Risotto “Mare monte” with boletus edulis and prawns

How to make a risotto Mare monte with Boletus and prawns.

We continue with recipes of “Sea and mountains” or “Mare monte” as they say in Italy.

This is a dish in which flavors are combined, with the marine part that contributes the seafood and the rural of the mushrooms, some exquisite Boletus edulis collected in the Galician mount, to accompany a rice of the Italian variety “arborio”, especially for the preparation ” risottos “.

The Boletus (and in this case the boletus edulis ) are the kings of the field in autumn, a delicacy in themselves and a great complement to any dish we can think of. Its most common habitat is forested areas with conifers and oaks (what in Galicia we call ” carballeiras “).

They are easy to recognize with the naked eye, with a sturdy cylindrical foot and a convex-extended hat in brown tones, presenting a white or yellowish foam on the inside.

Young specimens are the most appreciated, while they are very robust and closed. Its meat is white, with a pleasant smell and a sweet, hazelnut flavor. For this risotto we have been lucky enough to be able to use them  fresh , collected in the bush.

In Italy the risotto  is made in one way or another depending on the region where we are. In the north of Bussolengo, San Martino, Sona … housewives do it in a traditional way, but the broth is added to everything at first.

In this case we have added the broth little by little, as I was taught, without letting the rice absorb it and without stopping stirring to obtain the creamy texture as a result.

For this risotto we have used Scotti risotto rice, which is perhaps the most easily found in supermarkets and supermarkets.

The base to flavor this rice is the mushrooms , if you do not have boletus you can use those that you like, even dried mushrooms (if you do it out of season).

Although my recommendation is to try it at least once with boletus, the hazelnut flavor of this mushroom with that of the prawn is 10 points. I hope you like it and you will prepare it at home. 

Risotto Preparation

1. We start by preparing the vegetable broth . We clean them and chop into quarters, pour 2 liters of water into a saucepan, bring to a boil and add the vegetables. Add a splash of oil, salt to taste and keep simmering over medium heat for about 20 minutes.
2. On the other hand we put water to heat and when it begins to boil, we throw  the prawns . As soon as the water boils again, we will cook for about 2 minutes. Then we transfer them to a large bowl with ice water and salt, this will make the cooking stop abruptly, allowing the meat to come off the shell, which is more tender and with the ideal texture. Peel and reserve the tails. The “head” is the pereion, the “tail” is the pleon, the “hoof” is the telson and the “venita” is the intestine, technical names of the shrimp for what I have mentioned before.
3. Now we go with the boletus. The first thing we will do is peel the trunk a little, if after scraping them they still have dirt on the bottom (they have dirt on the inside) we will clean it. If they are healthy we will have finished, otherwise we will remove the soft or very hollow parts, the ugly or insane parts. Then if we see that the boletus hat has a small yellow sponge, we would remove it, if it is white it would already be edible.
4. To make them fit evenly, we make a horizontal cut at the base and roll. We reserve.
5. In a flat and wide casserole, fry the julienned onion with the extra virgin olive oil. Add the butter nut and stir with a wooden spoon so that it integrates with the oil and provides creaminess. The onion must be cooked without overcooking, so that it does not take on a tan color.
6. Now we add the rice, mix well with the rest and let cook a couple of minutes to roast. We pour half a glass of white wine, and wait for the alcohol to evaporate.
7. We now incorporate the Boletus. We remove slightly mixing all the ingredients, and cook a few minutes over medium heat so that they release water, and also add their flavor to the sauce.
8. We pour a ladle of vegetable broth (straining it), stirring until we check that the liquid has been consumed, although never completely, since the rice cannot run dry.
9. We repeat the process, adding another ladle, this time also incorporating the prawn tails. We remove and let it continue cooking, until we need to add more broth. We will pour broth again, cooking over medium heat, until the liquid is consumed again. It is recommended to look at the cooking times that are set in the rice package, in this case 15-16 minutes. We want the rice to have that little dot ” al dente “.
10. We try salt and pepper, if we see that it is very bland we add a little bit only since we are going to add cheese in the next step, remember that the cheese has salt and we can make our recipe salty.
11. When we cook a risotto, the final touch is to add creaminess, that is, “ keep the rice”. Grate the cheese with a good grater, do not go over 90-100 gr. Parmigiano reggiano are enough. In addition to the cheese we add a nut of butter (a little bit only). We are stirring carefully, so that the two ingredients are homogeneously integrated with the rice.
12. We check how the rice is acquiring that creamy and salt point that we want. We serve warm on the table so you don’t miss that point and enjoy this “ mar e monti ” dish .

Tips for going to the bush for mushrooms

• We will use a wide wicker basket and never a plastic or cloth bag. We want them to be aerated and spores to spread throughout the field as we walk, so we will find mushrooms again next year.
• The knife is not used to pick it up, it is enough to gently grasp its trunk and with a slight twisting movement we will tear it from the ground.
• Once in our hands, we clean the soil from the base of the foot “in situ” , scraping with the razor. What we can clean up, it is better to do it already in the bush.
• If we check that there is a yellowish or dark part in the meat, we also eliminate it “in situ”. Of course, check that they do not carry worms or insects, because you run the risk of infecting the rest of the mushrooms in the basket.
• As soon as you get home, you need to “process them again” by separating the hat from the foot. We will never use water. We remove the foam from the inside of the hat (it comes out easily with your hands) and we clean it with a brush or kitchen paper on the outside.
• We peel the foot with a knife until we have a perfectly white trunk with a firm texture. If they are small specimens we clean them as a whole, without separating the hat, and we can even leave the foam if it is perfectly white and whole.
• Once cleaned, the next step is to reserve them in the refrigerator, where they will hold us perfectly 3-4 days . Another option is to freeze them raw or lightly sauteed, keep them in oil or pickled.
• And very important, always be sure of what you are collecting from the field and do not go out “blind” for mushrooms. Caution and good sense are obligatory rules in the world of Mycology .

Choose from all the rice recipes that you will find on the blog, with simple ingredients such as ” risotto with boletus edulis and prawns “, ” risotto a la Parmigiana “, ” octopus risotto ” and the ” risotto with artichokes and lamb “,   al saffron  or  the original octopus risotto  . I am sure your favorite risotto will be there.