03 May Recipe: Porcini Mushroom & Kale Quinoa Risotto by Steph Stack

Recipe: Porcini Mushroom & Kale Quinoa Risotto by Steph Stack

So hello to comfort in a bowl. Autumn has well and truly nestled in, so my gut craves cosiness. The inspiration for this dish comes from my all time favourite whole food blogger, Sarah Britton of My New Roots. She’s a bloody genius, and a quinoa risotto is just one of her many glorious food babies. My version is dressed up quite differently but is still a quinoa risotto nonetheless and definitely still hits all the good tummy notes. It’s creamy without being heavy, fresh without being cold, and also pretty darn easy for a mid week dinner. And unlike risotto, you don’t have to stir it non-stop! It’s like a less-starchy, more-lazy risotto. Perfecto.

Being a quinoa base, it packs in the protein, serving up over 20g a serve, with a perfect combo of complex carbohydrates, fibre, and healthy fats too, meaning your tummy and your brain will be more than satisfied. Being a seed, quinoa is another one of our pseudo cereals, making it easier to digest, gluten-free, and high in protein and minerals. Quinoa is a particularly good source of Manganese, which aids in the digestion and utilisation of protein, carbohydrates and fats. It’s also really important for hormone production in the thyroid and reproductive glands. It’s mang-nificent. So cuddle up to some cosy quinoa risotto, and know that your digestion is amped, your glands are happy, and you don’t have a repetitive strain injury from stirring your risotto.

Recipe: Porcini Mushroom & Kale Quinoa Risotto by Steph Stack

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa rinsed

5g dried porcini mushrooms

2 ¼ cups boiled water

1 small onion (golf ball size) finely sliced

2 garlic cloves finely sliced

6 large kale leaves chopped into ribbons (I used cavalo nero)

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar, or a solid dash of white wine)

40g Parmesan cheese (30g coarsely grated for risotto, 10g finely grated for topping)

Salt flakes (about 1 tsp. depending on desired taste)

Knob of unsalted butter

Parsley to garnish

Freshly cracked black pepper

Method

Firstly, chop the porcini mushrooms and place them in the 2 ¼ cups boiled water, cover, and leave to soak.

Using a large pot or pan (I used my Le Cruset pot), heat a good glug of olive oil on low-medium heat, then add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, stirring often so as not to burn.

Add the garlic and the quinoa, turn the heat up to high, and cook for about a minute, stirring often. Add the porcini mushrooms, the porcini water, and about 1 tsp. of the salt to the pot and bring to a gentle boil .If you’re using white wine instead of vinegar, add it just before you add the water so the alcohol evaporates.

Simmer the quinoa, uncovered, until becoming tender. Add the vinegar in the last few minutes of cooking. If your pot is becoming too dry, add a dash or two of water. You still want a bit of the cooking liquid left in the pot, but not so it’s soupy.

When the quinoa is tender, stir through the kale until wilted then turn off the heat. Stir in the Parmesan, then the knob of butter and a good cracking of pepper and let sit, covered for a minute or two. I would also taste the risotto at this point to see if you want any more salt.

Serve with finely grated Parmesan, parsley and more pepper.

Enjoy! xx

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