When the weather turns gloriously cold and evenings are either spent dreaming of crackling fires or actually sitting by one, possibly sipping a nice red; I make an Oven-Baked Mushroom Risotto. Just like the ever-popular 
Constructing A Perfect Vegan Risotto
I love a good risotto. It is a thoroughly satisfying dish. A traditional risotto would typically have copious amounts of cheese or some dairy in one form or another. And although that is fine occasionally, I like cooking risotto every other week and prefer a lighter and incredibly more flavourful vegan version. I love the fragrant and delicate quality a few strands of saffron adds to my risotto. I always make sure I have saffron at hand for that purpose. To mimic the incredibly umami and salty flavour of hard cheese like parmesan, I add grainy miso paste (I love the Merumiso brand!) and nutritional yeast.
Risottos are either acidic and rich with tomato and dry citrus wine base or creamy and softer on the palette like the one I am sharing today. Along with my vegetable stock, I love adding almond milk for that sweet creaminess without relying on dairy.
Mushroom Garlic And Sage – The Flavour Trifecta
Have you ever tried the combination of caramelized mushroom, garlic and crispy sage? It is unbelievably delicious. The trick is to cook it exactly as I do in the recipe below, sautéing and caramelizing the mushroom and garlic and crisping the sage. All these little steps will take your baked mushroom risotto to flavour town.
I use dried porcini mushrooms for this recipe. They are incredibly more-ish and along with a mix of Swiss Browns and White Cup mushrooms make this a nutrition powerhouse as well. Packed with Vitamin D, Selenium and Folate, who knew a mushroom risotto could contribute to heart health, immune health, lower cholesterol and fight aging! In fact, did you know that mushrooms were the only vegan non-fortified dietary source of source Vitamin D?
Try my Baked Mushroom Risotto this week, I bet you are going to love this so much you’ll want to make it again next week. Who doesn’t love a quick whack-in-a-pan-and-bake dinner recipe that cooks itself and is also super healthy for you? Don’t forget to leave me your feedback in the comment below and share your risotto pictures with me on Instagram by tagging @cookrepublic.
Recipe
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Vegan Baked Mushroom Garlic Sage Risotto
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large leek, thinly sliced and chopped (white only)
- 8 garlic cloves, minced
- 20 g dried porcini mushroom, roughly chopped
- 10 g sage leaves
- few saffron strands
- 200 g Swiss Brown Mushrooms, sliced
- 100 g White Cup Mushrooms, sliced
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) arborio/risotto rice (dry)
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) red wine
- 1 cup (250 ml) almond milk
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 3 cups (750 ml) vegetable stock
- 2 bay leaves
- Sea salt flakes and pepper, to taste
- Extra sage leaves, nutritional yeast, grated vegan cheese, – to serve
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 190°C (convention)/170°C (fan-forced/convection).
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large shallow oven-safe sauté pan on medium heat. Add leek. Sauté for a few minutes until the leek starts to soften. Add garlic, porcini mushroom, sage leaves and saffron strands. Sauté, tossing constantly for a few minutes until mushroom and sage start to crisp up.
- Add brown and white mushroom along with 1 tablespoon of oil. Sauté on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes until mushrooms are glazed and starting to dry up.
- Add the risotto rice and toss to coat the rice evenly with the mushroom mix. Reduce heat to medium. Add wine to deglaze the pan. Toss and mix well.
- Add almond milk, miso paste, vegetable stock, bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Cook on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the liquid starts to slightly thicken up.
- Place uncovered pan in the preheated oven and cook for approximately 30-35 minutes until the top looks caramelized and edges are starting to crisp up.
- Remove from oven. Crisp some sage leaves in a little drizzle of oil in a small frying pan. Garnish the risotto with the crispy sage leaves, a sprinkling of nutritional yeast and a light grating of your favourite cheese. Enjoy hot!
What a wonderful idea! Never thought of baking rice, yet this turned out very creamy and delicious - had to substitute a few things such as white wine for red wine and unfortunately had no sage leaves, but it's a really good comforting dish. Can't wait to see how the flavours develop in the coming days. Thanks for the recipe!
Forgot the rating!
Me again, but topping this with truffle oil (I went a bit too light on salt & pepper) made such a nice addition I had to share!