Oyster Mushroom Risotto

This is probably my favorite mushroom recipe. We added shrimp and microgreens to ours.

Ingredients

• 8 cups water
• 2 tablespoons Chicken Soup Base
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup chopped scallions, green parts only
• 1 pound oyster mushrooms, cleaned, tough stems removed
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Instructions

1. Combine the water and Chicken Base in a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir well, adjust heat down and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Keep very warm/hot.
2. Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat, add scallions and sauté for a few minutes until softened, but not browned. Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms have softened and cooked down a bit, but still retain some texture. This will just take a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper - but go light on salt as you will be adding stock and cheese. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in pan over medium heat. Add rice and stir, coating in butter and cook until the edges of the rice begin to look translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in wine; mixture should bubble up. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.
4. Now, here is the magical risotto creation part that separates this dish from mere steamed rice. Stir in about ¾ cup of the hot chicken stock and keep stirring until it almost completely absorbs. Add another ¾ cup of the hot chicken stock, again stirring for about 1 minute or until it almost completely absorbs. Repeat until the rice is cooked. It should be a tad firm - and the mixture is creamy. Cooking time after adding stock will be about 20 minutes. Stir in the reserved scallions and mushrooms, then stir in the ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and serve risotto immediately in warm bowls, passing extra Parmesan at the table.