“I tend to make a good chicken stock after we’ve had our Sunday roast – I just throw the carcass in a pan with any root veg and herbs I happen to have,” says Jamie Oliver.

Serves 4 to 6

1.5l hot chicken stock
A handful of dried porcini mushrooms
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, peeled, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
400g risotto rice
150ml vermouth or white wine
Sea salt,
freshly ground black pepper
4 large handfuls of wild mushrooms (try shiitake, girolle, chestnut or oyster – definitely no button mushrooms), cleaned and sliced
A few sprigs of fresh chervil, tarragon or parsley leaves, picked and chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
25g butter
2 handfuls of freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

A mushroom risotto can be made in many different ways, depending on what kind of mushrooms you have and whether they are introduced at the beginning of cooking or added at the end, as I’m going to do here.

Heat your chicken stock in a pan and keep on a low simmer. Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they’re softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the liquid. In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil and add the onion and celery. Slowly fry without colouring them for at least 10 minutes, then turn the heat up and add the rice. Give it a stir. Stir in the vermouth or wine – it will smell fantastic! Keep stirring until the liquid has cooked into the rice. Now pour the porcini-soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and your first ladle of hot stock. Turn down the heat to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.

Carry on adding the stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. This will take about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a dry griddle pan until hot and grill the wild mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn’t big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl and add the chopped herbs, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice.

Using your hands, get stuck in and toss everything together – this is going to be incredible! Take the risotto off the heat and check the seasoning. Stir in the butter and the parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to relax for about 3 minutes.

Taste your risotto and add a little more seasoning or parmesan if you like. Serve a good dollop of risotto, topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

© Jamie Oliver 2007. Recipe from Jamie At Home (MIchael Joseph, £25) which is available from Times BooksFirst for £22.50, p&p free: 0870 1608080 or visit timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst

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