The Hunger Struck - Confessions of a Food Fanatic.

This is probably the third time in a week I’ve come home starving and thrown myself into making a meal that requires some time to cook. By the time it’s actually ready to eat, I’m no longer hungry because I’ve consumed every available snack food in my pantry. I started out thinking I was going to make Maple Brown Rice Risotto with Mushrooms and Rosemary and fortunately for me I realized the mistake early and quickly changed to Pilaf before I consumed all of our snacks for the week!

It still took an hour to make but I’m pretty sure that if I had stuck to my original risotto idea, I would still be at the stove adding the 2000th cup of chicken stock to the pan and probably swearing off of cooking forever.

Maple Brown Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Rosemary – serves 2 for dinner but could be 4 sides

2 lbs crimini mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

4 small shallotts, finely diced

1 – 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

6-8 cups low sodium chicken stock

1/4 cup sortilege (Canadian Maple Whisky) could substitute with pure maple syrup.

1 tbsp butter

rosemary sprig to garnish

Start by wiping the mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel, then remove and discard the stems and slice up the caps.  Dice the shallots and rosemary and slice the garlic so you have it all ready to go before you start.

Place the chicken stock in a sauce pan  over high heat and once at a simmer turn the heat to low to keep there.

Heat a medium sized pan over medium-high heat. When hot add in the olive oil followed by the sliced mushrooms. Fry the mushrooms until browned -  Mushrooms brown much easier if there is no salt in the pan. Once browned remove them from the pan and set aside. Add the diced shallotts to the same pan that you just fried the mushrooms in and sautee until translucent, about 2 minutes then add in the garlic and fry for another minute, being careful not to burn.

Add the mushrooms back into the pan with the shallotts and garlic along then add in the rice and fry for a minute or two to toast the rice a bit. Add in the sortilege or maple syrup and once it’s all absorbed add in 1 cup of the simmering chicken stock. Let this absorb, risotto style, stirring frequently and then repeat with one more cup of the chicken stock. Once the second cup of stock is absorbed pour in 3 cups of the stock bring to a boil, set the burner to low, cover and let simmer for around 40 minutes.

If the rice is not cooked after 40 minutes, keep adding in more chicken stock one cup at a time until desired texture is achieved. I ended up using around 7 cups of stock before the rice was the texture I wanted it.

Once the rice is done to satisfaction add in the butter and parmesan to finsih.

Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.