Wild Mushroom Risotto, Pickled Girolles, Champagne, Blue Cheese Foam
Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Felipe has had a lifelong passion for food. While most of his peers were honing their skills on the football field, Felipe was immersed in the kitchen concocting new recipes and dishes to showcase to his relatives – a passion they encouraged and nurtured early on. Following his graduation from Catering College, Felipe embarked on his career as a professional chef which, after a number of years working in various locations around the world, brought him to Dublin in 2014. Avenue by Nick Munier beckoned in 2015 and, just 2 years later, Felipe was announced as their new Head Chef. Constantly striving for perfection, Felipe plans regular “Stage’s” abroad, including an impending two-week trip to the two star Michelin restaurant in Portugal “Bel Canto”, under the tutelage of Executive Chef Jose Avillez.
Felipe’s creation is perfect for any occasion and, with Mother’s Day on the horizon, it’s the perfect way to treat (not to mention impress) the matriarch of the family!
Ingredients
For the risotto:
500g of assorted fresh wild mushrooms, roughly cut in similar-sized pieces
100g of unsalted butter
2 shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
250g of Arborio risotto rice
100ml of white wine
750ml of vegetable stock, plus more if needed
Olive oil
50g of Parmesan, or vegetarian alternative, grated
Dash of champagne
Salt Black pepper, freshly ground
Handful of pickled girolles
For the blue cheese foam:
25g of Blue cheese
200ml of double cream
Method:
- To begin, use 50g of the butter to fry the mushrooms in a saucepan until light brown in colour. Add the chopped shallots and garlic and cook until soft for a further 30 seconds.
- – Stir in the rice and cook until transparent. Pour in the white wine (ideally make sure it is a decent drinking wine!) and stir in well.
- – Add stock, a little at a time, stirring constantly until all is absorbed and creamy and the rice is cooked. Add more stock if rice is still slightly undercooked or if necessary.
- – Season with sea salt and freshly milled pepper and a little olive oil and the remaining 50g butter. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and a generous “dash” of Champagne
- – Now, the hard part is done its nearly time for plating up but before that – the icing on the cake, the blue cheese foam! For the blue cheese foam, melt the blue cheese and mix with the double cream in a saucepan, bring to the boil and blitz together. Usually at Avenue by Nick Munier we pour this mixture into a gas canister to serve on the side as a blue cheese foam, however you can just drizzle the solution on top of the risotto – the main essence is the flavour
- – If you have time on your hands, I suggest serving this dish with pickled girolles (in order to pickle girolles, you bring white wine vinegar, vegetable oil, honey, salt, thyme and shallots to the boil, allow the pickle stock solution to cool and then immerse your girolles into the cold pickling stock for at least 3 hours – et voila, you now have your pickled girolles for the top of your Wild Mushroom Risotto).
- Serve your risotto in a bowl with your selection of pickled girolles and blue cheese foam. Garnish with micro coriander and serve immediately!
Of course, if this all sounds like too much work, you could just treat Mum to a Mother’s Day lunch at Avenue by Nick Munier! This dish forms part of their Mother’s Day menu, available this Sunday 26th March (four courses for €30) and will also be included in their new Friday and Saturday lunch menu (one course for €9.95).
Reservations for Avenue by Nick Munier can be made here
