Risotto ai Funghi Porcini Freschi del Casentino

Place the dried porcini in warm water and soak for 30 minutes. Lift them out, squeeze gently, and set aside. Pass the soaking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer lined with damp muslin. Combine the strained liquid with the simmering chicken or vegetable stock; keep this blended stock at a low simmer throughout the risotto. The stock is ready when it smells of both broth and concentrated mushroom.

Melt half the butter in a wide, heavy-based pan over a moderate flame. Add the shallot and soften without colour until it is translucent and yields easily to the back of a spoon.

Add the rehydrated dried porcini to the soffritto and stir for one minute to warm through. Add the rice and toast, stirring constantly, until each grain is coated in butter and turns faintly opaque at the edges — the tell that the starch is ready to absorb.

Pour in the white wine and stir until it has fully evaporated and the sharp alcohol scent is gone.

Add the blended stock one ladleful at a time, stirring steadily and waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding the next. This is where the dish lives or dies: the fresh porcini must not enter the pan until the rice is three minutes from done — add them too early and they turn rubbery and surrender their forest perfume to the heat; add them on time and they finish gently in the residual warmth, preserving both texture and aroma. When the rice is three minutes from al dente, fold in the fresh porcini slices and continue with the final ladles of stock. The risotto is ready when the rice is tender with the faintest resistance at the core and the fresh porcini are just cooked through but still hold their shape.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the remaining cold butter and, if using, the white truffle oil. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon — mantecare — until the risotto is bound, fluid, and moves as one wave when the pan is shaken. Taste and adjust salt. If using Parmigiano, fold it in at this point. The surface should appear glossy and the consistency loose enough to spread slowly of its own accord on a warm plate.