Mushroom Risotto with Pan Seared Sirloin Strips

We had a delicious mushroom risotto just this weekend at Skinny Pizza, and Pauline was egging me to do something similar at home. Well, I combined a risotto with her fav protein and came up with this.

I have already touched on how to cook risotto in a previous blog, so will not go into much detail. The difference here is I decided to create a mirepoix chicken stock instead of just regular broth.

To do so, saute some celery, onions and carrots in a pan or pot for a few mins and add a dash of white wine to let it sizzle and let it cook for a further 5 mins or so.

Once the flavors start to infuse, add in sufficient chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer at low heat and start to prepare to cook the risotto in a separate pot. As before, saute some onions but this time, add in some mushrooms as well. Note that mushrooms contain a fair amount of liquid, so there will be quite a bit of moisture in the pot.

Add the arborio rice and let it brown for a min or so, and to keep tossing it in the pot. Now add the mirepoix chicken broth ladle by ladle as you would be cooking regular stock and cook the risotto in the same way as until the rice is just about cooked and softened. (Usually its about 20 mins).

At this juncture, add in some grated Parmesan (adjusted the amount depending on how cheesy you want the dish to be). Dropped in some chopped spring onion at the end too.

On a separate pan, season the sirloin steak with salt and pepper and heat up a skillet with olive oil. Drop in the beef and let it cook for 2-3 mins before flipping it over. Base the steak in a knob of butter constantly to keep the steak evenly cooked and let the butter give it an extra fragrance and taste.

After another 2-3mins, turn off the heat and let the beef rest/sit in the pan for another 5 mins before slicing the beef with the sharpest knife you have.

Plate the risotto and arrange the sirloin strips on top of it. It should be both hearty and delicious!