Chicken, pine nut and porcini mushroom risotto

It was an evening of drawing upon available items in the cupboard. For Christmas, my sister had gotten us a selection of dried wild mushrooms that we hadn't yet used. Combine this with David's hankering for risotto and we get chicken, mushroom and pine nut risotto.

Recipe

from RisottoServes 21 garlic clove, minced1 boneless chicken breast, diced1/4 cup ligt cream2 tbsp pine nuts3/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and coarsely choppedbutter3/4 cup Arborio rice1/2 onion, chopped2-1/2 cups chicken brothbutterHeat butter with garlic in a pan and sauté over moderate heat. Add chicken pieces and cook for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes longer, until mushrooms are tender. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until cream has thickened slightly. Turn off heat and set aside. In a separate small skillet, heat butter and sauté pine nuts gently until golden brown. Set aside.Heat butter in a pan over moderate heat, add onion and sauté until it begins to soften. Stir in rice, making sure the grains are well-coated. Add in broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently. Wait until each addition is almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. When rice is tender, but still firm, stir in chicken-mushroom-cream mixture, stirring vigorously to combine with the rice. Sprinkle pine nuts over top.

Musings

A few notes on preparation: For the first addition of liquid to the rice, David used the liquid the mushrooms were reconstituted in. Recipe originally called for shiitake mushrooms, though they mention that you can substitute dried porcini.In the end, the dish turned out wonderfully. Such a round, earthy flavour--the porcini mushrooms really suffuse the rice with flavour. It was nice and creamy, with a great nuttiness (the pine nuts were a good addition). It would make an excellent first course or a relatively light main course. We paired it with a refreshing spinach salad, which was a nice, light counterpoint to the pungent mushroom flavour of the risotto.