It Is Risotto O'Clock

Risotto was one of the first things I cooked at home independently. Mum doesn't have the patience for it so I'd only ever had it in restaurants, but it became something of a tradition that when Fraser came to stay, that was what we made. We even had a song (can you guess from the post title?).

In some ways this is an adaptation of a couple of my other recipes - the roasted butternut squash from one and all the leeky goodness from another, but in my opinion this just makes it the best of everything.

Ingredients: (serves 5)
- 1 medium/large butternut squash
- 50g butter
- 1 large onion
- 2 medium leeks
- 4 big cloves garlic
- 375g/15oz arborio rice
- 2 glasses white wine
- 1.5 litres vegetable stock
- between 50g-100g parmesan, to taste
- handful fresh parsley
- generous sprinkle dried rosemary
- salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Peel, chop and de-seed the butternut squash (if anyone has a method of doing this that takes less than half an hour then for the love of god please share it), and cut into rough cubes before placing in a baking dish.
2. Drizzle over some olive oil, then add the rosemary, some salt and pepper and one of the cloves of garlic (finely chopped). Give it a good stir and put into the oven at 220°C. You'll need to take it out and stir every 15 minutes or so, but it should take about the same time as the risotto. Awesomeness.

3. Chop the onion and leeks, and add to a large pan or wok along with half the butter. Then, grate the rest of the garlic and add that too. I don't know why but grating releases double the flavour and is sooooo good. Cook for about 10 minutes, 'til it's all soft and lovely and has shrunk down a bit.
4. Add the rice and cook for a couple more minutes, then tip in the wine and simmer. Once that's been absorbed, you can begin to add the stock, a ladle-full at a time, stirring continuously. The whole stock-adding process should take about 45 minutes with this amount.
5. Once all that's done, add the butternut squash (which should be done by then), the parmesan, the parsley and the rest of the butter. Season to taste, serve with plenty of garlic bread and ENJOY.

Also, do this with the leftovers. You're welcome.

Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater is my idol, and has been for years. I love his entire approach to food - it sounds like a small thing, but he taught me that I didn't have to follow recipes by the letter and that I could adapt them to what I really wanted to eat. As well as my mum, he was also the person that got me really into using fresh herbs. He introduced me to pesto, and began my obsession with cooking programmes.

Which is why it meant so much to me when this happened today:

I got twitter in May after I was told it would help promote my cooking, but wow. People, go, live your dream!

This particular recipe is an adaptation of Nigel's Ricotta Beefburger. Mine is made with Quorn mince, the addition of soft goats' cheese (replace about half the ricotta) and two/three eggs (because Quorn doesn't bind in the way normal mince does). In addition to this I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar to the sundried tomatoes, which worked well.

I wholly recommend making these, whether it's the veggie version or the original, as they were pretty darn brilliant and incredibly easy. Leftovers? Mr Slater covered that too. Now go and cook.

Rosemary G&T

Gin. Officially sanctioned by the British government until 1751 to use up bad grain. Then they decided it was probably causing a whole bunch of new problemsand they should really stop letting just about anybody make it.

BUT just about anybody can still make a Gin and Tonic.

Somewhere over the last year or so I read the words "Rosemary" and "Gin and Tonic" in the same sentence. I think it was in a Sunday newspaper. But I can't remember which one or when. Point is, this is amazing. Someone called it "pure genius" on Friday night.

Also this particular Rosemary G&T was followed by a rather epic evening and I think this proves how truly amazing this cocktail is.

What you need:

Gin.

Tonic Water.

Sprig of fresh Rosemary.

What to do:

1. Put your Gin in your glass (I had a small glass so I used two capfuls of gin but if you've got a bigger glass, add more accordingly.)

2. Crush the Rosemary slightly and put it in your gin. Mix it up and let it sit for a minute or so for the flavour to come out a bit.

3. Top up with Tonic Water. You could add a splash of lemon juice at this point but you should be alright without it.

4. Drink. 

Purple Rainbows

Or red onions. Either way, aren't they lovely looking?

Dear old Bryony's away this weekend and I've been sat here trying to learn things about the Waldensians and the Cathars and the Humiliati and the Beguines and the Albigensian Crusade of 1209. 

Except I keep getting distracted by Pinterest and cooking risotto and reading blogs and generic doodling.

Not gonna lie, revision could be going better.

The risotto was pretty much perfect though. It would have been ever so slightly better with some white wine but for once we've run out...

So here's my recipe for Rocket, Red Onion and Mushroom Risotto.

What you'll need for one serving:

1 Red onion.

50 grams of Butter.

75 grams of Risotto Rice (about three handfuls).

750 millilitres of Water.

1 Vegetable Oxo cube.

1 Tablespoon of dried Rosemary.

4 Mushrooms

1 Tablespoon of fresh Lemon juice.

Fresh Rocket.

Goat's cheese.

7 mint leaves.

Salt and Pepper to season.

1. Chop up the onion. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion. Simmer for two minutes while you boil the water in the kettle.

Side note: How amazing is the new Tesco Everyday Value packaging? So much more classy than the old Tesco Value stuff...

ANYWAY.

2. Add the risotto rice to the pan and stir. Pour in the water.

3. Add the oxo cube and the rosemary. Roughly chop up your mushrooms and add those too. Leave to cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. After your ten minutes is up, add the lemon juice. If I'd had some, I would have added about a glass of wine at this point but, alas, it was not to be...

5. Keep cooking the risotto for another ten minutes or so, stirring more frequently so that the rice doesn't stick to the pan as the water evaporates. 

6. When the rice has absorbed all the liquid, take it off the heat and stir in some rocket. I used nearly a whole 6o gram pack because I love my green veg but if you're less of a fan than I am, add about a handful.
7. Chop and stir in your mint leaves.

8. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on goats cheese to serve.

9. Realise that, actually, you really need more goats cheese. Go back and add about half a pack. Because you're greedy like that...

Risotto could well be my favourite food at the moment. It's super simple, super tasty and very filling, without being too expensive. It's the perfect way to use up whatever vegetables you have lying around and if you have risotto rice in the cupboard you really don't need any fancy ingredients to make a filling, healthy supper.