Another Pumpkin Risotto

I've come a long way down the Risotto highway since I first had a crack at making one back in June. Since then I've learned that as long as you have patience, anything goes. Also, once you know the steps in your head, you can prep as you go, so you don't lose all that time getting everything ready beforehand. After all, once you put the rice in, you're pretty much committed for the coming 30 minutes or so anyway.

This one was, by unanimous agreement, my best ever. Better than the Bacon and Leek effort, and even better than the other Pumpkin and Ham one. Isaac wanted more, and more, and more, so it must have been good!

Pumpkin & Ham Risotto (MKII)

(Serves 4)

Finely chop 1 onion and 3 cloves of NZ garlic. Grate up 1/4 of a grey pumpkin. Add the veges to heated oil in a large pan and stir as the moisture evaporates. When the veges become a bit sticky add 3/4 Cup of Arborio Rice. Keep everything moving until the rice starts to turn translucent. Tip in a mixture of 2T Balsamic Vinegar and 1/2C Warm water. Keep stirring.
As the liquid is absorbed, start adding heated chicken or vege stock by the ladel, probably about 2 1/2 Cups in 1/4 Cup increments. Add another ladel of stock as each is absorbed and before the rice starts sticking to the pan.

During this time, chop up a whole tomato, 125g of deli ham, and grate 1/4 Cup of Parmesan cheese.

When the rice is so nearly done you can tell it only needs a couple more minutes, add the tomato and ham and stir through. Check the rice, and when done, remove from the heat and stir through the Parmesan and 3T of cream. Mix in and allow to stand for just a minute before dishing. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground pepper and salt, and a wee grating of Parmesan.

What's the best thing about this meal?

Only one dirty pan.

Excellent.

Bier Stick Risotto

Time for another crack at risotto. We got some bier sticks as an alternative to chorizo, which was a bit spicy for some of the family, and decided that they'd go nicely with a bit of rice and kumera all simmered up together. I used a packet of pre-made liquid stock, because I have lots of vege and chicken stock now but no beef, and while it smelt a bit strange, it had no numbers in it and the odd aroma didn't affect the taste. Still, I plan on getting some beef bones and boiling up a bit of beef stock for the freezer very soon.

Bier Stick Risotto

Slice up 4 bier sticks and be sure to sample them for quality. Peel a kumera and cut into small cubes. Chop up an onion and about 4 cloves of garlic. Heat up 2 cups of stock and stand by.

In a pan, heat some olive oil, then add the onion to the pan. When it has started to sweat, add the garlic. Soften for about 3 minutes, then add the bier sticks and kumera. Fry gently, to coat with the onion and garlic, for about 3 minutes. Add a cup of rice, either arborio or jasmine. Mix everything together and fry gently for a few more minutes. When the rice starts to go glossy, add in about 60ml of dry white wine. As this boils off and is absorbed by the rice, start adding your stock. Add about 1 ladelful at a time, allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladelful. This should be a gentle simmer, hot enough that the rice is cooking through but not so hot that it cooks on the outside but not in the middle. That just takes practice, and getting to know your cooking tools. If you get to the end of your stock and the rice isn't done yet, just add a bit of hot water.
When the rice is done, remove the pan from the heat and stir through about 40g of butter and a good little pile of parmesan, also about 40g. Stir until melted through. Dish and garnish with a bit more grated parmesan and some chopped capsicum.

Crockpot Mince

Sounds good, eh?

This was one of those mornings when I knew that I wanted dinner to be ready when I got home. C was taking Isaac up the line for the day and wouldn't be home til around 5, and I didn't want to get home and have to start cooking. So as I made my breakfast I got dinner ready. It still feels strange to be chopping onions and carrots before the sun's even up, but it was worth it.

Not my most tasty of meals, largely because the grey matter is still pretty much grey at that time of day, but with a little thought, probably a grating of nutmeg, a splash of sweet chilli sauce, some tomato paste, and maybe some mushrooms to go in at the end, it would be great. But this is easy, and in the middle of the week, that's what matters.

Crockpot Mince

(Serves 4)

Into the Crockpot, mix up the following:
600g Beef Mince
1 Chopped Onion
5 Peeled Garlic Cloves, gently crushed with the flat edge of a knife
1 Sliced Carrot
1 Can of Chopped Tomatoes
2 lugs of Worcester Sauce
Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper
1 T dried Italian Herbs
2 dried Bay Leaves

Turn the Crockpot on to low and leave for 6-8 hours. Stir a couple of times toward the end to break up any lumps of mince.

Serve with pasta or rice, steamed veges, freshly grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

CurryVirgin

I have to admit, I love eating a good curry, but my efforts over the years to make them have never come out terribly well. Much as I like the tangy sweet beef curry that my mother is so fond of, its always felt like a bit of a British copout, all full of apple and raisins and stuff as it is. Don't get me wrong, its a fine dish, and may well grace these pages in the not-to-distant future, but I decided it was time to try something more authentic.

What I created may not have been authentic, but it was quick and easy, and it tasted really good. I had in mind the leftover chicken from Sunday's roast; I knew we had a tin of Coconut Cream in the cupboard begging to be used; and I thought that this combined with Banana would be delicious. Yes, others before you have also called me crazy, but this time, it was to prove a winner.

Chicken Banana Curry

Cut a large potato into pieces and boil. I would probably do a small potato and a small kumera next time.

Put on a pot of Rice.

In a large pan, fry the following:
2 Chicken Breasts cut into cubes (I used meat off a roast chicken, but you can use fresh meat if you take more time to cook it properly)
2 t Curry Powder (Modify this to suit your Chilli Palate - Not being a curry expert, I just bought a premixed Mild Curry Powder)
1 Chopped Onion
4 Chopped Garlic Cloves

When the meat is brown all over, add to the pot:
1 Tin of Coconut Cream
Juice of 1 Small Lemon
2 t Chicken Stock Powder
2T of Cornflour mixed with 100ml water

Stir in, bring to the boil and let cook for 10 mins.

In a sieve over the boiling rice, blanch a handful of fresh veges: Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, or what have you. Add the potato, veges, and one large sliced banana to the curry pot, and heat through (about 5 minutes). Dish up on rice with water to go around.


I have to say, for a first go at making a proper curry (don't ask me to define proper), I was pleasantly surprised. Would probably also be nice with roti breads and a bit of raita.

A recipe for Risotto what I stoleded...

I discovered two new things last week: Risotto, and deseeding tomatoes.

The Risotto I will cover in detail just below. The concept of removing most of what makes the tomato a tomato struck me as strange, even slightly blasphemous, but I gave it a go anyway. I have resolved to try it in other things in the future, as it worked quite well in this particular instance. For the risotto, it added some flavour, colour and body to the dish without introducing a sudden excess of moisture that then would have had to be cooked off, and the acidity may have thoroughly altered the dynamic of the meal. For the record, I tried it in my stuffed sausages tonight, and it left them too dry, so its not for every meal. On the matter of "why-would-you-waste-so-much-of-the-tomato?", I figure the seeds just go into the compost, which goes into the garden eventually, and then up pop lovely wild tomatoes. Its like a storage vault, much like the flash one they just built in Norway, only closer and warmer.

It must be easy to make risotto if I can manage a reasonably passable one on my first try. I was surprised. When we were growing up, the only risottos I knew were those weird packet microwave ones, that are all dry and tasted like numbers. I couldn't fathom why anyone would want to willingly cook up something like that.

Then as time went by I kept seeing cooking shows where cooks were whipping up moist, delicious looking risottos that didn't take long and, it seems, were as flexible as your imagination. And I wondered, maybe there was something in it. Like rice, for example.

More time went by.

Then it happened. By the magic of the preplanned menu, we decided to make a risotto. Here's the trick: I used a recipe (!!) There's a prize for anyone who can identify the origin of this recipe, which I have modified slightly so as not to infringe any copyrights. I'll give you one clue: it's a New Zealand Chef.

Ham & Tomato Risotto

Heat 2T of olive oil in a large pan, preferably a cast iron one. Chop up an onion and a few cloves of garlic and soften this in the oil. Chop up 250g Ham and add this to the pan. Brown this lightly, before adding 1C of Arborio rice.

Cook this all together for about 3 minutes. Pour in 1/2C of Vegetable stock and simmer until absorbed. Add another 1/2C and repeat, until you have added 2 - 2 1/2C of stock to the pan. If you have homemade vege stock on hand, use this. If not, you can get some quite good real stocks from the supermarket, which is what we used this time.

Deseed and dice 3 tomatoes and grate 1/4C of Parmesan.

When the liquid has reduced down and the rice is cooked, add the tomatoes, parmesan, 1/4C of sour cream, and 1/4C of chopped fresh herbs (basil or similar - use less for stronger herbs like sage). Combine and season with freshly ground salt and pepper. Heat through and serve with freshly grated parmesan and a little drizzle of EV Olive Oil, plus freshly ground pepper if you like.


Just like that.

BTW, there's not really a prize, but have a guess anyway.

Sometimes we cheat

Its hard to be good all the time.

Some days, like everyone, we're too tired and it seems like too much hard work to get into the kitchen and cook a meal. So we made the call, and I went and picked up the fish and chips. No photos of the greasy feast will grace this page.

Which raises the issue of how good is good, and how bad is bad? There are fanatics on this topic, and I have to admit I'm not one of them. I'm a realist. We're a single income family with a toddler and a mortgage, and we have to balance our food spending with our concerns for our health and nutrition. There are things we can stretch to, and there are things we do regularly to save money. Apart from the occasional slip when the local chippy gets the call, we walk this line as best we can.

So, How Good is Good? In an ideal world, we would eat only certified organic meat and produce, vegies grown in our own garden, eggs from our own free range chickens, and make our own milk and cheese from dear Daisy who doubles as a full time lawn mower. But the hard facts are you can't have livestock in a suburban area, the levies charged by the council to keep chickens swallows up any savings you might make by having them in the first place, and any vegies we grow will only be enough to occasionally supplement our diet, never to sustain it. If anyone has ever tried to do a full grocery shop in an organics shop, they'll know just how hungry or poor you'll end up as a result. I fully support the concept of organics, but we just can't pay that sort of a food bill. So, next best option is the local grocer's market. We've been going to the one in the Hutt for the past few weeks and I'm loving it. The variety is great, you can shop around for price and quality, and it's a chance for the whole family to get out for a walk around by the river. Even with the extra petrol expense, we come away with more vegies than we ever used to at the supermarket, for less expense overall. This week we'll probably check out the Tawa market, as its closer to home. Looking forward to that.

Also, How Bad is Bad? We avoid as much processed food as we can, but there are things we tolerate and things we don't touch. We know how bad they are, but we still eat processed smallgoods like salami, luncheon and sizzlers, in small quantities. Every couple of weeks we weaken and get the above-mentioned shark and tatie. But we pretty much don't touch the extremes, the McDs and the BKs of the world, unless we're travelling and really too tired to care. There are an awful of people with an awful lot to say about the fast food giants of the world, about how they destroy the environment and the health of everyone they touch, and 99% of the time I fully agree with them. But sometimes, its just what you need. I would be a hypocrite to claim that my position was otherwise. Yes, there is no nutritional value in the food that these companies serve; they are largely responsible for the environmental degradation of several third world countries; there is a strong ethical and health argument to support the general boycott of these companies, and this has been documented by others more thoroughly and succinctly than I could hope to achieve here. But as long as the economic models we live within value speed of service and fat-saturated taste over good health and ethical business practice, there will be a market for KFC, BK, McDs, DQ, and AJs.

So what exactly, I hear you ask, do we not touch? I personally just can't abide prepackaged dinners. TV Dinners, to use the American. I simply have too much pride as a cook and someone who eats to stoop to that. There are a few organic suppliers who do nice risottos and soups and suchlike in single serves, and full credit to them, but that's the limit of it. I just can't imagine what must go into those meals to make them all heat up just right at the same time. And don't get me started on the issue of heating plastic in the microwave.

Well, that was a rant.

To end on a good note, last night we had Stuffed Sausages with Coconut Rice. Very quickly:

Vigorously boil 6 Real Sausages (ie, not precooked) for about 5 mins, then remove to a grill tray and slice lengthwise to about 3/4 deep. While these cool, mix up in a bowl 2 chopped fresh tomatoes, about 4 finely chopped garlic cloves, freshly ground salt and pepper, about 1/4 cup of grated edam and parmesan cheese, and a handful of chopped fresh herbs such as parsley or thyme. Squeeze this into the sliced sausages and place under a grill. Give them a good 15 mins, time enough to brown up beautifully, melt the cheese and cook right through.

This basic recipe can be modified to suit your own tastes and the flavour of sausage you have on hand.

To make the Coconut Rice, first fry up a finely chopped onion in a large pot. Then put 1 cup of boiling water, 1 cup of rice, and a tin of coconut milk in the pot with the onion and a little sprinkle of salt. Bring to the boil then turn down to a gentle simmer until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft to the bite (about 20 mins).


Enjoy.