Farro Risotto

Like a bowl of really good puffy rice

This turned out a lot better than I anticipated and is a great recipe. I prefer risotto with real arborio rice and farro is so much better as a dessert. But this is really, really excellent as well.

I went with a standard wild mushroom risotto recipe for the most part with only a few changes.

 Mushroom Farro Risotto

• 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms soaked in 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups farro soaked in cold water overnight
• 1 cup mixed thinly sliced wild mushrooms
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped basil leaves
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup grated Romano

Squeeze liquid from dried mushrooms and reserve. Finely chop dried mushrooms. Bring stock to a low simmer. Drain farro and rinse well. In a large saute pan melt 2 tbsp butter over medium low heat. Saute garlic and dried mushrooms until edges begin to brown. Add fresh mushrooms and cook until softened. Add farro, half the fresh basil and bring heat to medium. Dry farro grains for 3 minutes stirring constantly. Add mushrooms liquid and cook down. Add stock one cup at a time like a normal risotto until farro is plump and creamy. Add cheese, remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes before serving.