January | 2013 | The Memories of Our Corks

Autumn is a season full of earthy, rich, intense flavours!

I’m aware the season is gone (!), but certainly couldn’t go on without sharing it with you. So without further ado here it is from me to you:

Nothing more earthy and flavoursome than fungi! So every autumn we celebrate autumn or better even, The Fungi Season at the M&M’s table, with two delicious risotto recipes: the delicious Truffle Risotto (‘Risotto al Tartufo Bianco’) and the equally delicious Cep Risotto (‘Porcini Risotto’).

We started November with a magnificent Truffle Risotto!

Truffle Risotto

The preparation started the previous day with a trip to Borough Market. I love Borough Market! And do recommend ‘Turnips’ to shop for Truffles and Ceps!

Got the gorgeous White Truffle and left it in the rice for 24hours so the truffle flavour was slightly more intense. We had the mouthwatering risotto the following day at dinner. The last ‘touch’ just before serving is to shave the truffle on the top of it! As per the wine the choice was easy: the world award winning red ‘Poliphonia’ from Alentejo, Portugal!

White Truffle and Carnaroli Rice

Last ‘touch’

Poliphonia

'Risotto al Tartufo Bianco' at the M&M's November 2012

Truffle Risotto at the M&M’s November 2012

And that’s how we celebrated the fabulous ‘Tartufo Bianco’

With such an excellent start there was only one way to close the month:

Cep Risotto

As previously the preparation started the day before (a Friday) with the quick visit to ‘Turnips’ at Borough Market. I was gobsmacked this time: their ceps that week were HUGE! Really really BIG! See for yourself the picture below, and trust me, I chose the smaller one! (Mushrooms on steroids?!?!).

After carefully clean the giant Cep I then sliced it and cooked it to add to the rice.

Once again the italian recipe was served with a Portuguese wine! This time I decided to go further north in the country and have the ‘Porcini Risotto‘ with the dry, full-bodied and fruity ‘Duas Quintas‘ from Douro.