MUSHROOM LEEK RISOTTO

So you wanna know how to make my mushroom leek risotto. I’m happy to share! This recipe is truly quick and easy! While waiting for the rice to cook, I was able to chop the herbs, zest the lemon, and even tidy up after myself. The hardest part of this process was waiting for my roommate to come home so we could enjoy it together!

I truly believe that the key to any successful dish, is to make it with love. I had my eye on this recipe for a while. I found it in the NY Times Cooking section. After a wonderful dinner with an old coworker and her wife, who both just went vegan in 2019, I felt inspired! So I revisited my obsession with Kacey Musgrave’s Golden Hour album, tied up my hair and got to work, cooking and singing in the kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:

  • olive oil, about 1/4 cup
  • 4 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
  • 16 oz mushrooms, cremini and/or baby portabella, your choice
  • salt + peppa
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped chives
  • 1 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest, plus wedges for squeezing

Directions:

  1. Make life easy and grab a 2-3 inch deep saute pan. Cover said pan with olive oil, add half of the chopped mushrooms and half of the thinly sliced leek in the pan over medium high heat. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 12-15 minutes, stir occasionally.
  2. While the vegetables cook, dice and chop your chives and dill. Zest the lemon and cut into wedges.
  3. When the first batch of veggies is done, using a slotted spoon, transfer mushroom-leek mixture into a medium sized bowl.
  4. Repeat step 1 with the remaining half of the ‘shrooms and leeks. Separating into two batches allows for better crisp in the veggies. Don’t forget to salt n’ peppa y’all.
  5. Remove the veggies from your saute pan and reunite them with their friends in the medium sized bowl.
  6. Toast the brown rice in the same pan with the oil and flavor from sauteed veggies for a couple of minutes. Add vegetable broth, bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat until brown rice is cooked, about 40 minutes.
  7. Using the intuitive hunger cues of your body, portion out brown rice into a bowl, sprinkle lemon zest over the rice, top with mushroom-leek mixture, and finish by squeezing lemon wedges and adding herbs liberally.
  8. Enjoy over conversation, perhaps autonomously, with a glass of wine, however, but always, with gratitude for the amazing capabilities your body has in transforming food into energy 🙂

**sorry folx, no calories or portion size recommendations here, gotta use your body cues 🙂