Corn and Chanterelle Risotto

If you liked the Corn and Chanterelle Bisque I made earlier this summer, you should definitely try this risotto. My four-year-old, to my astonishment, ate five helpings of this, and my husband and I enjoyed it thoroughly as well. The chanterelles are particularly divine, but feel free to substitute other flavorful mushrooms. I pretty much always make risotto in my pressure cooker these days because it's so easy, but you can do it the old fashioned way as well.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1/4 lb chanterelles, chopped
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Add the shallot and chanterelles and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and saute over medium heat for a minute or two, until the grains turn translucent and start to toast a little bit. Add the corn and the stock and stir. Cover the pot, lock the lid, and turn the heat to high. Cook for 7 minutes from the time pressure is reached, then release pressure manually. Stir, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Corn and Chanterelle Bisque

I was lucky enough to score some chanterelles at the farmers market on Saturday, from Paul Lagreze. I don't know if he'll have any more this week, but they were divine! They do something really magical here in this soup with the sweet corn and a hint of sherry. This tastes very rich with whole milk, but if you want to up the luxury level even farther, substitute cream for some of the milk.

A word about sherry: if you don't keep a bottle of cooking sherry in your pantry, you should. You can get a bottle of dry sherry suitable for cooking for well under $10 and it keeps pretty much forever.

4 tsp butter
2 medium shallots, minced
1/4 lb chanterelle mushrooms, finely chopped
6-7 ears sweet corn, kernels stripped off
Water and/or stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 cups whole milk
2 Tbsp dry sherry
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the shallots and chanterelles and saute over medium heat until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add the corn kernels plus enough water to just cover. Simmer until tender, 5-10 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender, or do it in batches in a blender, then return to the pot. Puree to whatever degree you like between chunky and smooth. Then stir in the milk and sherry and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot.

Serves 4-6.

Variation: To turn this into a chowder instead of a bisque, add cubed potatoes (new potatoes would be wonderful) and puree only a little, just enough to thicken the soup a little.