Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

• 500 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm chunks
• 300 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 20 g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 150ml hot water for 15 min
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.2 litres hot chicken stock
• 320 g arborio rice
• salt and black pepper
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 50 g parmesan, finely grated
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve

Method

1. Drain the porcini, reserving the soaking liquid. Squeeze them dry and chop roughly. Pour the soaking liquid through a fine sieve to catch the grit, then stir it into the hot chicken stock and keep it warm on the lowest hob setting — cold stock shocks the rice and stalls the cook.
2. Pat the chicken pieces dry with kitchen paper and season generously with salt and pepper before they hit the pan — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the olive oil in a wide stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown the chicken in two batches, single layer, for 4–5 minutes, turning until deeply golden on all sides. Crowd the pan and the chicken stews in its own juices instead of building those golden stuck bits you want. Lift out and set aside.
3. Drop the heat to medium and add the butter to the same pan — don't wash it, those brown specks are flavour. Tip in the chestnut mushrooms and chopped porcini and fry for 5 minutes without stirring too often, until they squeak under the spoon and turn golden at the edges. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for another 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for just 30 seconds, until fragrant and pale gold — don't burn it, or the whole pan turns bitter.
4. Add the arborio rice and toast for 2 minutes, stirring, until the grains turn glassy at the edges and smell faintly nutty. Pour in the white wine and stir, scraping the base of the pan to lift the fond into the rice — that's where the depth lives. Let the wine almost completely absorb before the next move.
5. Begin adding the warm porcini-spiked stock a ladleful at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition absorb before adding the next. Keep going for 18–20 minutes, until the rice is creamy and al dente with a gentle bite at the centre. The pan should hiss steadily — if it falls silent, the heat is too low; if the rice gallops, drop it.
6. Return the chicken and any resting juices to the pan and stir through to warm for a minute. Pull off the heat and beat in the parmesan vigorously with the cold butter — off-heat is critical, or the cheese splits and goes grainy. The risotto should flow like lava when you draw a spoon across the pan; loosen with a final splash of stock if it looks tight. Taste, season, taste again — adjust the salt and black pepper now, not at the table.
7. Spoon into warm shallow bowls. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, scatter the torn basil, shower with extra parmesan, and serve with crusty ciabatta alongside for mopping the bowl.