St George's mushroom and wild garlic risotto

Serves 4

St George's mushrooms are one of the first English mushrooms to pop up in the woods, hence their name, as their appearance is usually around St George's Day. If you fancy learning more about shrooms, and an organised mushroom forage, then Peter Jordan is your man. You can e-mail him at info@tasty-mushroompartnership.co.uk to find out more. Or you could use button, oyster or field mushrooms for this dish.

For the stock

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
Half a leek, roughly chopped and washed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1tbsp vegetable oil
150g button mushrooms, washed and roughly chopped
10g dried ceps, soaked for 2 hours in a little warm water and drained
A few sprigs of thyme
5 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

For the risotto

200g carnaroli rice
70g butter
Mushroom stock
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1tbsp double cream
200g St George's mushrooms, cleaned and halved or quartered if they are large
A handful of wild garlic leaves (about 30g-40g), depending on your taste
Olive oil for frying
20g grated Parmesan

First, make the stock. Gently cook the onion, leek and garlic in the vegetable oil without colouring until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover with about 1.5 litres of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming occasionally. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve and keep hot if using straight away. The stock should be strongly flavoured; if it's not, reduce it to concentrate the taste.

To make the risotto, take a thick-bottomed pan and melt 30g of the butter, add the rice and stir for a minute on a low heat with a wooden spoon until rice is covered with the melting butter. Gradually add the stock a little at a time, stirring constantly and ensuring that each addition of liquid has been fully absorbed by the rice before adding the next. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. When the rice is almost cooked, add 40g of the butter and the cream, check the seasoning and correct if necessary. The risotto should be moist but not stodgy.

Meanwhile, gently fry the mushrooms in a little olive oil over a low heat for a minute or so

without colouring. Stir them into the risotto with the wild garlic leaves and Parmesan and serve immediately.