Many Herbs and Pea Risotto

After my month of risotto cooking I felt like I just had to get back to basics and cook a good old fashioned risotto but with my own little veghotpot twist! I loved the colours of Delia’s risotto and the subtlty of Jamie’s risotto so I tried to incorporate both of these factors into my recipe.

I think I’m having a bit of a vegan week because I decided to not add any cheese as it really didn’t need it for the flavour! I wanted it to be fresh and light rather than too rich. Also I wanted to show that you can have a very decadent and elegant meal without the added wine and cheese which is often found in risottos!

I used fresh herbs to flavour my risotto, by adding them in at different times you get a real combination of flavours and textures. Once cooked I garnished it with further fresh herbs and some cress (a poor mans pea shoots I decided since I have no idea where you can buy pea shoots!) to give it a kind of summery garden feel with the deliciously silky risotto underneath.

As you can see in the above picture I started tucking in whilst taking the pictures (Straight out the pan) … for creative purposes only, to show the under layer of risotto…and I can confirm that is was very moreish! Luckily I caught Scott watching me digging in and quickly put some in tupperware for another day

Serves 2 as a main meal

1 Stick Celery
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
150g Risotto Rice
500ml Vegetable Stock
Small Bunch Mint
Small Bunch Dill
Small Bunch Chives
100g Frozen Peas
1 Lemon
Handful of Cress
spray oil (for frying)
Good quality Olive oil for drizzling if desired

In a deep frying pan fry the sliced celery, onion and crushed garlic in some spray oil, on a medium-low heat for 5 minutes untill softened. If the onions start to colour add a splash of water to bring the temperature of the pan down and keep them cooking slowly. Add the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Then add the thinly sliced mint, some black pepper and 2 ladels of stock. Once the stock has evaporated add another ladel of stock and keep stirring the risotto. Keep adding the stock one ladel at a time and waiting for it to have evaporated before adding another ladel.

Half way though the cooking time (half way though your stock) add the chopped dill and chives and stir them into the rice. Keep the process of adding the stock going and when you are down to one or two ladels of stock left (or you feel the rice is nearly cooked) then add the peas and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Taste the risotto and season to your own taste.

Take the pan off the heat and garnish the top with extra chives, dill and the cress.

Serve with Lemon Wedges

Post submitted to the Weekend Herb Blogging Feature – please see these links for more details… Cook Almost anything and Weekend Herb Blogging xx

Fried Risotto Balls (Gino D’ Acampo, Fantastico Cookbook): Friday Challenge!

I wanted to make something completely different along side the more traditional risotto recipes so I chose to cook these deep fried risotto balls from Gino D’Acampos Fantastico Cookbook. I have made a lot of recipes out of this book and they’ve all been fantastic but I have to be honest I struggled to motivate myself to cook this one! I’ve had a super busy week (dinner parties and a big exam – which I passed yay!) and when it came around to cooking this recipe I was so tired that I tried to cheat and use a risotto I had cooked for a different recipe and just shape it into a ball! Well I can tell you now that that was a disaster and should not be attempted!! I’m also not a big fan of anything deep fried and this recipe wasn’t appealing to the healthy side of me, but I carried on trying to find time to make this recipe as that’s the whole point of this challenge – make things I’m not used too and trying new techniques!

When I did finally cook this recipe from scratch I could see why it works so well, it contains eggs and cheese and tomato paste and is a very sticky risotto which is perfect for shaping! (you can see the full recipe here and if you like the sound of it then please go buy the book here! It is a good one!)

I have to say that these risotto balls were so moreish and naughty I had to resist scoffing the lot in one go….before lunchtime!! Yes I squeezed this recipe in one morning! The risotto itself didn’t take too long to cook and once it was cooled I was surprised at how easy it was to work with when shaping. I used whole grain bread to make my breadcrumbs so the outside is covered in little poppy seeds but I quite liked this. I also couldn’t bring myself to deep fry them (Sorry Gino!) so I just fried them in about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and they still came out with a nice crispy outside and a soft gooey inside!

I think the main things to remember with this recipe is to not over cook the rice – they’re really nice with a bit of bite and hold together nicely; to make sure you give them a sufficient amount of time in the fridge once rolled into balls as this helps them keep their shape when frying and also you don’t need to deep fry them!

This is certainly something very different and it’s a recipe I will 100% make again, especially if I’m having a party and want some interesting finger food! These would go down so well, better than some bland shop bought party snacks!

I have to admit that I didn’t make the tomato sauce, I just bought a salsa to go with them as I just didn’t have the time or the energy to sit and make yet another tomato sauce!

What I have learnt about Risotto:
Well I’ve learnt that it can be moulded into a ball and fried…also the addition of other flavours such as tomato really enhances the rice, especially in this recipe, and just brings another level to the dish! I love the idea of risotto being a party finger food, it’s so indulgent in every way and is a super impressive way of changing a classic risotto!

I feel like I’m ready to create my own risotto recipe now – want to do something slightly more traditional than this recipe but just enhance the flavours I know and hopefully come up with some thing lovely and fresh for spring

Risotto Verde (Delia Smith’s Vegetarian Cookbook): Friday Challenge!

This is my second risotto technique for this month  and I have to say I thought it was fantastic! It is taken from the book “Vegetarian Collection” by Delia Smith, you can buy the book here and also you can view the recipe on Delia’s website here.

This technique is different to the previous recipe as for Delia’s recipe you fry the raw ingredients, then pour it into a dish and bake it in the oven.  She gave quite strict timings for the baking so I used a timer and it came out perfectly. What I liked about this recipe is that there is no guessing when the risotto is done, or how it should look, you are given clear instructions and as long as you follow them you will end up with a risotto as Delia intended it to be.

The grains of rice were soft and fluffy but not mushy and the vegetables were perfectly cooked and nestled in amongst the rice.

I also loved the flavours of the vegetables in there – I think a risotto needs big chunks of veg to provide other flavours and textures. I’m really struggling to think of my own flavour combination because there are classics you just shouldn’t mess with! We will see, I know I’ll come up with something eventually!

What I learnt about Risotto:

Well the main thing I learnt here is that it can be baked in the oven! This is a relief as not sure I want a whole month of standing and stirring for an hour. I also learnt that you don’t need to add lots of things like cream and cheese to make an indulgent risotto, although those ingredients give it a more silky texture, you can still create something special but without all the calories!

Fennel and Ricotta Risotto (Jamie’s Italy cookbook): Friday Challenge!

I’ve had quite a few new people join my blog since I started doing the Friday Challenges in January so I wanted to give a little recap before I go into March’s theme. You can see my initial idea here. I wanted to push myself to expand on skills I was already building and also try brand new techniques and ingredients. After reading loads of food blogs I realised there were so many things I had never cooked before and that had to be changed!!! I started with Tofu, then Polenta and now I am going to have a month making risotto.

I’ve chosen Risotto to be March’s Friday challenge because I have two risotto recipe’s I’ve cooked over and over again – mushroom risotto and butternut squash risotto – so I wanted to learn abit more about this dish, how it should actually be cooked, different techniques and flavour combinations and also to show that it can be very interesting and complex when done well!

When I was in France I flicked through my mums Jamie’s Italian Cookbook and found this recipe and knew it would be a perfect start to my Risotto challenge. I’m a massive fan of Jamie’s cooking and the way he transforms simple ingredients into beautiful food – this is no exception! I also liked this because he doesn’t use cream – being lactose intolerant I can cope with a bit of cheese but no cream thankyou! This recipe can be found here and the book can be bought from here.

Ok so on with the review – This technique is probably the most common way to cook risotto and it works by gently frying some of the fresh ingredients, then adding the rice and then adding one ladel of stock at a time. You wait untill the stock has been absorbed and then you add another ladel of stock etc untill the rice is cooked (You should have soft rice but still with a bit of bite.)

The recipe requires a lot of stirring and I have to admit I was stood over the pan for far longer than I wanted to be! I did end up drinking a large glass of the wine Id bought to go in the risotto whilst I was cooking it so sorry if my photos are blurry haha!

The things I did like about this way of cooking risotto is that you feel like your really building up a great dish, you care for it and nurture it with gentle stirring and a build up of flavours. The addition of fennel is just lovely and I liked the kick of chilli! Jamies looks a lot more colourful than mine so not sure what I missed but it still tasted great.

I think how you like your risotto can be a personal preference, some like it creamy, others a bit stiffer but I tried to just cook the rice al dente but with the sauce quite gooey. I found that if I ran my wooden spoon through the pan and the sauce oozed back into the centre then the rice slowly followed that was a good sign!

What have I learnt about Risotto?
Unlike Tofu and Polenta I had a better expectation of risotto because it’s an ingredient I have worked with before however I have always approached it with caution. I think what I have learnt this time is that adding ingredients in at different times can create layers of texture and make it abit more interesting. Also don’t be afraid to use big flavours and be original with it as long as you respect the concept of a risotto I don’t think you can go too wrong

Next Week I am making a Delia Smith recipe and hers is a baked risotto – no stirring yay!

Love is in the air! Mushroom Risotto

We went to a lovely wedding yesterday in Devon and over all had a really fantastic time!! I had felt horribly fussy emailing them in advance to let them know of my vegetarian/ lactose free requirements and I have to say I had a fantasic meal! I think the main thing which is nice is that I didn’t have a completely different meal to everyone else, I just had substitutions on the plate – aubergine roll without the ricotta, roasted vegetable stack with fondant potatoes and instead of Eton Mess I had lemon sorbet with berries and meringue! Delicious!

We’re now home after a long drive (and a slight hangover each) and it’s started to rain heavily meaning I’m feeling the need to get cosy and have something comforting for dinner! This mushroom risotto recipe is delicious and inspired by yesterdays wedding (their veggie option was mushroom risotto but I couldn’t have it because it had cream in it). This is a delicious cream free, no fuss risotto which will impress everytime! Perfect for a lazy sunday evening in the rain….

Serves 2

1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
8-10 Mushrooms
125g Arborio rice
25g Porcini mushrooms
500ml Vegetable stock
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon horseradish

Soak the porcini mushrooms in hot water (just enough to cover them) and put to one side. Chop the onion and garlic and soften in a pan, Add the thyme and sliced mushrooms untill they are soft. Add the rice and stir for about 2-3 minutes then add the porcini soaking water and then chop the porcini mushrooms and add them to the pan. Stir continuously and once the soaking water has absorbed then gradually add the stock about 100ml at a time, only adding more once it has nearly all been absorbed. (keep stirring!)
It will be ready when you have added all the stock, the rice is soft with a slight bite to it and you can run a wooden spoon through the pan with it all staying seperate for a few seconds.
Stir in the horseradish and serve hot with a salad or on its own.

Congratulations to my cousin and his beautiful wife! I hope everyone enjoys this little plate of love inspired risotto x