Mascarpone Risotto with Stewed Wild Mushrooms

Note: I make the mushrooms and risotto in two skillets at the same time, but wrote the directions separately for clarity. These are great together or separately as side dishes.

For the mushrooms:
Combine vegetable stock with dried mushrooms in a small pot. Cover pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Boil mushrooms for 5 minutes, then turn heat off and let mushrooms steep covered for 15 minutes. Remove mushrooms from stock with a slotted spoon to cool. Chop any large mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, and reserve stock.

In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat. Add fresh mushrooms and stir for 5 minutes to soften mushrooms slightly, then add onion. Cook onion for 3 minutes with mushrooms, then stir in tomato paste.

Add about a cup of the mushroom cooking stock to skillet and reduce heat to medium. Simmer mushrooms until very dark and tender, adding more stock as you go to maintain a sauce. You will use at least 2 cups of the veggie-mushroom stock, maybe 3.

After about 15 minutes, add reconstituted dried mushrooms to skillet with some more stock. Taste mixture and add salt and pepper to your preference. Continue to cook until sauce has reduced and coats the mushrooms, then stir in remaining tablespoon of butter and serve as desired.

For the risotto:
In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add onion and saute for 2 minutes to soften, then add rice and garlic to skillet. Stir for 2 minutes more to coat rice in butter and soften garlic. Add wine to skillet and stir until wine is reduced. Repeat with stock, adding 1/2 cup of stock at a time and stirring until liquid is absorbed, then adding more to the skillet. After about 25 minutes, rice should be cooked. You may not use all the stock. When rice is tender, add salt and pepper to taste and stir in mascarpone cheese.

Serve risotto topped with some mushrooms and a pile of microgreens for freshness and flavor. Enjoy!

Note: Use any kind of mushrooms you like or can find! I found a wild mushroom blend at Whole Foods and used a fresh blend from my regular grocery store. Even just fresh cremini mushrooms and dried porcini would be wonderful.