Dirty Porcini Rice

When it comes to entertaining at home, sometimes you have to mix things up a bit and push your go-to recipes out of your comfort zone. That said, we had some friends over for dinner and I wanted to serve the miso sake glazed salmon and needed to pair it with something hearty with a bit of bite to contrast the sweet and delicate salmon.

After doing some searching, I came upon a dirty rice recipe that incorporated mushrooms -- and being a mycophile, I wanted to incorporate some of the wild foraged mushrooms I had in the pantry. So the result: Dirty Porcini Rice. It was yummy and definitely a side dish that could pair well with lamb, chicken or purely vegetarian meal. This recipe is adapted from Nadia G.

Let's get dirty!

Here's what you will need:

• 1/4 cup Red rice

• 1/4 cup Wild rice

• Sea salt 

• 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

• 5 ounces Porcini Mushrooms, stemmed, sliced (you can also used dried porcini and reconstitute, reserve liquid and use in place of vegetable broth below) – you can also sub out any wild or cultivated mushroom

• 1 Shallot, small dice

• 1/4 cup Sake

• 1/2 cup Long Grain Rice

• 1 cup Vegetable Stock (if reconstituting dried mushroom, use the liquid in place of vegetable stock)

• 1 teaspoon Ginger Root, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon Porcini Mushroom Powder or 3 dried Porcini Mushrooms, pulverized

• Freshly cracked Pepper

Making the Dirty Porcini Rice:

• Add the red and wild rice to a medium saucepan filled with salted boiling water. Turn the heat down to maintain a low boil, and cook until the wild rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. (This cooking method prevents the wild rice grains from splitting, the way they do when steamed, and leaves them pleasantly al dente.)

• Saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat until golden, about 30 seconds.

• Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms have begun to brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

• Deglaze with the sake and scrape into a medium saucepan.

• Add the long grain rice and then the vegetable (or mushroom) stock, ginger and some salt.

• Bring to a boil and immediately adjust the heat to low.

• Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

• Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for another 5 minutes.

• Fluff the rice with a fork and fold in the porcini powder.

• Season with salt and pepper.