Day 147: autumn’s kiss

I’m sorry to be on the topic of autumn already when we’re supposedly in the height of summer, but I cannot deny - or apologise for - the feels that certain foods evoke in me. Dried mushrooms, for me, are the epitome of autumn and winter eating. They embody cosiness, with a musky woodland aroma that invokes scenes of strolling through amber carpeted woodlands in the peak of the Season of Falling Leaves. I love all seasons, but autumn wears the crown - in all her scarlet, russet, golden glory.

Today’s pick actually happened by accident: I hadn’t done a food shop for the week ahead and was relying - praying - on finding something in the cupboards that I could use for a Nigella recipe I hadn’t yet cooked. I have the store cupboard essentials to hand to repeat many I’ve already cooked, but I really need to get the cookalong-day-count up! Browsing through ‘risottos’ on nigella.com, the Mushroom Risotto from How To Eat caught my attention. I went straight for the bookshelf and was thrilled to discover I had everything in to make this.

Nigella’s Mushroom Risotto

I got to tuck into a big, fresh bag of dried ceps/American boletus/porcini, or borowik amerykański as they’re called in Poland - where they were hand-picked and home-dried by my sister-in-law Magda and her best friend Irena. I usually only use these for bigos, stews and Christmas Eve (Wigilia) pierogi, so it was a delight to enjoy their umami gorgeousness in this positively orgasmic risotto too.

As simple as risotto can be, complete with twenty minutes of mindfulness.

I soaked a few extra dried ceps, fried them in butter and, in a state of complete euphoria, spooned the now umami butter over the served bowl of creamy woodlandesque risotto - along with some chopped fresh parsley.

Flavour musings

Without a shadow of a doubt, this falls within the top five of the Favourites on the Cookalong (So Far) list. I have always been disappointed by mushroom risotto in a restaurant (I’m often always disappointed by any risotto in a restaurant if truth be told), but this takes the crown as perhaps the best risotto I’ve ever had. I don’t know if I’ve ‘nailed’ the technique yet, but these flavours were next level.

Making and eating this was like taking a cosy stroll through an autumn-kissed, amber-carpeted, cep-flecked woodland: all the good feels and pure comfort.

You can find the recipe for this in How To Eat.