What does your childhood smell like?

On my morning drive to work I heard this news caster talk about the importance of smell. He was explaining how "smell" is the strongest of our senses and the most commonly used  in reference to memories. He was trying to show how some of our culinary preferences are not solely based on our sense of "taste"but somehow triggered by "smell" awakening certain dear memories....and YES! I can see that!

I was at work, walking toward the back room as I passed the mushroom display and there they were, these huge perfect meaty Porcini mushrooms. I suddenly had the urge to run my hands through the basket and the smell they left on my hands just instantly brought me back to those rainy days in Italy. The smell of the rain evaporating from the browning reddish leaves on the floor, the mud accumulated from the fertile rainy season....a wide eyed 6 year old following her dad...exploring the woods, listening to wild stories. And the earthy steam coming up from my mom's stove every Sunday morning before church when she would start slow cooking her Rabbit stew and the porcini risotto which are to this day my favourite dishes ever.....And even as strong is the recollection of the warmth that would built up in the kitchen after a few hours.

So here it is, my mom's risotto....

The most complicated part of this dish is the cleaning of the porcini, which is quite time consuming, but definitely rewarding. Just like those saturday evening after a long day in the woods, I sat at the table with a bowl of cold water and soaked the halved porcini for a bit. Once all slippery, I took a spoon and cleaned out the porous part underneath the cap. here i rinsed them under cold water and sliced them into pieces of the desired sized for cooking. This is the tricky part....at times once the mushrooms are sliced you can find little dark spots or holes. If so, break the part where the hole is to see if a worm is still inside.......and rinse it out if so. I guess the meatiness of porcini is quite mouth watering to them as well! :). I cook the mushroom separately in dry white wine for about an hour with the lid on before I start the rice.



Take a sauce pan and glissen 1/2 a yellow onion,diced, 3 cloves of garlic, minced, and about 2 handfulls of Arborio rice per person. This takes about 2 minutes, do not allow the garlic or the onions to brown because that will add a bitter taste to the risotto. add about 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine and the cooked porcini mushrooms.

 Trn the heat down a bit and cover the pan with a lid. Cook down, stirring every 4 minutes or so, do not allow all the fluids to evaporate. Taste the rice to make sure it's ready before turning the burner off. You might have to add another cup of stock, always make sure that when the rise is cooked it is still moist. Add a little bit of saffron and parmigiano reggiano to taste.