HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto Meal Review
HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto Time
- HelloFresh Total Time: 50 Minutes
- Our Actual Time: 50 Minutes
The HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto took the exact amount of time as recommended. We have ordered this meal kit before, so we have had some practice on this level 2 dish. Risotto takes a while to cook because it takes time for the Arborio Rice to soak up the liquid stock. The 50 minute cook time is well worth the decadent flavors and textures.
Travel with HelloFresh Meals
HelloFresh is the perfect on-the-go dinner. The meals are easy to transport and do not take up a lot of space. All of the ingredients are packaged into one recyclable bag. You will not have to worry about forgetting a specific ingredient. This is a great option for travelers wanting to save money and cook at their condo, cabin, or Airbnb. If you are vacationing long term, have HelloFresh deliver the meals straight to your door!
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HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto Preparation
Read the Recipe
HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto is a level 2 meal which is medium difficulty, knowing this we made sure to read the recipe three times before starting anything. The recipe is easy to follow and HelloFresh explains everything thoroughly. We knew this dish was going to take almost an hour so we did not start grilling our polish sausage until 15 minutes prior to the finished risotto. Reading the recipe beforehand is very helpful when trying to plan the meal out and ensure all elements are finished at the same time.
Mise en place
Mise en place is a French term meaning to put everything in its place. In the culinary world, it is setting up your workstation: equipment is set out, vegetables are cut, ingredients are measured. After reading the instructions we got everything out and prepared.
An Easy Way to Chopping an Onion
Always start with a good chef knife!
Step 1: Slice onion in half, going through the “hairy” end.
Step 2: Peal Onion, leaving the “hairy” end on
Step 3: Make small slices in the onion. DO NOT go all the way through. When finished with this step, you should have an onion that fans out and remains in one piece
Step 4: Slice the onion perpendicular to the lengthways slices you made in step 3, thus creating small diced cubes.
You will get the perfect diced onion every time!
Time to Get the Show Started
Cooking the HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto
The HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto recipe includes six steps and within those steps, there is a list of instructions. We got everything out and prepared at the beginning before any cooking began. This allows more time to practice our risotto cooking technique and to get the perfect grill on the polish sausage. For being a level 2 and having a long cook time this dish came together very easily.
Once all the vegetables are chopped the only thing to do is add mushroom stock to the rice pan, stir, and wait for it to soak up that flavor. The rice took the full time to get plump and al dente. I ended up having to add a little extra water for the rice to finish cooking. The final step is to dump the tomatoes, chives, mushrooms, garlic butter, and sausage into the pan. Everyone in the pan to mingle and build flavor!
Feeling a little overwhelmed? Check out my Top Tips for Any HelloFresh Meal
HelloFresh Tip
Many HelloFresh meals call for olive oil or butter. If you do not have these items, no worries, your mom’s favorite friend PAM will do the trick. Most of the time the olive oil is used to sauté or roast vegetables. A good spray of PAM will work just as well and cuts down the calories in the dish. We used PAM at our cabin and the meal turned out amazing!
Making the HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto Our Own
While this dish is great on its own, we wanted to spruce it up a bit with grilled polish sausage. We get this sausage freshly made in Grand Junction, Colorado, from Old World Meat Co. This is a family favorite sausage, my dad has been getting my whole life. It is full of flavor and cooks up amazing on the grill. We sliced the sausage and folded it into our risotto mixture. It added smokiness, texture, and some needed protein. Not in the Grand Junction area? You can find any polish sausage to add to your risotto dish.
A HelloFresh Calorie Smart Meal
- Calories – 620kcal
- Fat – 28g
- Saturated Fat – 16g
- Carbohydrate – 82g
- Sugar – 8g
- Dietary Fiber – 2g
- Protein – 12g
- Cholesterol – 60mg
- Sodium – 700mg
Even with the compound butter, this is a calorie-smart meal at 620 calories per serving. I cannot believe this is such a low-calorie dish. A meal with rice as the base has only 82g of carbohydrates. Our addition of the polish sausage will increase the overall calories but it will also increase the protein and we LOVE protein. The Mushroom and Chive Risotto feels like a guilty pleasure, but it is healthy and a well-balanced meal.
Taste
The HelloFresh Mushroom and Chive Risotto was rich, creamy, and filling. One of the best HelloFresh Meals we have ever tried! The Arborio Rice soaks up the mushroom stock and breathes in all of that flavor. Sautéed mushrooms are folded into the mushroom-infused rice, which just accentuates the woody flavor. Our addition of the grilled polish sausage was a great idea because this dish craves a smokey element and a change in texture. A change in texture leads me to those ginormous halved baby tomatoes. The tomatoes were a burst of freshness and acidity. Garlic herb butter and parmesan is swirled in and makes it a luxurious bowl of goodness.
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