Leek & Pancetta Risotto

I always get a sense of satisfaction when I'm able to make dinner entirely from ingredients I already have lurking in the back of my fridge, especially when they're as tasty as this risotto! I already had the leeks and creme fraiche from the salmon with creamy greens and I always make sure I have stock, rice and Parmesan, so I only had to buy the pancetta. I'm a recent convert to risotto, as whenever I've had it in a restaurant it's been greasy and stodgy, so it's nice to make it at home and be reminded of how delicious and comforting a creamy bowl of risotto can be.

Serves 2
150g arborio rice
2 small leeks, sliced
1 courgette, diced
Small pack pancetta
1 tbsp creme fraiche
100ml white wine
500ml chicken stock
25g Parmesan

1. Fry the courgette and leeks in a little oil, until soft. Add the pancetta and turn up the heat a little, until it is cooked through and crisp
2. Stir in the rice and gently fry until the edges go clear. Add the wine and turn up the heat, let it simmer until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice
3. In the meantime, make up 500ml of hot stock. Gradually add a ladleful at a time, waiting until it has been absorbed before adding any more
4. Once the rice has plumped out and is almost ready, add the creme fraiche and Parmesan. Turn the heat right down and put a lid on the risotto and leave to steam for 3 minutes. Season and serve!

Adding the stock:

 Rice cooking away:

Tasty-licious!

Three Bean Chili

After a long weekend of meat eating in Shropshire, I decided to make us something vegetarian for dinner on Monday night. I really enjoyed this bean chili, but I'm not sure Chris is convinced by vegetarian food, as his first comment was how nice it would be with some chicken or beef in it. But considering this is a man who said 'I like vegetarian food, as long as it's got loads of meat in it', there probably isn't much hope of him becoming a fan of meat-free meals. Frezule and I will be eating the leftovers tonight, so lets hope she's a fan!

You can use any beans you happen to have in your cupboard, but I like to have a mix including baked beans; the sauce helps to prevent the tomatoes being too acidic and half a tin counts as one of your 5 a day. It's reasonably spicy, so a dollop of yogurt and some cooling avocado piled on top tasted great. It's also nice served with brown rice or with a roasted sweet potato, topped with cheese.

For the bean chili:
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
250g pack mushrooms, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp hot chili powder
1 tin baked beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin black eyed beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 squares of dark chocolate

1. Add the onion and garlic to a pre-heated pan with a little oil and allow to soften for 5 minutes. Then add the red pepper, courgettes and mushrooms and leave to cook on a medium heat for a further 10 minutes
2. Add the cumin, chili powder and paprika and cook for 1 minute, until the spices are fragrant
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and all the beans, bring to a light simmer, adding a little vegetable stock if necessary. Turn the heat down and leave to cook with the lid on for 1 hour
4. Once the sauce has thickened, add a few squares of dark chocolate and allow to melt into the sauce. Season and serve with roasted butternut squash, topped with yogurt and avocado

Vegetables with lots of spices:

Ready to eat:

With roasted squash, yogurt & avocado:

Pea Risotto with Flaked Salmon

In an attempt to eat more fish, I decided to cook salmon on Thursday evening. You're meant to have two portions of oily fish per week but normally I struggle to eat one, I'm not sure why as I love salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel. I suppose it's because fish isn't something I'd normally pick up for a quick and easy dinner and it can often be quite expensive. Whenever I make the effort it's always worth it, so I'm going to try to post a few fish recipes a month in a bid to help get some more tasty fish into my diet!

This is a recipe of my own devising, but I'm sure it's hardly original! It's just a basic risotto, with the addition of peas, courgette, lemon and creme fraiche. It's worth using petite pois rather than garden peas, as they're so much sweeter. It would also have been nice with a little pancetta, but Sainsbury's in Stokey was sadly lacking.

Serves 2
2 skinless salmon fillets
100g arborio rice
1 small onion/3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic gloves, crushed
1 courgette, chopped
200g frozen petite pois
100ml dry white wine
500ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp creme fraiche
1/2 a lemon, juiced
25g grated Parmesan

Method:

1. Heat some oil in a pan and slowly cook the onion and garlic until golden. Add the courgette and allow to soften. 
2. Meanwhile put 3/4 of the peas, the creme fraiche, seasoning and a little stock into a food processor and whizz until smooth. 
3. Stir the rice into the onions and allow to cook for 1 minute. Next add the white wine and wait for it to be absorbed by the rice. Gradually add a ladleful of the stock to the mixture, stirring continuously.
4. Continue adding the stock to the rice until it is tender. When the rice is almost done, mix the pea puree, whole peas and Parmesan into the rice. Turn the heat off and put a lid on the rice, leave to steam for 3 minutes; this should help to make the risotto creamy (according to my madre).
5. Flake the salmon over the top, either using pre-prepared roast salmon or cooking it yourself. Serve with a green salad.

Risotto cooking:

The finished article:

Shepherds Pie with Goats Cheese

After a long trip to IKEA on Sunday afternoon I decided to cook one of my mum's recipes. There's something very comforting about cooking a meal you're used to eating at home with your family. My version wasn't a patch on my mum's unforunately, as I put too much stock into the sauce and didn't have the time to let it reduce. Nevertheless, it's a great take on a traditional shepherds pie; the spices and goats cheese add a middle eastern flavour which works beautifully with the lamb.

Serves 4 - 6
500g lamb mince
1 sweet potato
1 large onion
2 sticks celery
2 carrots
1 courgette
Chopped fresh thyme & rosemary
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp paprika
Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
Bouillion powder
1 tbsp Flour
850g potatoes
1 Capricorn goats cheese

Method:

1. Fry the lamb until lightly browned. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery and fry for 10 minutes. Then add the chopped courgette and sweet potato, fry until soft. 
2. Add the flour, spices and herbs. Gradually add the stock, then add the puree, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Simmer for an hour until the sauce has thickened.
3. Meanwhile boil the potatoes for 20 minutes until soft. Drain and mash with a little milk and butter.
4. Put the meat into a dish and top with the mash and slices of goats cheese. Cook in the oven for 30 min and serve with winter greens.

Before:

After:

Thai Green Curry with Prawns

I love Thai food, but I’ve never been particularly successful at recreating it at home. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a good Asian supermarket close by, I find it’s quite difficult to get hold of the ingredients for the paste. As you can see from this recipe on the Guardian’s excellent ‘How to make the perfect…’ blog, the majority of the ingredients aren’t the kind of thing you can pick up from the local supermarket. As I have to make do with ingredients from Sainsbury’s and I’m quite lazy when it comes to midweek meals, I decided to make do with a ready-made curry paste. The paste has the basic flavours needed for the curry, by adding extra lime, fish sauce, lemongrass etc. it gave the sauce the extra zing the paste alone was missing. The end result was pretty good, and considerably cheaper than buying all the ingredients for the paste, the remainder of which would inevitably have ended up rotting in my fridge.

Serves 4:

4 tbsp green Thai curry paste

1 lemongrass stalk

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp light muscovado sugar

Juice 1 lime

Tin coconut milk

1 green chilli

3 cloves garlic, grated

2cm piece ginger, grated

1 onion, finely chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

1 small butternut squash

100g mange tout

Handful basil leaves

Method:

1. Cut the squash into 1cm chunks, toss in olive oil and roast for 45 minutes until soft.
2. Fry the onion, garlic & ginger for 5 minutes until soft. Add the chilli, pepper and courgette and fry gently for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, lemongrass and coconut milk. Bring the sauce to a light simmer, add the mange tout and roasted butternut squash and keep on a low heat for 20 minutes. If the sauce gets too thick add a little vegetable stock to loosen it.
4. To serve, remove the lemongrass and top with basil leaves and spring onion. If you’d like to add some protein, either add some raw king parwns for the final 5 minutes or add chicken breast chunks for the final 15 minutes and allow them to poach in the sauce.

Curry cooking:

Ready to eat!