Slow cooker mushroom risotto

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
  • 450g mushrooms, quartered or cubed if using very large mushrooms such as portobello
  • 50g salted butter
  • 1 tsp of either dried oregano or parsley
  • 1 heaped tsp dried thyme
  • 150g Arborio (risotto) rice
  • 360ml vegetable stock (1 vegetable stock cube)
  • 40g parmesan cheese
  • 3 tbsp cream cheese (optional)
  • Freshly ground pepper
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Step by step

  1. Put butter in slow cooker on LOW and melt before adding the onion, mushrooms, garlic, dried herbs and pepper with 80ml water. Stir and cook for 3-4 hours. This should create a buttery, juicy sauce, so if it looks a bit dry add a little more water.
  2. Add the arborio rice and hot stock (you can add cold stock but this will increase the cooking time) then cover and cook for 45 minutes on HIGH.
  3. After 45 minutes stir the rice and taste to see if it has cooked, it should be soft with a bit of a bite. If it seems too dry, add a little more water.
  4. Once the rice has cooked, give it a good stir and add the parmesan cheese. If you want a ‘creamier’ risotto, add the cream cheese now. Leave to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving with vegetables or a salad.

If you are saving any of the risotto for another day it is very important to cool it as quickly as possible, e.g. transfer to a container and sit this in a bowl of cold water, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooling. Once sufficiently cool, put in the fridge or freezer. DO NOT leave to cool in the slow cooker as this will take too long.