Sunday Risotto

What to cook on a lazy Sunday evening while waiting for Downtown Abbey to start? Our lovely flatmates had already donated surplus diced carrot, celery and onion... just the thing for risotto! The flavouring for this was also Siciliy-inspired. Again, not entirely like the original version but yummy nonetheless.

Red Wine & Smoked Cheese Risotto  

Apologies if the quantities are a little approximate... it was Sunday night after all :-)

• About 1 1/2 cups finely diced carrot, celery and onion (in equal proportions)
• Olive oil
• Salt & black pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (fresh would be nice if you have it)
• 1-2 cups robust red wine (depending on how much of the bottle you would like to drink yourself...)
• 400g arborio rice
• ~800ml vege stock
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 big or 2 small handfuls of grated smoked cheese*
• Finely chopped parsley, to serve 

*We had a nice smoked cheddar from Devon in the fridge - can't remember what kind we had in Sicily... maybe caciocavallo? Probably any smoked cheese would work though. 

Add vegetables (pre-chopped by lovely flatmates, if you are lucky) into a large saucepan with a good slosh of olive oil, salt, pepper and the bay leaves. Saute until the vegetables are soft.

Pour in the rice, and stir to coat the grains in the oil. Pour in the wine and cook, stirring, until it is mostly absorbed/evaporated.

One glass for the pot, one glass for me... the joys of cooking risotto.

Pour in the stock a little at a time, stirring. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid, until the rice is cooked. You are aiming for creamy rice, that still has a little bite.

I forgot to put the paprika and thyme in at the beginning! Too many glasses? Better late than never...

When the rice is cooked, stir through the smoked cheese, season to taste and serve with a little parsley.

This didn't turn out the same dark, dramatic red like the one we had in Sicily - maybe due to the different wine? Will experiment further and report back...

Fennel, Lemon & Ricotta Pasta

We love fennel, but normally just use it finely sliced in salads. But we had some delicious pasta with fresh fennel during a trip to Sicily in June, which encouraged me to try this. Although the results are not at all the same, we still thought it was good!

Fennel, Ricotta & Lemon Pasta (serves 4):

• 2 shallots
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 fresh fennel bulbs (preferably with plenty of leafy bits still attached)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• Finely chopped fresh parsley
• Salt & pepper to season
• 1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
• 400g spaghetti*
• A little grated parmesan to serve

*I made it with spaghetti this time, but our Italian guests thought it would work well with farfalle (the little bow ties).

Finely slice the shallots and garlic, and add to a pan with a good slosh of olive oil.

Finely slice the fennel (including any leafy fronds), and add to the pan.

Saute over medium heat  until the fennel has coloured slightly. Then add half the lemon juice, wine, fennel seeds & a little salt. Reduce heat to low and cover.

The fennel will need about 20 minutes, so put the pasta on to cook about halfway through (depending how long your pasta takes!).

When the fennel is tender, stir through the remaining lemon juice, lemon rind and parsley, plus salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/3 cup of the cooking water. Add the fennel and ricotta, and stir through.

Serve with the grated parmesan - buon appetito!

Vegetable Tagine

Caught Jan's cold, so haven't been cooking much recently! But feeling better over the last couple of days, and managed to rustle up a few yummy things, including this old favourite...

Vegetable Tagine
(recipe from 'Moorish', by the wonderful Greg & Lucy Malouf. Highly recommend their books - the photos and recipes in 'Turquoise' were so beautiful they convinced us to go to Turkey for a holiday!).

This recipe has a lot of steps, but it is the different preparation of each vegetable that makes it so delicious. Worth making a large amount, as the flavour improves over a couple of days. This recipe makes enough for 6 serves.
You will need:

• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 green chilies
• 1 tablespoon each caraway seeds, ground cumin and ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon each ground ginger and allspice
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• Generous tablespoon of honey
• 2 x tins crushed tomatoes
• 800 ml water
• Small butternut squash/pumpkin 
• 2 small eggplants*
• 2 small zucchinis*
• 1 tin cooked chickpeas, drained
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper to season
• Couscous, green olives, pinenuts, parsley, coriander and lemon wedges to serve

* aka aubergines and courgettes, for the non-Australians :)

Finely chop the onion. Saute over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until soft and translucent.

Crush the garlic cloves with 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir the garlic paste through the softened onions and saute for a further minute.

Slice the chilies in half length-ways and remove seeds.

Add the spices to the pan and saute for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

Throw in the chilies...

...followed by the crushed tomatoes, honey and water. Simmer gently for ~30 minutes until rich and saucy.

Meanwhile, cut the squash into 2-3cm chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast until tender.

Slice the eggplant and zucchini into fingers, 1-2cm thick. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Grill or fry until golden and squidgy.

When the sauce has thickened, stir in the chickpeas...

... followed by the prepared vegetables. Simmer gently for a few minutes to allow the flavours to combine.

In the meantime, prepare some coucous to accompany the tagine. We like to spice the couscous with bayleaves, paprika, cumin and a touch of cinnamon.

Serve with olives, toasted pinenuts, lemon, parsley and coriander.

Rainy Day Soup

It's raining in Southampton today, and poor Jan has a cold... this calls for soup! 

Spiced Pumpkin & Swede Soup with Feta (Serves 6)
(adapted from Peter Gordon's brilliant vege recipe book, 'Vegetables - the New Food Heroes')

• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil + some to roast the vegetables
• 1 leek, sliced and well rinsed 
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 400g peeled and diced pumpkin or butternut squash
• 400g peeled and diced swede
• 3-4 teaspoons curry powder (I used a mix of warm spices - tumeric, ground cumin, garam masala, paprika, asafoetida, ground fenugreek, cinnamon, ground coriander and ground ginger - but a ready-made curry powder would be fine too)
• 900ml vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons plain yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon salted butter
• 150g feta cheese
• Fresh parsley and coriander to serve

Place the pumpkin and swede in a baking dish and toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a moderate oven (180°C) until tender.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the red onion until it begins to caramelise, stirring often.

Add the leek and ginger, and sauté for a few minutes more until softened. Add the mirin, and cook until evaporated. Add the roasted pumpkin and swede, along with the curry powder. Cook for a further 2 minutes while stirring, to allow the spices to coat the vegetables.

Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Cover, and simmer for around 15 minutes.

Next, blend the soup until smooth-ish (I like to leave some texture, but up to you), then stir through the yoghurt and butter until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste -bearing in mind that you are about to add salty feta.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and crumble the feta over the top. Sprinkle with the fresh herbs to finish.

Quinces

We love autumn because autumn brings quinces! You can do lots of things with quinces, but we think the best option is to bake them until transformed into glorious ruby-red buttery goodness, mmm...

This recipe uses 6 quinces plus:

• 1 1/2 cups of raw sugar
• 4 1/2 cups of water
• 2 oranges
• 1 tablespoon each green cardamon pods, cloves, ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Experiment as you like! I've seen other recipes that use star anise, wine, lemon, peppercorns, vanilla, more/less sugar...

Quinces take a looong time to bake, i.e., 5 hours! Which makes this a nice rainy-day recipe, when staying snug at home with a hot cup of tea.

wash the quinces well (remove any furry outer coating), and halve

then cut each into 8 segments, removing the gritty core

arrange snugly in a baking dish (or 2)

juice the oranges

remove the bitter white pith from the peel of 1 orange, and slice thinly

combine the sugar, water, orange juice, peel and spices in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil

pour the syrup evenly over the quinces and bake in a cool oven (120 degrees) for ~5 hours...

... until buttery-soft and a lovely rosy red. You will need to turn the quinces once or twice to stop them from drying out on one side

We like to eat them for breakfast with creamy yoghurt (ideally from Elgaar Farm if you are lucky enough to live in Tasmania)  and muesli, but they are equally good for dessert