I love good food.

So I haven't blogged in a while. My bad.

Over the past couple years, I have been getting more and more into cooking and baking. I grew up with an amazing chef in my house (my mom) who would always whip up delectable, mouth watering meals, so I couldn't help but develop a taste for really good food. Over winter break, Catie and I planned a dinner party for our friends to reunite, catch up, and eat good food while drinking yummy wine. It was quite the task to come up with just the right menu to please everyone, not take way too much time/effort, and would most importantly be delicious.

What we came up with was a Wild Mushroom Risotto and Pan Seared Scallops. The night turned out to be a memorable one, and since then, the mushroom risotto recipe Catie found on epicurious.com has become one of my favorites. It is easy and delicious, but it does take a little time since all of the broth has to be stirred slowly in. I highly recommend it, and would love to share it! I tend to use a mixture of oyster (they are a little funky looking, but you can barely tell once they're all cooked up if you're apprehensive!), crimini, shiitake and some baby bellas, but any thing works! I also usually replace the sherry with a dry white wine since i don't usually have sherry lying around. And if you don't have a very fine cheese grater, I highly suggest you get one, because freshly grated, fluffy, melt in your mouth parmesan is a thousand times better than the kind that comes in a plastic container.

Ingredients:
3 14 1/2-ounce cans vegetable broth
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 pound assorted wild mushrooms (such as oyster, crimini and stemmed shiitake), sliced
1 cup arborio rice* or medium-grain rice
1/2 cup dry Sherry
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1. Warm the vegetable broth in a sauce pan, and then keep it on low while cooking.
2. Melt the butter with olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat, then add the chopped shallots; sauté for 1 minute
3. Add the sliced mushrooms; cook until mushrooms are tender and juices are released, or about 8 minutes.
4. Add the rice and stir to coat.
5. Add Sherry (or white wine) and simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.
6. Increase the heat to medium-high and add 3/4 cup hot vegetable broth and simmer until absorbed, make sure to stir frequently!
7. Add remaining hot vegetable broth 3/4 cup at a time, each time allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more. Stir often until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, which takes about 20 minutes.
8. Stir in freshly grated parmesan cheese and chopped fresh thyme.

Serve warm and with extra parmesan to garnish on top.

Bon Appétit!

Here is a link to the original recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wild-Mushroom-Risotto-102654