We entertained for the first time in aaagggeeessss on Saturday night, and while the evening is fresh in my mind I'll share...fresh in that I remember dinner, after copious bottles of wine the rest is hazy. Marty needed to cook a vegetarian meal, and we had already decided on risotto, just not a flavour. Whatever we were having was to be followed by the famous brownies, served hot with vanilla ice-cream.
I didn't have any recipe books on hand, all of the ones at home were not Jamie's as SOMEONE had them all at work, so I got into a trusty app on the iPhone, Jamie's 20 Minute Meals. This is a great little paid app and probably even more perfect on the iPad. You're able to quickly and easily navigate recipes, with videos on how to do the most important aspects of the recipe, and can just as quickly add the ingredients to a shopping list. This shopping list can also be sent via email, so if you're not going to get to the grocery store the other half can do it on the way home. Enough about how great the app is, just go get it!
More importantly, the recipe - if you don't have the app or an "i_" to download it to.
Ingredients:
Serves 2
1 small courgette
1 small bunch fresh mint
1 x 125g ball buffalo mozzarella
1 small red onion
1 stick celery
1 knob butter
150g risotto rice
400ml vegetable stock
100ml white wine
1/2 medium fresh red chilli
25g Parmesan
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper, ground
How to:
1. Place a large saucepan on a low to medium heat. Peel the onion and trim the celery stick, then finely chop or coarsely grate them.
2. Add the butter to the hot pan with onion and celery, a splash of olive oil and a splash of water. Cook over a low heat for around 5minutes, stirring occasionally until softened. Meanwhile...
3. Trim the ends of the courgette then slice lengthways into quarters. Cut into chunks.
4. Bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan, then turn the heat down to low.
5. Pick the leaves off the mint stalks and put them to one side. Add the stalks to the saucepan of stock. Finely grate the Parmesan.
6. Once your vegetables are very soft, but not browned add the rice to the pan. Stir and fry the rice for a minute until translucent, then add the wine and keep stirring until the wine has been absorbed by the rice.
7. Turn the heat under the rice up to medium then add a ladleful of hot stock, avoiding the mint stalks - these are there to add flavour but not to be eaten! (Note from the chef - the heated stock is the key to a great risotto!)
8. Stir constantly and continue adding stock, a ladle at a time, waiting for the rice to soak it all up before adding the next ladleful. Continue until you've used 2/3 of the stock. Meanwhile...
9. Finely chop the mint leaves and the chilli. (Deseed the chilli if you don't like things too spicy.) Stir the chopped courgettes into the stock and keep adding it until the rice is just cooked and the risotto has a nice oozy consistency. If you run out of stock, use boiling water.
10. Take the pan of risotto off the heat. Tear the ball of mozzarella into pieces and stir into the pan with half of the chopped mint leaves.
11. Stir through half of your grated Parmesan. Taste the risotto and season well with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cover with a lid.
Here's where we changed things a little bit. The recipe recommends to get you table set, then serve the risotto between the plates, top with the remaining Parmesan, mint, chilli and serve. We make it in our Le Creuset pot, which is not only the easiest option for cooking and cleaning, but looks great when presenting. Marty stirred in the rest of the Parmesan and mint and left a little to sprinkle on top, and served as such so we could all dig in. I served this with a simple garden salad.
On the side he also cooked up a chorizo sausage for the meat-eaters to add to theirs. The risotto on it's own was completely delicious and the chorizo added was divine too. So there are 2 options for you! That's about as step-by-step as you're going to get :)
We had some the next night for dinner as well and it was fantastic. Certainly a winner in our house that will be done again, changed slightly or not. It's one for the books, and I'll put it in my recipe journal so I always have it on hand.
Hope you enjoy it too!!
xoxo
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Cinnamon shortbreads and Roasted Figs... Delicious Autumn fare.
Here's another 2 things I've never done before. Made shortbreads and roasted figs. In fact, I've never cooked with figs before ever. How did this come about then you ask, figs were on special in the supermarket. I bought some thinking I'd find something to make, and on the day of the Spiced breakfast bread, I made these for a delicious dessert. Dinner that night is a whole other matter. It will become part of a 3-part saga in the hopes I try and test the best pastry for quiche.
The shortbread recipe was surprisingly easy and they were delicious. Another of Gordon Ramsay's but a different book completely - Chef for All Seasons. Marty thought they were perfectly cooked, but I could have had them cooked a little longer so that they were a little drier and crispier. This recipe is also designed to be kept in a tube-shape in the freezer so you can have shortbreads whenever you like, and that's what we did. We only needed a couple each for the recipe, and I have frozen the rest. I cut off a couple the other night and baked them a little longer and they were incredible.
Now when it comes to shortbreads, I may not be a connoisseur, but I have grown up on the best shortbreads I think there are - in my opinion. Christmas-time was the time that my gran, and too my mother and aunt would slave over the oven to make homemade mince-pies, Christmas cake and shortbreads. And those shortbreads were melt-in-your-mouth. Hopefully one day that recipe will be passed on to me so that my kids can enjoy them as much as we all did - unless my mother wants to make them and send them down from Queensland. An arrangement I am more than happy with. Could it be that we only had them once a year that made these shortbreads so irresistible or are they just that good? Nothing store-bought has ever compared and I can safely say that as nice as my shortbreads were, they were a distance second to the ones I love with all my heart! It's probably a very good thing for the waistline that we only have them once a year.
The figs were interesting, and tasty, but following the recipe I would have added more liquid, be it butter or whatever was appropriate, to make more syrup so I could have cooked them longer and they would have got softer. I will also listen to Gordon when he says use a pan that's big enough, the pot I used was too little and was a little bit awkward to work with. Nevertheless this was interesting and when figs are roaming about again I will put in a brave second attempt, potentially enlisting the chef's help with the figs.
Stay tuned for the delicious risotto we had on Saturday, and the quiche pastry debate is set to begin.
xoxo
The shortbread recipe was surprisingly easy and they were delicious. Another of Gordon Ramsay's but a different book completely - Chef for All Seasons. Marty thought they were perfectly cooked, but I could have had them cooked a little longer so that they were a little drier and crispier. This recipe is also designed to be kept in a tube-shape in the freezer so you can have shortbreads whenever you like, and that's what we did. We only needed a couple each for the recipe, and I have frozen the rest. I cut off a couple the other night and baked them a little longer and they were incredible.
Now when it comes to shortbreads, I may not be a connoisseur, but I have grown up on the best shortbreads I think there are - in my opinion. Christmas-time was the time that my gran, and too my mother and aunt would slave over the oven to make homemade mince-pies, Christmas cake and shortbreads. And those shortbreads were melt-in-your-mouth. Hopefully one day that recipe will be passed on to me so that my kids can enjoy them as much as we all did - unless my mother wants to make them and send them down from Queensland. An arrangement I am more than happy with. Could it be that we only had them once a year that made these shortbreads so irresistible or are they just that good? Nothing store-bought has ever compared and I can safely say that as nice as my shortbreads were, they were a distance second to the ones I love with all my heart! It's probably a very good thing for the waistline that we only have them once a year.
The figs were interesting, and tasty, but following the recipe I would have added more liquid, be it butter or whatever was appropriate, to make more syrup so I could have cooked them longer and they would have got softer. I will also listen to Gordon when he says use a pan that's big enough, the pot I used was too little and was a little bit awkward to work with. Nevertheless this was interesting and when figs are roaming about again I will put in a brave second attempt, potentially enlisting the chef's help with the figs.
Stay tuned for the delicious risotto we had on Saturday, and the quiche pastry debate is set to begin.
xoxo
Friday, March 16, 2012
Spiced Breakfast bread - an update and the recipe!
Well that took longer than expected. Here's a link to the recipe for this bread:
https://plus.google.com/107346167256278601901/posts/DhUBqH8EkzQ#107346167256278601901/posts/DhUBqH8EkzQ
And here's the recipe:
Spiced Breakfast Bread - From Gordon Ramsay’s “Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy”
Ingredients (Makes 10-12 slices)
• Butter to grease
• 3 free-range eggs
• 50g light brown sugar
• 250g thin honey
• 125ml milk
• 125g plain flour
• 125g buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 1 tbsp ground mixed spice
• 2tbsp baking powder
• Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
Steps
Heat the oven to 320f/160c, and lightly butter a 25x10cm (9x5 inch) loaf tin.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl over a pan of hot water on the stove, using an electric whisk, until the mixture is pale and thickened (enough to leave a ribbon when the beaters are lifted). Remove the pan from the heat, but leave the bowl set over it.
Warm the honey and milk together in a small pan and gradually beat into the egg mixture until evenly mixed.
Sift the flour, spices and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl and carefully fold in the egg mixture, followed by the orange zest.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until well risen, firm to the touch and golden brown on top. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
Author’s Note
Serve warm, cut into slices. Best eaten on the day it is made, though any leftovers can be frozen. Delicious with a compote of cherries.
Ciao xx
https://plus.google.com/107346167256278601901/posts/DhUBqH8EkzQ#107346167256278601901/posts/DhUBqH8EkzQ
And here's the recipe:
Spiced Breakfast Bread - From Gordon Ramsay’s “Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy”
Ingredients (Makes 10-12 slices)
• Butter to grease
• 3 free-range eggs
• 50g light brown sugar
• 250g thin honey
• 125ml milk
• 125g plain flour
• 125g buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 1 tbsp ground mixed spice
• 2tbsp baking powder
• Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
Steps
Heat the oven to 320f/160c, and lightly butter a 25x10cm (9x5 inch) loaf tin.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl over a pan of hot water on the stove, using an electric whisk, until the mixture is pale and thickened (enough to leave a ribbon when the beaters are lifted). Remove the pan from the heat, but leave the bowl set over it.
Warm the honey and milk together in a small pan and gradually beat into the egg mixture until evenly mixed.
Sift the flour, spices and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl and carefully fold in the egg mixture, followed by the orange zest.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until well risen, firm to the touch and golden brown on top. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
Author’s Note
Serve warm, cut into slices. Best eaten on the day it is made, though any leftovers can be frozen. Delicious with a compote of cherries.
Ciao xx
Friday, March 09, 2012
Spiced Breakfast Bread...experiment
Well, I have been industrious in the kitchen - at times, and industrious at work, but writing...hmmmm. I suppose I could say the computer deleted my post, but that's as likely as the dog eating my homework! No, I have just been procrastinating, and what makes it worse is that the finer details of my 'industriousness' are slowly fading. Could this be old-age?!?
The sooner I share with you the better! One Monday I decided to stop mucking about and get into the kitchen. I had actually been missing just getting in there, donning my red apron and mixing up something different. I decided to start with something I had never made before, with some methods I have never used before. Recipe to follow in the next post!
This is a Spiced Breakfast Bread recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Gordon makes it easy.. book. It is very clearly set out, and seemed relatively simple to make, but when the moment of truth arrived, the result wasn't as desired as I would hope.
Don't get me wrong, it was edible and I have certainly managed to eat it, but it was not soft and delectable as I had hoped. I will say that I made one change to the recipe, which I hadn't thought a problem, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, if any one's a breadmaker some guidance would be appreciated. The recipe called for 125g of plain flour (check) and 125g buckwheat flour (couldn't find) so I substituted it for plain flour. Could this have been the mistake? I followed the method of cooking to a tee, and when it came to checking the bread the clean knife I had used to test it came out clean. So I pulled the loaf out and left it to cool for 5 minutes in the loaf tin as instructed. When I can to remove it, it had sunk in the middle, and it seemed uncooked through the centre. Now, I've made 100 banana breads before with no hassle and never had a cake sink in the middle so I'm not sure whether it was the ingredient switch or a case of over- or underbeating in the recipe. If anyone has an answer, it would be appreciated as I'd really like to do this again, but I'm not in the mood for multiple flops! It's not good for my ego ;)
I ended up toasting a piece very generously and drowning it in butter, and then freezing the rest. The flavour was delicious. A really wintery, gingerbready smell and flavour enveloped the house for the afternoon and I was quite ready for a fire crackling in a fire place and a cup of mulled wine, but I can't keep baking a bread just for the smell of it!
I will post the recipe in a following post, and hopefully someone else will take a crack at it and pass on their comments. If yours is superb, pass on your hints and tips, or if any of you seasoned bakers can help let me know because...I want to get it RIGHT!!
See you soon,
xoxo
The sooner I share with you the better! One Monday I decided to stop mucking about and get into the kitchen. I had actually been missing just getting in there, donning my red apron and mixing up something different. I decided to start with something I had never made before, with some methods I have never used before. Recipe to follow in the next post!
This is a Spiced Breakfast Bread recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Gordon makes it easy.. book. It is very clearly set out, and seemed relatively simple to make, but when the moment of truth arrived, the result wasn't as desired as I would hope.
Don't get me wrong, it was edible and I have certainly managed to eat it, but it was not soft and delectable as I had hoped. I will say that I made one change to the recipe, which I hadn't thought a problem, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, if any one's a breadmaker some guidance would be appreciated. The recipe called for 125g of plain flour (check) and 125g buckwheat flour (couldn't find) so I substituted it for plain flour. Could this have been the mistake? I followed the method of cooking to a tee, and when it came to checking the bread the clean knife I had used to test it came out clean. So I pulled the loaf out and left it to cool for 5 minutes in the loaf tin as instructed. When I can to remove it, it had sunk in the middle, and it seemed uncooked through the centre. Now, I've made 100 banana breads before with no hassle and never had a cake sink in the middle so I'm not sure whether it was the ingredient switch or a case of over- or underbeating in the recipe. If anyone has an answer, it would be appreciated as I'd really like to do this again, but I'm not in the mood for multiple flops! It's not good for my ego ;)
I ended up toasting a piece very generously and drowning it in butter, and then freezing the rest. The flavour was delicious. A really wintery, gingerbready smell and flavour enveloped the house for the afternoon and I was quite ready for a fire crackling in a fire place and a cup of mulled wine, but I can't keep baking a bread just for the smell of it!
I will post the recipe in a following post, and hopefully someone else will take a crack at it and pass on their comments. If yours is superb, pass on your hints and tips, or if any of you seasoned bakers can help let me know because...I want to get it RIGHT!!
See you soon,
xoxo
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