Porcini mushroom risotto with truffle oil and cherry tomato salad

(serves 2)

If you're going to have a night in by yourself (or with friends), you may as well have some amazing food right? After being away for over a month, I've definitely missed cooking in my own kitchen... So with a quiet night in planned, thought i may as well go all out and make this amazing risotto! I had been thinking about it ever since my wonderful friend Elaine gave me truffle oil for my housewarming! This may have been a result of me drooling over hers every time we were at her place... but hey, who says hints don't work??

Glass of wine, delicious risotto, Italian romantic comedy - perfect night in!

Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 30-45 min

Recipe for success: Pecorino, Truffle oil, Porcini!

Ingredients:
10-15 Dried Porcini Mushrooms
1 C water
1 Onion
1 Zucchini
2 cloves Garlic
1 C Arborio rice
2 1/2 C Vegetable stock
1/2 C White wine (optional)
10 Sage leaves (optional, but worth it)
100mL Cream
1-2 slices of Prosciutto
Salt and pepper
Olive oil, butter if you don't feel like being healthy
Drizzle of truffle oil


Cherry tomato and basil salad (just to lighten up the meal)
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Roughly chopped basil
Salt
Olive oil


Method:
1. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 1C water for at least 10-15 minutes.
2. Finely dice the onions.
3. Cut the zucchini and garlic into thin slices.
4. Heat the stock and wine in a pot and keep it simmering.
5. Take the porcini mushrooms out from the water, and put the mushroom stock in with the vegetable stock.
6. Heat a deep saucepan or a wide pot on medium heat, add 1/2 T olive oil (or 15g butter). Add half the garlic, all the mushrooms and zucchini, salt and pepper. Saute until the zucchinis soften and are lightly singed, then remove from the pan.
7. If using sage leaves, then add 1/2 T or small piece of butter to the pan then fry the sage leaves until crisp. Remove from the pan and drain them on a paper towel.
8. Add in 1/2 T olive oil again, and then add the onions and rest of the garlic, you may need to lower the heat as you don't want them to brown too much.
9. Add in the rice, and stir for 1-2 minutes until the rice becomes slightly translucent, then start to spoon the warm stock in, one ladle at a time. Continue stirring, and don't rush it!
10. Once the stock is almost finished, add in the cream and stir through. Taste to see if the rice is al dente. If it's still a bit hard, then you may need to keep on the heat for another 2-3 minutes. 
11. When the rice is almost done, mix the mushrooms and zucchini in to heat it through. Drizzle the truffle oil on top and serve with some thin slices of prosciutto and the crispy sage leaves!
12. For the cherry tomato salad, dress the cherry tomatoes generously with salt and olive oil and then mix through the basil!