Creamy Buckwheat with Mushrooms (Grechotto)

Grechotto is trendy, gorgeous, delicious, and good for you! Plain old buckwheat? A boring dinner? Not a chance! Even buckwheat can be turned into a restaurant-worthy dish. Cream makes it silky, Parmesan gives it a special savory depth, and the beet-and-herb topping adds a bright pop of color. Buckwheat will never be the same again!

Pirko Rita

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Buckwheat

250

Onion

Button mushrooms

350

Vegetable broth

600

Cream (20%)

200

Hard cheese

Butter

Salt

Beet

Dill

Garlic

Vegetable oil

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 18 % 4 g

Fats 27 % 6 g

Carbohydrates 55 % 12 g

125 kcal

GI: 18 / 73 / 9

Cooking method

Cooking time: 40 min

Step 1:

Wash the mushrooms to clean off any dirt, then cut them into thin slices. Put a pat of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes.
Step 2:

Peel the onion and cut it into small dice. Add it to the skillet and cook it with the mushrooms for 1 minute.
Step 3:

Add the buckwheat groats and toast them for 1 minute. This keeps the buckwheat from turning mushy later — it stays firm and holds its shape.
Step 4:

Now pour the vegetable broth over the buckwheat, mushrooms, and onion. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then — the buckwheat should stay al dente, not boil down to mush.
Step 5:

Then slowly pour in the cream, stirring the whole time. As soon as all the cream is in, take the skillet off the heat. Stir in finely grated hard cheese (Parmesan is best), season with salt to taste, and mix everything together. Have the beet dressing ready ahead of time so all that's left at the end is to garnish the dish.
Step 6:

For the dressing, cook the beet ahead of time, then peel it and grate it on the fine side of a grater. Put the grated beet in a small deep bowl. Mince the garlic (chop it or put it through a press) and add it to the beet. Add salt and a little vegetable oil, then mix everything together. The dressing is ready. Chop the fresh herbs separately.
Step 7:

Now spoon the finished grechotto onto plates. Top it with a neat mound of the beet salad right on the buckwheat, and finish with a sprinkle of chopped herbs.

You don't actually have to top the grechotto with beet salad — it stands perfectly well on its own. You can serve the salad on the side instead, or offer another light but juicy salad, like a cabbage slaw.
The dish comes out tasty, nourishing, quite filling, and full of good things. That said, dedicated meat-eaters might miss having a piece of meat with it.