Mushroom Wheat Berry Risotto

So I had this great plan for an April Fool’s joke to play. I was going to put up a post saying that I had won the Mega Millions, complete with pictures of me jumping up and down, ticket in hand. Sadly, I didn’t win and since no one in New York or anywhere close to New York had won, I scrapped the idea. If I had won, I would currently be blogging from Bora Bora, but instead, I am in my PJs on the couch. Not a bad deal either way.

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On Friday I tried something I had never eaten in my life – wheat berries. I had seen recipes for wheat berry Risotto going around online, and I figured I’d give it a shot. Turns out, this stuff is A-MAZING! Like everyone who tried it couldn’t believe how good it was. Now the recipe does take some time, a quite a bit of stirring, but I can say with certainty, it will be a recurring dish at my house. It turns out creamy and delicious. I wish there were leftovers because I could so go for some right now.

Mushroom Wheat Berry Risotto (adapted from here)

• 1 Cup Hard Wheat Berries
• 1 1/2 Quarts Chicken Stock, warmed
• 1 Onion Diced
• 1 15 oz package mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 Cup White Wine
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Teaspoon Red pepper Flakes
• 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Start by adding your stock to a large pot and get it simmering over medium heat, until warm. Crush Garlic cloves, but leave them mostly whole. Add olive oil to pan along with garlic cloves and red pepper flakes. Cook on LOW for about 5-6 minutes to infuse oil with garlic. Remove garlic and add onions and mushrooms. Turn heat up to medium and cook until veggies start to soften, about 4 minutes. Add wheat berries to the pan and cook for about a minute to warm wheat berries. Add white wine to pan and stir until wine is evaporated. Working about 1 Cup at a time, ladle stock into wheat berry mixture. Stir well and cook until pan is almost dry, then add another cup.

It will probably take about an hour for the wheat berries to soften up and it’ll take close to 5 or 6 cups of liquid. You don’t need to stir it continuously though like you normally do with risotto. It’s okay to let it sit for a few minutes. When wheat berries are soft, but still have a bit of a bite to them, remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan cheese and dig in.

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In other news, Munchkin finally learned how to ride the scooter he got from Santa. We scooted quite a bit at the park on Friday. How great does he look?!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Did you play any good pranks today?