Risotto with Chicken & Brussel Sprout

Serves 4-6

1.1L stock (chicken or vegetable)

2 tablespoons olive oil

A knob of butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

400g risotto rice

500ml dry white wine

1/2 half a cup of peas (frozen or fresh)

salt and pepper

70g butter

115g grated parmezan cheese

2 large? handfuls of brussel sprouts, shredded

1 tablespoon butter

2 pieces of chicken breast

Heat the stock and keep it simmering hot on the stove.

Put the olive oil and butter into a separate pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook very slowly for about 15 minute without colouring.

Add the rice and turn up the heat. The rice will begin to lightly fry, so continue to stir it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent.

Add the wine and keep stirring.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock.

Turn the heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook to quickly on the outside.

Continue adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 20 minutes but always varies so taste the rice to check if its cooked. If not, continue adding the stock until the rice is soft but still has a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully and if you run out of stock just add some boiling water.

When the rice is almost cooked, put a fry pan over medium heat with a splash of olive oil and fry the chicken. In another fry pan place the butter and fry the brussel sprouts.

Remove the risotto from the heat when cooked and add the butter, parmezan and the (frozen) peas. Stir well.

Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes.

Add the sliced chicken and brussel sprouts.

Divide between plates and eat as soon as possible.

A thing of beauty. Honestly, the most satisfaction you’ll get out of anything this simple. Try it.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

via Smitten Kitchen

Serves 4

800g whole peeled canned tomatoes

70 grams unsalted butter (I used salted and still added salt but it’s probably better to err on the side of caution)

1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved

Salt to taste

Place the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.

Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes.

Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

These meatballs were awesome. They may very well be the best, really light and soft – adding ricotta is a genius idea. They were really fresh tasting as well. I used pork and veal, but you can use whatever you like.

Meatballs

Serves 4

via Totally Addicted To Taste

185 ml Olive Oil

1 Onion, finely chopped or grated

100g Pine Nuts

3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

40g Parsley, chopped

Small handful of thyme

55g fresh or dried breadcrumbs

300g Ricotta

40g Parmesan cheese

Zest of a lemon

1 Free Range Egg

250g Mince Pork

250g Mince Veal

Heat half of the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown.

Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a few minutes more – making sure you don’t overcook the pine nuts.

Place the parsley, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the mince.

Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all of the ingredients are combined. Test for seasoning by frying one small meatball and tasting for flavour. Leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins. This will help the meatballs hold their shape whilst cooking.

To make the meatballs, roll about 50g of mixture into a ball about the size of a golf ball. At this point you could put on your water for your pasta – to get it boiling.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the meatballs until golden brown on both sides. You will probably need to cook these in a couple of batches to avoid overcrowding the frying pan. Once browned on both sides, remove the meatballs from the pan. Don’t worry about cooking them through – we’ll do this later. By just searing them each side for some colour and texture, you will keep the meatballs moist inside.

Put the pasta on to boil.

Place the meatballs into the pan, sitting in the tomato sauce. Place a lid over the top and simmer for 10 mins. Give the pan a little gentle shake every so often, just to make sure that the sauce or the meatballs haven’t stuck to the bottom, as this will cause them to burn. You want the sauce to be on a gentle simmer.

Drain the pasta, divide between bowls, top with a few meatballs, sauce and parmazan.

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I don’t really even like shortbread, but I needed something sweet and they looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Just make sure the butter is really well mixed in or they will melt.

Shortbread with Jam

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornflour
1 ½ cups plain flour
a pinch of salt
Raspberry (or any) jam
Icing sugar for dusting

Beat the sugar & butter together in a bowl until just combined.

Add the vanilla extract, sifted flours & salt & mix until a dough forms.

Mould into a log 6cm in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Remove the dough from the fridge & cut into 7mm slices, then cut shapes.

Reroll the excess dough & repeat the process until all the dough is used up.

Place the {insert shape} on a greased & lined baking tray & bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Spread half the biscuits with jam, top with remaining biscuits & dust with icing sugar.

I used spinach because what the hell is sorrel? But really just because they don’t sell it at the supermarket. Also mint and parsley, which was nice. Canned beans? Yes, because I’m not that organised. Just rinse them and make sure they’re really dry before frying to ensure they crisp up nicely.

Cannellini beans with Spinach & Feta

via David Lebovitz

Pasta with Lentils

via Crap Kraft Dinner

‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ and dessert. Life is sweet.

Puffed Apple Pancake

via Bill Granger Holiday

Serves 4-6

50g Butter

4 Green apples, peeled cored and cut into eighths

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 Cup plain flour

A pinch of salt

1 Teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 Tablespoon sugar

4 Eggs

3/4 Cup of milk

Plain yoghurt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Melt the butter in a 25cm frying pan with an ovenproof handle.

Add the apples and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, vanila and lemon juice and cook, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.

Mix the flour, salt, lemon zest and sugar together in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly add the eggs and milk, whisking lightly to combine.

Pour the batter evenly over the apples.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.

Serve immediately with yoghurt.

A fairly de-puffed pancake as we didn’t eat it immediately.

Please don’t follow this recipe religiously, I really have know idea how much of anything I used. DO NOT TRUST ME. The most important thing is only add the amount of mayonnaise you like.

Chili Slaw

1/2 head purple or green (or both) cabbage, shredded

1 carrots, grated

A handful coriander leaves, coarsely chopped

Chili, julienned

A handful of green onions, finely sliced

1 cup (or so) mayonnaise

2 limes, squeezed

1/4 teaspoon salt

200g feta, crumbled  (I like Bulgarian)

Throw the cabbage, carrots, coriander, chilli and green onions in a bowl.

Mix the mayonnaise, lime juice and salt together.

Add the mayonnaise mixture to the vegetables. Mix well.

Crumble the feta over the slaw and serve. Can be mixed an hour or so before serving.

Leftovers

Often I’m quite tempted to leave the risotto just like this. Thyme, butter and cheese, what a combination.

This was delicious. I don’t know why I’ve never added any meat to my risottos before. Also the balsamic reduction was an easy was to make the risotto even richer, it’s sticky and sweet and super tasty.

Recipe from bread & honey

Except…

I just used this recipe to make the actual rice, purely because I know it from memory.

I didn’t add the mushrooms in the beginning. I torn them into smaller pieces, fried them for a few minutes until they began to colour, then I seasoned them with salt and pepper, added some chopped garlic, a knob of butter and thyme and roasted them in a 200°C preheated oven for 6 minutes or so, until cooked through and rich in flavour. You can chop them into smaller pieces at this stage if you prefer. Again, this is just because it’s how I always do mushrooms.

Also, why have I been frying thick pieces of chicken breast in a pan which takes forever?! This time I fried each side for a few minutes and then chucked it in a 180°C for 7 minutes or so. Much juicer.

This is just before I let it stand for a few minutes with the lid on.

I’m not sure how much stock I ended up using exactly, it all depends on how consentrated your stock is too begin with. I like to reduce my stocks by quite a lot as it makes for easier storage and you can make the stock as strong as you like depending on what your making.

Next time I make chicken stock I’m going to use a method to get crystal clear stock that I saw Heston Blumenthal use on ‘In Search Of Perfection’. You make the stock as you normally would, add a little gelatin to the liquid and freeze it. Once it’s completely frozen you take it out of the freezer place it in a colander and allow it to melt through a muslin cloth or a filter-coffee paper. It works because the gelatin molecules cross-link and in effect create a “filter” that traps particles. When you freeze a gelatin gel and defrost it, it will weep liquid. This is called “syneresis”. Right…..

Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup

For the stock

1 whole chicken
1 whole onion (washed & skin left on), quartered
2 whole carrots (washed & unpeeled), cut in half
3 stalks celery (with leaves), cut in quarters
1 whole head of garlic (washed & unpeeled), cut in half
A small handful of whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon of kosher salt (or more depending on taste)
A handful of parsley

Add all of the ingredients with enough water to cover the chicken into a large stockpot & simmer for 1 hour.

Remove the chicken & transfer to a chopping board to cool.

Remove the all the meat.

Add the remaining bones, carcass etc… back in the pot & simmer the stock for an additional 2 hours.

Strain all of the contents of the pot through a fine mesh strainer, saving the stock & discarding everything else.

Skim the fat off the surface (this is easier to do when cool).

Let the stock cool to room temperature & refrigerate, or freeze until ready to use.

For the soup

1L chicken stock

Chicken meat (above), shredded

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon ginger, finely grated

2 tablespoons cornflour, disolved in 1/4 cup water

1 x 420g can creamed corn

1 x 300g can corn kernels, drained

100g shaved ham, shredded

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

6 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Place the stock, soy sauce and ginger in a large saucepan over a low heat.

Add the cornflour mixture, stirring until the stock thinkens slightly, 2 minutes or until hot.

Pour the egg whites gradually into the soup, stirring for 2 minutes or until white ribbons swirl though the soup.

Remove from heat, and add half the spring onions and sesame oil.

Serve with the remaining spring onions spinkled on top.

Holy shit! These were amazing.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Caramel

via David Lebovitz

For the cookie dough

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 salted peanut butter

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the salted peanut caramel

1 cup thickened cream

1/2 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt (I added a bit more as I didn’t add the peanuts)

3/4 finely chopped roasted salted peanuts

100g chocolate (any), melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the butter, brown and granulated sugar until smooth.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well mixed.

Beat in the peanut butter.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir until there are no patches of flour.

Scoop up tablespoon-sized portions of the dough and roll each piece between your hands so they’re as smooth as possible so they don’t crack at the edges when performing the next step.

Place them 1 1/2-inches (2 cm) apart on the baking sheets, then use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, or your thumb, to make a depression in each one. Don’t worry much if the sides crack; push them back together.

Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during cooking, until they are light-golden brown and the edges barely start to darken.

Remove from oven, and while they’re warm, press in to reinforce each depression with the end of the wooden spoon. Let them cool competely.

Warm the cream in a saucepan or microwave and set it aside.

Heat the water, 1 cup sugar, golden syrup, and salt to a caramel, gently swirling the pan only if necessary (to ensure it melt and cooks evenly) until it turns a nice golden brown.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the hot cream in a slow, steady stream.

Cool until warm and pourable, then add the chopped peanuts.

Spoon some of the caramel into each cookie, letting it set for about an hour, if you want to drizzle them with chocolate.

NB: For best results, use regular smooth peanut butter.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 3 to 4 days. The unbaked dough can be rolled into rounds and stored in a heavy-duty freezer bag in the refrigerator or freezer, until ready to bake.

Disgustingly good…

I’ve never had anything like it. A light sweet bread on the bottom and a super sweet sticky ‘custardy’ layer on top which crisps up nicely on the top. I left it in the oven too long though. I kept thinking it’s going to be too runny, but obviously it firms up as it cools.  The bottom was too brown and the cake became a bit dry. It was still delicious though. Also as I’ve just moved out of a shared house I have very limited kitchen supplies.  Smitten Kitchen recommended not using metal but ceramic and the only ceramic dish I have is a pie dish. Anyway, it worked but it was a slighty awkward shape. I love having heat lights in my bathroom, I’ve got my own dough proving room.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
via Smitten Kitchen

For the cake
3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Make the cake dough:

Mix milk with 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl.

Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

Cream butter, sugar and salt using an electric mixer (or wooden spoon in my case) with paddle attachment.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and the milk mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Switch to a dough hook (again… the spoon) at this point to beat dough on medium speed until it formed a smooth mass and pulled away (just a little, my dough was still very soft) from sides of bowl, 7 to 10 minutes.

Press,  stretch and nudge dough into a greased 9-by 13-inch baking dish at least 2 inches deep. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Make the gooey topping

Heat oven to 180°C.

Whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla in a small bowl.

Cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and corn syrup mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer.

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes; cake will rise and fall in waves and have a golden brown top, but will still be liquid in center when done.

Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.

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