Les Petits Chefs make Jamie Oliver’s basic “oozy” risotto (with a side of mushrooms!)

Well, it all worked out in the end….

This week, I picked one of my favourite meals to make with Les Petits Chefs – Jamie Oliver’s “oozy mushroom risotto”. Because little boys would totally adore anything with “oozy” in the title, right? WRONG!  Alerted to the fact that many kids don’t like mushrooms (!!) by some of my colleagues, I did a quick poll during the day of my guys to see if this was, in fact, true.  Whilst there were a few resounding “Oh yes” responses to “Do you eat/ like mushrooms?”, there were enough “Welllllllllll” and scrunched up noses to let me know that making a meal containing mushrooms might not be the greatest way to endear the boys to them. A meal with mushrooms on the side? Most of them said this sounded great (and that mum or dad would happily try the mushrooms).  My cunning plan was that the mushrooms would smell so darned good that most of the boys would want to take some home and at least try a few.

The fact that I had to re-jig most of the recipe (I took out the mushrooms from the risotto part, didn’t make the crispy mushrooms and cooked and served them on the side) meant I was more than a little discombobulated this week (also, I cut my thumb as I was demonstrating the mushroom cutting – do as I say, not as I do, right?) hence the lack of process pictures. But rest assured, little hands were busy this week (as was I with 6 stations of stuff on the go!).

My mushroom loving Grade 6s worked on chopping up a ton of mushrooms…

Garlic was chopped….

Onions were chopped (with MUCH melodramatic rushing to the sink to rinse “burning eyes”)…

Lemons were zested…

Celery was chopped with great gusto…

MORE onions were chopped (they were, apparently, “neverending”!)

Rosemary was picked off the stalk…

And finally the risotto was in the pot, cooking away.  The boys marvelled at how the rice absorbed the stock/water mixture

Meanwhile, over the other side of the room, “Team Mushroom” were creating a delicious mushroom sauce with rosemary, thyme, garlic and mushrooms. It smelled SO GOOD!

We zested the lemons to make up for the – errr – lack of colour in the risotto itself. And added some parsley. And finally we added in the cheese, just before I took it off the heat to serve it. It smelled SO good, everyone was popping their head in to see what was cooking….

In the end, only a couple of the boys didn’t take home any mushrooms at all so I really hope those who did will have tasted them and realise they can be pretty tasty!

At the end of the session, I realised that what I taught the boys was a basic risotto recipe with a side of mushrooms 🙂 so because the “Oozy mushroom risotto” recipe is not on Jamie’s site, I’m linking to Jamie’s basic risotto recipe which is the base for the mushroom version anyway. It’s all good. Pretty happy we pulled this off this week. This made AMAZING leftovers for my lunch today! A couple of the boys reported back that it “wasn’t cooked” though I had it tested by a couple of colleagues who, shall we say, know their risotto and it was apparently pretty darned perfect.  I’m putting this one down to experience and am proud of the boys who tried the dish – it’s all I ask!  One day, their future wives will thank me (I hope!).

 

 

 

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32 thoughts on “Les Petits Chefs make Jamie Oliver’s basic “oozy” risotto (with a side of mushrooms!)”

  1. Ouch on the cut thumb! The risotto and mushrooms look superb and I’m sure that the aroma coming from your little lab kitchen was almost irresistible. Hopefully you have a few mushroom converts after this session.

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  2. This is starting to sound like LPC Advanced.

    Not only do they experiment with mushrooms (four kinds – I saw them purchased!), but also what al dente rice tastes like.

    Alas, not a whit of this made it to MY lunch.

    Wine pairing reco: for whites, I’d go with a Pinot Grigio or Riesling. For red, an Italian Sagrantino. If that’s a touch obscure, a Pinot Noir would be a great match – preferably from a cooler climate.

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  3. Oh my goodness, I love it! I’m practically weeping for joy here… a feeling of ‘Oh my goodness, someone else knows EXACTLY what I experience teaching cooking to young students too!’ It’s all good of course, but there are at least 3 spots where I was actually saying out loud, “Um hummm”.
    One example… The production over cutting onions and crying. (The poor dears do tear up, but I’ve seen so many melodramatic students too… Oh, so funny!) I don’t know HOW many times I’ve walked by those ‘onion’ googles at cooking stores and considered buying them for fun, but could never justify the price.
    Mardi, you are doing such a wonderful job with these young students! I’m sure their future wives (and they!) will thank you when they’re older too.

    Bonjour, les petits chefs, btw, and I have to tell you, I’m not even your teacher and I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished here. No worries about not liking the mushrooms. Some day, if you’re ready to and inspired try more, you’ll know how to make a delicious recipe. Have fun cooking!

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  4. I never understood the lack of love for mushrooms. I guess it’s in the texture! Looks great! And I’d be all over anything that’s oozy. I’m a young boy at heart I guess.

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  5. I hope this opened some of their eyes to the yumminess that is mushrooms! I laughed at the melodramatic onion cutting because I am the same way. Even alone.. when making french onion soup I complain out loud to no one in particular.

    Delicious looking dish!

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  6. If I were their age, I wouldn’t have gone for the mushrooms either! I didn’t acquire a taste for them until much later in life (last 3 years!) and even now, I dislike them uncooked! You did a good thing by coercing them to try, look at the fantastic result!

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