Leek and Spinach Risotto

Serves 2 people

SORRY! I've not posted in so long it's unbelievable, but my camera SD card is at home and i'm at uni atm. But finally got round to making something, yay.

I was cooking for my friend as well so i had to think of something that didn't include mushrooms or tomatoes, so i was a bit stuck. But this turned out very well i think. And my friend loved it, yay. 

Ingredients:

1 shallot, finely minced
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1 litre of vegetable stock
6oz arborio rice
large glass of dry white wine
1 and a half large leeks, chopped up into smallish chunks
bag of baby spinach
olive oil
margerine/butter
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese/vegetarian parmesan

Equipment:

large saucepan
wooden spoon
chopping board
medium sharp knife

Method:

- Heat up around 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the saucepan. Once it's hot, throw in the minced onion, garlic and the chopped leeks. Sauté on a medium heat until the onions and leeks are softened (around 5-7 minutes).

- Once they have softened so they're no longer crunchy at all, add the rice. Stir through the mix until the rice is coated with the oil. Then pour in the wine! Let it simmer and stir occasionally until the wine has reduced and the liquid has been absorbed. 

- Now start adding the stock, one ladle at a time, waiting until the liquid has been absorbed before adding the next one. You have to stir pretty much constantly so the rice doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the pan. Every so often, check the rice by eating a couple of grains to check when it's done.
- Once the rice is mostly soft but still retains a small amount of bite in the middle, it's done! The rice should be quite loose and not overly sticky or gloopy, if it has become like this, add a little more stock to loosen it up.

- To finish, take it off the heat and stir through a large handful of the spinach, it will wilt from the heat of the risotto. Next, add a handful of grated parmesan cheese (or vegetarian alternative) and a large knob of butter/margerine. Season with pepper and a little salt, to taste. 

- Finally, serve into bowls and sprinkle parmesan over the top.

Et voila!

Potato Dauphinoise

Serves 2 people

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes (e.g. maris piper)
Double cream
3 Garlic cloves
salt & pepper
butter or margarine for greasing
Cheddar cheese (optional)

Equipment:

Small oven-proof dish
Small knife
kitchen roll
bowl of cold water
speed peeler

Method:

- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Take your small dish, and using a piece of kitchen roll, grease the dish with butter/margarine, and put to one side.

- Peel your potatoes using a speed peeler, or your knife if you prefer, whatever's easiest for you. Slice the potatoes thinly, around the width of a £1 coin at most. Try to make the potato slices as even as possible, or they will all take different times to cook. After slicing them, put them into the bowl of water to stop them from turning brown due to being exposed to air. Chop the garlic as finely as you can.

- Now to assemble! Start by sprinkling a small pinch garlic at the bottom of the pre-greased dish, then season the dish with salt and pepper. Now, take the potato slices out of the bowl and pat dry with kitchen roll.

- Place one layer of potato slices into the dish. Sprinkle more garlic and salt and pepper. Add another layer of potato, then more garlic, salt and pepper. Repeat layering until the dish is full (depending on the depth of the dish, 4/5 layers). Don't fill to the brim of the dish, leave around a 1cm gap at the top.

- Take the cream, and pour until the top layer of potato is just covered. Put into the middle of the oven, for an hour and a half. If you wish, 10 minutes before the dish is ready to come out of the oven, take it out and grate a layer of cheddar cheese over the top. Put back in for the last 10 minutes for the cheese to melt and crisp up.

Sorry there's a chunk missing, I couldn't wait to get into it! Enjoy.

Et voila!

Simple Goats Cheese and Beetroot Salad

Serves 1

I just whipped up this salad for lunch. It's so much more satisfying than the beans on toast my boyfriend had! So quick and simple to do. 

Ingredients:

large handful of rocket
1 small  cooked beetroot
around the same amount of goats cheese as beetroot
little bit of olive oil
balsamic glaze (from a bottle, naughty)

Equipment:

ovenproof dish (I used a tin plate)
small knife
bowl

Method:

- Pre-heat the oven to around 180C. Using a small knife, chop up the beetroot into smallish chunks and put onto the ovenproof dish. drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and put into the middle of the oven.

- Meanwhile, take a large handful of rocket and place into the bowl. Cut up the goats cheese into small cubes, and sprinkle over the rocket. 

- After 5-7 minutes, take the beetroot out of the oven (n.b. roasting the beetroot is optional, I prefer it warm). Place the bits of beetroot over the rocket and goats cheese. Finally, drizzle the balsamic glaze (you could also use a balsamic reduction, but I don't have a recipe for it yet) over the top of it all, and enjoy.

Et voila!

Home Made Pizza

Makes 4 large pizzas

Ingredients for dough:

500g strong white bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1x7g sachet dried yeast
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
350ml lukewarm water

Ingredients for base:

400g tinned tomatoes
tomato purée
salt & pepper
1-2 clove(s) garlic

Ingredients for toppings:

pesto
sundried tomatoes
mushrooms
goats cheese
mozzerella
parmesan
rocket
spinach
blue cheese
beetroot
balsamic vinegar
cheddar cheese

Method:

- First things first, make the dough. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt, mixing it through.

- In a mixing jug, add the oil and sugar to the water, then add the yeast and mix thoroughly. Leave it alone for a few minutes until it starts to froth up. Make a well in the centre of the flour and begin to incorporate the liquid mixture in slowly, mixing the flour into the liquid with a fork.

-Once the dough begins to form, turn out onto a well floured surface and begin to knead with floured hands. Knead the dough until it forms into a springy ball (about 10 minutes). Once kneaded, leave to rise for an hour in a floured bowl (flour the top of the dough as well), covered with a damp cloth. 

- While the dough is rising, prepare all of the other ingredients, starting with the pizza sauce. Mince the garlic finely and sauté in a little oil in a saucepan, for a minute or so on a medium heat. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and salt and pepper, and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce, then take it off the heat.

- It's also a good idea to lay out all of your ingredients and get them prepared so it's easy to just throw them onto the pizza base once it's onto the baking tray. For the pizza I made, I used goats cheese, beetroot, rocket on one half, and mushrooms and pesto (from a jar, oops) on the other.

- 15 minutes before the dough has finished rising, pre-heat the oven as high as it will go, with a baking tray inside it to heat up as well. 

- Once the dough has risen (after about an hour), knead once more on a floured surface to 'knock it back', for about 5 minutes. This dough should portion into about 4 medium pizzas. In my experience, I've found it easiest to do one pizza at a time. So, roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin into whatever shape you wish, be it square, round, oval, triangle, whatever, just make sure it's thin! 

- When it's thin enough, take the baking tray out from the oven, dust with flour, and transfer the base (carefully!) across to it, then go crazy with toppings! Add the sauce first, then all the toppings you desire, and finally the cheese on top. Try and do this as quickly as possible so the tray doesn't cool down too much.

- Once all the toppings are on, put into the oven at 200°C, until golden and crispy (about 15 minutes ish?)

Et voila!

Mushroom risotto!

Serves 2 people

Ingredients:

1 shallot

2/3 cloves garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)

Chestnut mushrooms (chopped/sliced)

Dried mixed mushrooms

Olive oil

Butter

White wine (1 small glass)

Parsley

Arborio/risotto rice (6oz)

Vegetable stock (1 litre)

Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

Method:

- Boil kettle for hot water to reconstitute mushrooms, pour over mushrooms in a bowl and leave for 10-15 mins. After this time, remove the mushrooms and squeeze them out to get rid of the excess water within the mushrooms, but retain the stock to be used for later.

- Meanwhile, finely mince shallot and garlic and fry for 2-3 mins in oil and a knob of butter until the shallot begins to soften. Add most of the chopped chestnut mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 mins until they have begun to soften as well.

- Pour in the rice and stir to coat with the oil in the pan. Then add the glass of wine. Pour some more wine into the glass, and drink it!

- Simmer on a medium heat until all the rice has been absorbed. Using the mushroom stock first, add 1 ladleful to the pan and simmer until it has been absorbed. Repeat this with first the mushroom stock, then the vegetable stock, until the rice has softened but is still al denté (has a bit of bite).

- While the rice is cooking, take the remaining chestnut mushrooms and fry in a frying pan with a little oil and butter. Also chop the reconstituted mushrooms up.

- Add the reconstituted mushrooms once the rice is ready and stir in. Then finely chop some parsley, stir in with a handful of parmesan, another knob of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

- Split into bowls and top with the fried mushrooms, a sprinkle of grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

 

Et voila!