Wild Mushroom Risotto with Spinach

My husband and I are big fans of Quartino's mushroom risotto. We have been there so many times and whenever I eat their risotto, I used to tell myself 'someday I will make it at home.' The day finally came yesterday. :) It is not difficult but you need a lot of patience. You can't pour full stock into rice and let it cook, you have to patiently add half cup of stock at a time, let it absorb and add another half cup. The taste and satisfaction you get after eating it is totally worth the effort. The recipe is adapted from Cooking Light. 

Mushroom Risotto

Chicken Stock/Broth - 4 cups
Onion - 1 medium
Extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbsp
Fresh thyme chopped - 1 tsp
Garlic cloves minced - 4-5
Cremini mushrooms sliced - 3/4 cup
Shittake mushrooms  sliced- 3/4 cup
Arborio rice uncooked - 1 cup
Dry sherry or Madeira wine - 1/3 cup
Spinach Leaves - 3 cups
Fresh Asiago cheese grated - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a small saucepan, keep warm over low heat. Do not boil.
Heat a pan over medium heat and add oil, onion, thyme and garlic. Cook until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. 

Stir in mushrooms; cook 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rice, cook 1 minute stirring constantly. 

Stir in wine; cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. 

Stir in 1 cup stock, cook until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total).

Stir in spinach; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt, and pepper. 

Serve hot! I served it with garlic bread, typical Quartino style. :)


Notes:

- The original recipe has baby spinach but I used regular spinach leaves
- You can use parmesan cheese, I read that in reviews. It was my first time so I wanted to use ingredients as mentioned in the recipe.