Mushroom and spinach risotto

Continuing my cunning plan to get more mushrooms into C without her noticing, I attempted a mushroom risotto.  She’ll never spot them right?!  Ha, ha, ha…. Actually I billed this as “cheesy rice” and indeed she exclaimed it was “very cheesy mummy” and ate half the bowl before she followed that up with “yuck mushrooms!”  I think I got away with it for a while there because I did dice them up small, but you should feel free to chop them up in any way you find attractive, or less obvious, as per your own situation.  I went for an entirely vegan risotto, using oil instead of butter, almond cream instead of crème fraîche, vegetable stock instead of bone stock, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese.  But I’ve made this many times using any combination of the above depending on what is in the fridge and cupboards, and every time it is delicious.  Don’t let my three-year-old’s aversion to mushrooms put you off!  Unless you don’t like mushrooms either, in which case fair enough.  I often change-up the serving size on this to suit just me and C but also, if you cool and refrigerate any leftover risotto quickly, it can be used to make very tasty arancini for lunch the following day.

Mushroom and spinach risotto

Prep time 15 minutes Cook time 30 minutes Makes 4 adult servings

• 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 240g risotto rice (I used arborio)
• 100ml white wine (optional)
• 750ml stock (I used Marigold Vegetable Bouillon Reduced Salt)
• 110g mushrooms, diced or sliced (I used portobello)
• 110g baby spinach, washed and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp dairy-free cream or crème fraîche (I used EcoMil Cuisine Chef Almond)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1½ tbsp nutritional yeast (or hard Italian cheese to taste)
• salt and pepper

Heat the oil or butter in a large saucepan and soften the onion over a low heat for about 10 minutes until lightly golden.  Add the rice and stir to coat thoroughly.  Turn up the heat to medium and add the white wine (if using), stir and allow the liquid to cook off.  Now add enough stock to just cover the rice, stir again and leave to simmer until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.  Repeat this process and then add the mushrooms along with another batch of stock.  When the rice is al dente (you may not have used all the stock) add the spinach and stir.  After the spinach has wilted add the ‘cream’, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, turn off the heat and season to taste.  Serve in warmed bowls.