Mushroom risotto on a camp stove

Cooked at the Llanthony Priory wild camp, Vale of Ewyas, Black Mountains. In the film from 9:57.

Close-up of mushroom risotto with carrot, onion and parsley in a frying pan, a black spatula resting in it
Butter and parmesan in, and it's done.

This is a starting point, not a record of exactly what I cooked that night. The method is the one I used. The quantities are a sensible guide for one hungry person with a small pan, and I didn't weigh anything on the hill. Change the amounts to suit your pan and your appetite, and swap ingredients for what you like or what's in the cupboard. I do.

  • 1Serves
  • ~10 minPrep
  • ~30 minCook
  • Pan + potGas stove

Ingredients

A guide, not a shopping list.

  • 1 vegetable stock cube or pot
  • Water, at least three times the volume of the rice (a mug and a half or so, with a splash spare)
  • Half a small onion
  • 1 small carrot
  • A quarter of a pepper, any colour
  • A good glug of olive oil
  • About half a mug of risotto rice (arborio or similar)
  • A splash of white wine, a few tablespoons
  • A good handful of mushrooms, 4 or 5 chestnut mushrooms
  • A small handful of fresh parsley
  • A knob of butter
  • A small handful of grated parmesan

No salt in the list: the stock and the parmesan bring enough between them. Taste it at the end and add a twist of pepper if you carry some.

Chopped onion, carrot and pepper frying in a pan on a small gas stove, a titanium pot of stock beside it on a blue groundsheet
Vegetables in the pan, the stock kept hot in the pot beside it.

Method

  1. Heat the water in your pot and stir in the stock. Keep it hot.
  2. While it heats, chop the onion, carrot and pepper into small pieces. Small pieces cook in the time the rice takes; big ones won't.
  3. Take the hot stock off the stove and set it to one side, lid on to keep the heat in.
  4. Put the pan on the stove and fry the vegetables in the olive oil for a few minutes until they soften.
  5. Add the rice and stir it through the oil for a minute or so to toast it a little.
  6. Add the white wine and let it bubble and reduce.
  7. Cut the mushrooms and add them to the pan with a little of the stock.
  8. Chop the parsley and stir it in.
  9. Now the slow part. Add a little stock, stir, and let it reduce. Repeat, several times, until the rice is cooked: soft right through with a little bite in the middle. This takes time, 20 minutes or more on a small stove.
  10. Take the pan off the heat, add the butter and stir it in.
  11. Add the parmesan and stir again. Done.
  12. Eat, and drink the rest of the wine.

Make it your own

  • Less fuss: the stirring is the point of risotto, but you don't need to stir constantly. A stir each time you add stock, and whenever it looks like catching, is enough.
  • Less gas: this is the thirstiest meal on the site. Keep the flame low, cook in the lee of a rock or your pack, and put the lid on the stock pot between ladles. Don't wrap a windshield round a stove that sits on top of its gas canister: it traps heat against the canister, which stove makers such as MSR warn can make it leak or burst.
  • No wine: leave it out and use a little more stock, or add a squeeze of lemon at the end for the sharpness.
  • Swaps: dried porcini, soaked in some of the hot stock, for a deeper mushroom flavour and nothing fresh to carry; a few peas; pecorino or any hard cheese instead of parmesan; a pinch of dried thyme if there's no parsley.
A frying pan of risotto and a lidded titanium pot on the grass, the Vale of Ewyas spread out below in evening light
Not a bad kitchen.

Carrying it

The rice, stock and wine are happy in a rucksack, and the onion, carrot and pepper travel whole and are chopped at camp. Butter and parmesan are sold chilled, so follow the label: keep them in the coolest part of the pack and use them the first evening, and on a warm day add a small cool pack, or finish with a splash of olive oil instead of butter. A small screw-top pot holds the butter and the grated cheese goes in a zip bag. Portion the rice into another bag at home. Carry the wine in something small and unbreakable rather than the bottle. Empty packaging goes home in your rubbish bag, as with everything else.

Risotto needs two vessels: a pot to keep the stock hot and a pan to cook the rice in. I use the titanium pot and the frying pan from the kit list, on a small gas stove. Gas is close to essential for this one: you need to hold a gentle simmer for half an hour, which is hard work on an alcohol burner.

A bowl of mushroom risotto on a blue groundsheet while the last of a small bottle of white wine is poured into an orange collapsible cup
The last step of the method.

In the film

The cooking is in the Llanthony Priory film from 9:57. The walk, the priory and the border ridge are on the route page, with a GPX download. For other meals, see all the recipes.

A home cook's recipe, not professional advice. Nothing here is sponsored.