minutes until it’s nice and golden. When ready, put it on a kitchen paper to get rid of excess fat. Later you need to cut it in medium dice and add to the risotto at the end of cooking.

     But you can also cut them in medium dice after drying them  and fry on a bit of olive oil for few minutes. When ready, you’ll need to remove it and put it on the side.

     We need to heat the frying pan over medium high heat. Use the same pot you fried diced aubergine on. Fry mushrooms with some salt until golden. Add one small spoon of butter, onion, garlic and glaze it, won’t take you long I promise. Add the lower green parts of fresh parsley – leave the leafs for later, they will keep more flavour when added few minutes before the finishing. Fry it for a minute or so. Add the rice, stir to coat it in the oil and fry for two to three minutes. Rice will go sort of transparent and shiny.

     Add wine – don’t drink it all, it’s an important ingredient. Don’t be greedy, buy two, three, seven bottles. Be sure you’ll have one glass saved. Also, use dry or semi dry white wine, sweet is good for Elton John. Stir every now and then until it has all disappeared into the rice.

     Now you can start adding stock. Make sure it’s hot, otherwise it will take ages to cook the rice. Add small portions and act like with the wine. When it’s all disappeared, add more. In the meantime you can add the lemon juice and black pepper – some smart guy discovered, that black pepper must be cooked for at least 7 minutes, to get the best taste out of it.

     Risotto normally takes from 20-40 minutes. Be patient, don’t cry when your arm hurts form stirring. Have a glass of wine and just go for it god dammit.  Remember, you’re a cook, not a pussy. Taste the food every now an than, it’s very important. If you think you need to add more grounded black pepper, salt or lemon juice, go for it. Eating few grains of uncooked rice won’t kill you, it will only make you stronger and wiser. Look at Harry Potter…

     My advice – be careful with salt, stock contains some… ok, sometimes a lot of it. It’s better to add more later, than drink a gallon of water while eating the meal.

     When it’s almost ready, add the rest of the parsley and aubergine. Cook for further 5 minutes until all the stock is absorbed – you don’t need to use the whole amount you have, I always have some left and never in my life used all of it. Before serving, add the remaining small spoon of butter, stir until its melted in the risotto, and live it for a couple of minutes to rest.

     I used a small bowl filled with foil. Just place the risotto in it, cover with plate, turn it upside down… there you go, just like in the restaurant. BTW – remove the foil, it’s just to make it easier to get out of the bowl, not a part of the game. If you’re very hungry, you can use a large bowl or even a bucket. Add some tomatoes on the side, garnished with violet basil, add few parsley leaves on the top of the risotto mini pyramid, and enjoy. Bon appétit! 

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