Day 32: Greek Mushroom Pilafi (with Lobster Broth)-- April 18, 2013

Greek Mushroom Pilafi sounds like it should be good, since we love mushrooms and we love pilafi. We were looking online for some information about mushrooms, and came across dianekochilas.com where there is a variety of Lenten dishes and recipes. We, as well as many thousands of people the world over, are big fans of this Greek American culinary icon whose roots hail from the unique Greek island of Icaria, an island dear to our hearts.

Although this is inspired by one of Diane Kochilas's recipes, we made a little adjustment in the herbs.

Mushrooms are not the first thought when considering Greek food. However, this simple dish really does make the mushroom shine with its earthy flavour. And, we have to remember that Greece is a mountainous country with a variety of mushrooms that grow all over. Why not highlight them in this easy recipe?






Usually, we read the entire recipe and the directions before making a dish, and when we read through the directions we realised these directions sounded very familiar to us. As we thought about the process, we knew that this dish was going to be like a Greek Risotto. How interesting! The same kind of directions that we follow for risotto, and similar ingredients. Nice! And, there is no cheese, and not too much stirring! That was particularly appealing! Especially since risotto is one of those filling dishes that can be used as an appetiser, entree, or side dish, and we love to eat it. We are using it as a side dish with the mushrooms, but have used it as an entree when we use shrimp or chicken in the mix.

One of the unusual choices for Greek food, and found in this recipe is the use of Arborio Rice. This is not typical Greek pilafi, so why the change? Well, as we mentioned, this dish is like a Greek Risotto. Arborio rice is the one used for risotto because it can absorb much more liquid than processed white or brown rices. And, since the rice releases starch as it cooks, whatever dish it is in ends up with a somewhat creamy texture without you having to do to much to get there. We have also seen Arborio rice used in Dolmades, but have not become accustomed to that, yet. So, we will use it for our pilafi and see what comes of it. We cut the recipe in half to serve two, but in full, this would serve four.

For this recipe, you will need the following:

4 TBSP oil
1 pound (500 grams) button or cremini mushrooms, trimmed, wiped or rinsed, and sliced thin
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio, Carnaroli, or Greek “glasé” rice (available in Greek speciality shops)
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups broth (we used Superior Touch's Better than Bouillon Lobster Base)
3 sprigs fresh thyme, little leaves only
3 sprigs fresh oregano or marjoram, leaves only, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste



 Before giving you the directions, we want to tell you that we used a bouillon to make our broth. All you have to do is dissolve the paste in the warm water, and you get bouillon (stock). We chose the lobster flavour because we ran out of the vegetable base, but any flavour bouillon will work here. Also, we did not use thyme in our dish. We didn't have any, so we stuck to oregano only.





To make the pilafi, you first want to cut up your ingredients. Chop the onion rather small. You don't want the onion to be the most noticeable vegetable in the dish. But, you do want to notice the mushrooms. Slice the mushrooms. We left ours whole because they looked so nice, but you could cut the mushroom in half and then slice it, that would work and still look attractive. Have everything else measured and ready to add to the pot. The cooking time will go much faster than you will expect, and you want to be ready to add something quickly when cooking this dish. The French term (culinary term) for having everything ready to go is "Mise en Place" (to put in place).



Now, we can start cooking! First, cook the mushrooms in a tablespoon of oil in one pan. You will need a second pan for everything else. Cook the mushrooms until they are soft but not mushy. The mushrooms start to change colour when they are cooked -- they turn from white to a wet looking brown; so when most of the mushrooms have turned brown, they are done. Set those aside for now.





In a second pan, cook the onions in the remaining oil. Cook them on medium high heat until the onions start to brown. You want to get some of that golden, carmelized colour to come through. That is where the flavour hides! So, brown the onions without burning them. Once you see that golden colour come over half of them or so, add the garlic.

Let that cook for several minutes to allow the garlic to pick up a little colour, too. Both the onions and garlic will become golden in colour after a couple of minutes.







Next, add the rice. Mix the rice very well in the onion and garlic so that all of the rice is coated with oil. You will see the brown bits come up off the bottom of the pan and mix into the rice. That is fine. Make sure that everything is well distributed in the rice.









Now, add 1 cup of the broth. You are going to let this cook until the rice has absorbed this broth. If you push aside some of the rice, you will see that there is no rice flowing back to that space, and that most of the liquid has been absorbed or evaporated. That is when it is time to add more liquid. So, add the wine. Let the wine cook in the rice until the liquid has been absorbed, just like the first addition of broth.





Once you see the wine has been mostly absorbed, add the remaining amount of the stock and the mushrooms. This will make the pan look like it has a soup cooking inside. At this point, you want to turn the heat to medium and let this cook until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice. On medium heat, this will take about 15 minutes. You can stir occasionally to make sure that the middle of the pan (typical hot spot) does not have any food sticking to it. You do not have to stir constantly, just enough to check the amount of stock left in the pan. As soon as the liquid is absorbed and cooked into the rice, serve the pilafi.











Again, you can serve this as a main dish if you like or serve it as a side dish with something else. It is a very flavourful dish that is so similar to risotto - just without the cheese and the extra stirring of the pan. Maybe we should have called this Greek Risotto, or Risotto-aki! Whatever you call it, it is delicious. But, more importantly, it is completely Lenten!

"But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."

St. Paul: St. Book of the Corinthians: 9:6