Tuna Meatball and Courgette Risotto

A few years back I recall making some tuna meatballs but I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed and I never revisited them... they were kind of stodgy and er dense from memory… until one particular night recently... I had planned a risotto of some sort for dinner and I thought about using up the bacon lurking in the fridge but as we were planning sausages on the Thursday and my head started muttering too many nitrates in the week, I decided to cook something fishy instead but we only had tinned tuna, tinned mackerel or tinned salmon and nothing in the fridge or freezer.. and I wondered if could we dare brave tuna meatballs again? Plus the thought of tuna stirred through risotto didn’t exactly sound inviting at all yet alone the mental imagery and I thought about making tuna meatballs again but smaller this time and a completely different recipe – so I tweaked a few things and voila! Success! Apart from Mr B initially thinking the meatballs were actually made of chicken it was a resounding success!

Since making this courgette version, I also made another one with finely sliced leek, added at the same stage as the courgette in the original version and a cupful of petit pois near the end, along with roasting cherry tomatoes instead of peeling etc as basically they are less faffy to do, oh and I used some lovely fresh rosemary instead of Basil – both risottos were resounding successes and I am making mental note of both to remake! Don’t be shy with the parmesan – I have in the back of my mind somewhere that cheese and fish are not very Italian but I am part Polish and the rest a mixed English bag and well I don’t really care! It tastes great and surely that’s all that matters?!

 

The meatballs are easy to make - I have tried both with and without flour to roll in and providing you work quickly, the less flour the better! Its a fairly cheap dish to make as well - tinned tuna is so handy to keep on standby this makes a great week night or weekend meal to cook!

Serves Two – Easily doubled.

Meatballs:

1 x tin tuna in spring water
1 tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese
1 medium egg
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
1 tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
1tbsp olive oil

Risotto:

175g carnaroli rice
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 courgette, trimmed, cut into thin quarters
1 tbsp olive oil
Knob of butter
50ml dry white wine (or vermouth)
1 large tomato (or 6 cherry tomatoes)
1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder, made up in 700ml boiling water
½ lemon, zest only
2 heaped tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese + more to serve
3 basil leaves, for garnish

Pre-heat the oven 10 low – about 80o

Start by preparing the meatballs. Mix lightly the tuna, basil. Egg, parmesan and breadcrumbs. Use a teaspoon and hands to create mini meatballs. Heat the olive oil, fry the meatballs for about a minute or so on each side until lightly crispy, place in a baking tray, cover loosely with foil and keep warm in the oven.

Place the pan back on the heat and melt the butter, gently sauté the onion until translucent, being cautious not to brown it then add the courgettes and fry for 5 minutes to lightly colour.

 

Add the white wine, allow to burn off then stir through the garlic and rice, fry for a minute then add a good splash of stock to loosen, reduce the heat slightly and when the stock has evaporated and starting to sizzle slightly, add a splash more and repeat until the rice has fluffed up - about 30 minutes give or take. You may choose to spend this time getting to know your wine better.

 

When its almost cooked through add the prepared tomato, and lemon zest. The texture should be slightly loose but not sloppy! Turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper and stir through the parmesan.

Serve in bowls with a good sprinkle of parmesan and a basil leaf

 

Risotto really is perfect comfort food – who can resist a big steaming bowl of hot creamy, fragrant rice on a chilly winters night? The flavours all worked so well together and it will definitely be made again soon!

 

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If my risotto has whetted your appetite why not check up this little round-up of deliciousness:

 

An intriguing sounding and gloriously golden Prawn Savoury from FabFood4All

 

This simple but delicious looking Tomato and Basil Risotto from Happiness is Homemade

 

If you have not tried using pearl barley instead of risotto rice it makes for a delicious risotto still - this Chorizo and pea one from What to Have For Dinner Tonight (I make a similar one myself and I agree the flavours work so well together!)

 

I adore the name of this newly discovered blog Knead Whine and her risotto of Butternut Squash and Sage looks scrumptious!

 

Seeing this lush looking Baked Wild Mushroom Risotto from Family-Friends-Food makes me pine for my old cast iron casserole.. which I regrettably sold to make space a few years back...one day we will meet again!

 

There is also another lovely oozing Mushroom one - this tasty risotto from Munchies and Munchkins also contains black garlic - something I recall seeing at a food show with a morbid fascination!

 

 

 

Black Dog Deli review - Tomato Risotto

I really can't quite believe its Sunday already this week, I could do with cramming a few extra days in as its flown by! My eldest niece turned sweet sixteen during the week, and we had an impromptu pizza party with the aid of some flatbread's from the freezer and raiding the box of Christmas cheeses early, along with some gorgeous smoked Polish sausage - B has declared it his 2nd favourite meal after the Pork noodles I regularly make for him! Anyway I am looking at my list of half written blog posts and debating whats overdue first! And this lovely dinner we had a few weeks back won!

Prior to this particular Risotto,  I’d never bought a ready made dried risotto pack before, yes of course I had seen them, mostly in nice farm shops adorning the shelves but they often seemed a little pricey for what looked like in all honesty a bag of rice with a few herbs strewn in…but when Black Dog Deli got in touch about reviewing a few of their items included with their fabulous garlic olives was a said Tomato Risotto bag so now was the time to see if my opinion would stay the same.....

Inside the bag

It took a little while for the Risotto to make it onto the meal planner, as I kept thinking I needed to serve it up with something meaty on top but due to cost its quite rare we buy something in like lamb chops or a nice steak but the time had finally come where it was featured for a Friday night, and in my head of course I had mentioned to B to pick up some lamb steaks on the way home, as he had the car that day and I couldn’t get to the shops..  unfortunately B is not telepathic as hoped for and I was faced with coming up with an alternative.. which after a rummage in the fridge produced nothing however there were some garlic doughballs leftover from the previous night, and who can resist some carb on carb action?

So I simply cooked it as it was, at the end. And it was blinking gorgeous! Full of sweet, and earthy tomato flavour and ready in around 25 minutes with an odd stir here and there. No faffing about with sweating onions with tears it really was so simple to make. You start by heating a little oil, adding the packet, a good splosh of vino blanco (my last bargain bottle bought on my ferry back from Jersey this summer!) and some stock (I used a veggie stock pot): 

  

Simmer away whilst the remaining wine magically disappears...

Then at the very end adorning with a little diced butter and a handful of freshly grated parmesan:

And that's about it! A perfect, no faff but fabulous Friday night dinner! 

The only problem I have now is that most of the stockists are miles away from me so it will be a while before we meet again ........ but we will be on holiday with family at Christmas and only a few towns away from a stockist! Yippee! *However you can order online too!

Many thanks to the team at Mad As A March Hare Ltd for my samples!

Disclaimer: I was provided with the products for review and this is not a sponsored posting, all opinions remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

A glass of wine with my Gammon, Pea and Cos Lettuce Risotto

To my regular readers, apologies if this recipe sounds a little familiar ....for I am re-posting this recipe from my Arrancini thread, as I missed out an essential part - the wine!

Recently Sainsbury's sent me a little selection of their single serve wines, which I find great if you just fancy a glass of wine with dinner...or whenever without feeling compelled to drink the rest... something that age and shift patterns do not mix with! Its also a great way to discover new wines or indeed revisit old favourites!

I am more a red wine drinker if anything, as I find a lot of white wines to acidic to drink or so sweet my teeth go brr at but I was very pleased to find one of the bottles was their Macon Villages. I had not bought it in a long time but it reminded me that its one of the few whites I really like - dry, crisp maybe a hint of lemon and the tartness of Chardonnay without being a footballers wife! (I know its trashy but I still miss that show!) As I also had work the next morning, my large glass  was more than enough to enjoy with the meal! 

Whilst the wine was a bit of a treat with dinner, it was a fairly frugal recipe as you have come to expect with me - the lettuce was withering in the salad draw making its escape plan (Salad and Winter are not best buddies!) and the small amount of gammon was left from a large joint we had a few weeks back everything else was in the store cupboard.

Risotto recipe:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

50ml vermouth

225g arborio rice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 slices cooked gammon finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp grana padano (or parmesan) grated

2 cos lettuce leaves, shredded

1 knorr herb stock pot into 1.5 pints boiling water

1) Melt the butter and oil, gently cook the onion and garlic without colouring, stir in the vermouth and allow to evaporate. 

2) Stir in the rice and allow it to fully coat in the liquid, add a small amount of the stock to coat and allow to cook, once the liquid has evaporated, repeat the process gently stirring through until its almost cooked through. 

3) Meanwhile place the peas in a jug with some of the remaining stock and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir it all into the risotto with the gammon pieces and lettuce, it should of absorbed most of the liquid now and be slightly loose in consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese leaving a little for garnish.

Serve either on its own or with garlic bread if you like to break the rules...

The tang of Macon Villages wine worked really well with the creaminess of the risotto, they didn't compete and made a very tasty pairing! Unfortuntely winter is here with its dark nights and I resorted to going out onto the landing in an attempt to get a picture. The things us bloggers do...

Many thanks to Kate at Sainsbury's for my wine!

Arrancini con Pomodoro e salsa di Zucchine

Last week I finally got round to making risotto again, its been a while. In a past life, I used to cook a lot of Italian food but following a relationship breakdown I think I found myself shying away from anything vaguely resembling Italy but I realise now the error of my ways - you can never run away from anything so tasty! I decided also to make it sound posh by translating it fully, as Arrancini with tomato and courgette sauce sounded a little lame in comparison to a more elegant sounding 'Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine'!

So risotto was back on the menu, and it was quite a frugal one - using up some slices of leftover gammon from the freezer, frozen peas and a sad last few leaves of Cos lettuce that were loitering in the salad draw planning their escape route! Yes lettuce, you did read it right! I have made a similar one before (little gem also does well here), and with the lettuce just wilted in at the end makes a nice interesting crunch to the creamy rice and smokey salty gammon.

For the sauce, I had picked up a tube of chilli tomato puree for a bargain 25p on offer in Sainsburys that morning, just substitute with regular tomato puree if you don't have any in. The original risotto was made using grana padano which I reguarly buy from the supermarket but the following day I had a delivery, via mums house of some new cheeses from 'Divo' and used their 'Coarsely grated heart of Parmigiano Reggiano', I was a little wary of it having previous experience with dried up ready grated parmesan but this was very good, rich creamy and a perfect pairing for the dish.

Despite the risotto being very tasty I slapped away B's fork from eating the rest as it looked like there was enough left to finally attempt something I had craved for a long time - Arancini - which their name according to wiki originated from the Italian word for oranges, due to their shape... I vaguely remember having these a long time ago possibly at a food show or restaurant and so it finally my time to have a go! Yippee!

I guess you could make the Arrancini with any leftover risotto you like, this was my base recipe, which served us two the previous night and left enough to make 9 Arrancini. The risotto needs to be fully cooled before making the Arrancini.

Risotto recipe:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

50ml vermouth

225g arborio rice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 slices cooked gammon finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp grana padano or parmesan grated

2 cos lettuce leaves, shredded

1 knorr herb stock pot into 1.5 pints boiling water

1) Melt the butter and oil, gently cook the onion and garlic without colouring, stir in the vermouth and allow to evaporate. 

2) Stir in the rice and allow it to fully coat in the liquid, add a small amount of the stock to coat and allow to cook, once the liquid has evaporated, repeat the process gently stirring through until its almost cooked through. 

3) Meanwhile place the peas in a jug with some of the remaining stock and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir it all into the risotto with the gammon pieces and lettuce, it should of absorbed most of the liquid now and be slightly loose in consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese leaving a little for garnish.

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Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine Recipe

Ingredients:

250g cold, leftover risotto

50g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano

1 beaten egg

small bowl plain flour

s&p

Sauce:

1/2 courgette, cut lengthways and into thin slices

1/2 finely sliced onion

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chilli tomato puree

390g chopped tomatoes (carton or tinned)

2 tsp dried Italian herbs

Fresh basil leaves, to garnish

2 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano, to garnish

Spray oil for coating/ lining tray

Line a baking tray with foil, and spray with oil

1) Place the breadcrumbs with the Parmigiano Reggiano in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Have ready the beaten egg in another bowl and the flour in another bowl. A curved tablespoon is handy here for shaping! Mine are mini russian dolls which work perfectly!

2) Using the spoon and your hands, shape the risotto into a ball, gently dip into the flour, then the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. 

 Place on the baking tray and repeat to form 9 balls. Chill in the fridge to firm up. 

3) Heat the oil in a large pan until moderately hot and fry the onion then garlic until lightly coloured, stir in the courgette slices and fry until lightly browned. Pre-heat the oven to about 180o

3) Stir through the tomato puree, and add the red wine vinegar and cook off the liquid, stir in the tomatoes, herbs and bring to a bubbling heat, cover and gently simmer. Stir now and then - you want a fairly thick sauce.

Put the arrancini in the oven, sprayed with oil and bake for 30 minutes, giving a gentle prod halfway to make sure they are not sticking to the tray.

4) Once everthing is nicely cooked through, spoon the sauce onto a plate, and place a desired amount of arrancini on top. Garnish with the basil leaves and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Considering they were my first attempt I was super happy with these - the Arrancini were crisp and surprisingly light and the sauce was rich tasty and was a very good match.

Many thanks to Divo for my cheese. This is not a sponsored posting

Whilst I have never visited Italy - its definitely up high on the list of destinations I would love to visit and I am entering my 'Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine' into a #TuscanyNowCookOff competition with Tuscany Now, an Italian and Tuscany Villa Rental Specialist to win a trip there, which would be so amazing to finally go there! You can find more details in this link.

Venison Steak with Barley, Beetroot and Red Wine Orzotto

 A few months back in a restaurant, I had a lovely meal of a Venison Wellington. I am not sure as to why I ordered it, as it was not a meat I was overly familiar with both eating and preparing it but it just seemed like a great idea at the time. And I am glad I did as it was utterly delicious! I remember it came with this swirl of butternut squash puree and tenderstem broccoli, and whilst initially I thought hmm that looks it a bit small, infact I was perfectly full afterwards. Eyes bigger than my belly perhaps?!

As a result, ever since then I had fancied trying to experiment with cooking venison, and by good fortune I received an email from the pr for Farmer's Choice asking if I wanted to try their products....automatically I thought 'Venison' and shortly after received two lovely packs of Venison haunch steaks. I didn't have the foggiest what to do with it, and whilst the Wellington idea was pretty tempting I am ashamedly a Wellington virgin and also wanted to initially try cooking it fairly simply, to gauge its quality, flavour etc.

After deciding to keep with simple idea for the Venison, I wanted to serve something complimentary alongside, and after a little scheming in my brain VS cupboards/ fridge contents I thought I would go down the earthy route by trying to combine peal barley, and beetroot....

Now I wasn't entirely sure what to call the barley thingy, and tried googling a variety of names and their definitions from Tian's to Ragout's but then I remembered making a risotto of sorts with barley, and after a check it is indeed called an Orzotto. Even now I am not happy, as in my head I conisder both pearl barley and beetroot as fairly English staples and the word Orzotto just sounds a bit flairy Italian style, which its not.. If anyone has a better name, please do let me know!

Serves Two

Meaty bit:

2x Venison Haunch steaks

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Black pepper grinder

Barley bit:

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

100g pearl barley, soaked in water for a couple of hours and rinsed

1 stick celery, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 knorr rich beef stock pot into 700ml boiling water

50ml red wine

130g cooked beetroot (vac pack is fine) cut into 1/2 cm chunks

1 tsp dried thyme

Finishing Sauce:

Knob of butter

Glug of port

Pan juices

Start by taking out the steaks out of the fridge (ensure they are thawed if frozen!) to come to room temperature

1) In a large saute pan, heat the oil and gently fry the carrot and celery for approx 5 minutes or until softening, stir in the barley and red wine, allow the alcohol to cook off then cover with the stock and add the thyme, cover the pan and simmer gently for about an hour, or until the liquid has absorbed and the barley is almost cooked through, stir in the beetroot.

2) Rub the Venison steaks with a the oil and a generous sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. Pre-heat a griddle till smoking hot, then carefully place both steaks into the pan. Cooking time will depend on how rare you like your meat - for me about 4 minutes each side came out medium rare, which was perfect. My steaks were very thick so you might need to adjust accordingly!

3) When the steaks are cooked to your liking, keep warm in foil and add the butter to the still hot griddle, stir in the port, allow to reduce slightly, scraping up any juices from the pan, if necessary transfer into a small pan to keep warm if it is reducing too much.

4) Now I decided to be fancy and served the orzotto via my chef rings but feel free to plate up as you desire. Serve the steaks alongside and pour over your finishing sauce.

Lighting conditions in my flat are appalling in winter and this picture doesn't do it any justice but it gives you an idea at least!

Many thanks to Farmer's Choice for the Venison. It was really tasty, the meat had a great texture and flavour, and it was not dry at all like people had warned me! My orzotto was rich and flavoursome and went really well with the Venison, complimenting its meaty flavour but without overpowering.

Roasted Carrot and Pesto Risotto

Oh my oh my oh my – a dish that admittedly sounds a bit hmm but tastes a lot of mmm!

This risotto was born out of a cupboard scratch around (hello to my 77p bank balance!) and is arguably one of my new favourites! It has a delicate balance of flavours, and is oh so perfect for warming up with on these sudden chilly nights! Oh for my hands to warm just for once please! Roll on summer 2012!

The risotto is so cheap to make but doesn't taste it and it won’t be long before I will be cooking this one again!

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

4 small to medium sized carrots (mine came from Osterley park farm shop – can highly recommend!)
1 large white onion, finely diced
150g arborio rice
½ glass vermouth
A 1cm slice of garlic butter
Spray oil
1 vegetable knorr stock pot, dissolved in 1.25 litres of boiling water
3 heaped teaspoons green pesto
2 generous tbsp. of freshly grated grana padano

Pre-heat you oven to 180o

Firstly, sauté your onion over a moderate heat in the garlic butter and a good few sprays of oil, until softened but not too golden.

Meanwhile spray a little more oil on a baking tray, take 4 carrots, chop into half, then halve again, and cut into ½ cm or so dice. Place on oiled tray and squirt with another 4-5 sprays of oil. Roast for 20 minutes, giving a shake halfway

When the onion has softened, add the vermouth and allow the alcohol to burn off, stir in the rice and a ladle of stock. Simmer over a gentle heat until absorbed, and repeat until the rice is cooked through- I like mine fairly soft, around 25 minutes. Use a little more hot water if needed to loosen the rice.

When the ‘base’ is ready, stir in the carrots and pesto, plus most of the cheese, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately garnished with any remaining cheese.

I daresay some pretty little herb leaves would finish this dish off perfectly, but sadly it was not in the budget!

Reheats very well the next day!

Sundried tomato and pea Risotto and Nigella’s Lamb steaks with Rosemary and port

I love risotto, in particular when either myself of D’s mum makes it. For some reason though when eating risotto out it never tastes quite as good as homemade, I think its just one of those dishes that really does benefit from all the love you stir into it (I am thinking of the mushroom and baby spinach one I had last week out whilst typing this up!) . I like to grab something food based to read (in this case it was the latest GoodFood magazine) , a nice glass perhaps of something and gently while away a good 45 minutes giving it the occasional top up of stock and a stir. Most of the risotto's I've made have come about with what needs using up, rather than a planned recipe, and this one was no exception!

Salmon and Broccoli Risotto

With the events over the past six months or so zapping my energy, amongst other things happening I’ve not been cooking from scratch as much as before, or indeed blogging many of my own recipes.. . However, recently I’ve started to enjoy being properly back in the kitchen again and this is one of my new favourite risottos.

Unfortunately I didn't exactly measure anything, as I wasn't expecting this to be so good, though I will of course update properly when I re-make it! If you're a bit like me and tend to go more by eye, rather than actual quantities it will hopefully make perfect sense to you! If not, then apologies, and I will try and update the exact ingredients shortly!

Firstly, I really liked the appearance of this dish, the soft pinkness of the salmon against the vivid greenery from the broccoli and green beans, it gave it a lovely summery feel to our dinner. Even D who isn’t that much of a salmon fan rather enjoyed this dish too!

Secondly, whilst this dish sounds a little luxurious, it was in fact rather a cheapish dinner using frozen salmon fillets and frozen mixed vegetables!

And thirdly, its delicious!

Served 2, would probably stretch to 3 lesser greedy persons!

Ingredients:

2 frozen salmon fillets/ pieces, cooked in microwave as per packet instructions until just cooked through (around 3-4 minutes)
A cereal bowl or so of frozen broccoli, along with mixed farmhouse vegetables such as peas, sweetcorn and carrot mix, steamed
160g Arborio risotto rice
1 small diced white onion
1 tbsp garlic butter (or butter + separate garlic, I was lazy!)
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp vermouth I.e. a good splash!
About 1.5 pints light vegetable stock
3 tbsp or so freshly grated parmesan
Fresh basil leaves – around 5-6 finely chopped, plus a couple to make it look pretty at the end
S&P to taste

1) Gently melt the oil and butter together, sauté the onion until softened, but not coloured, add the rice, mix well, add the vermouth, stir well uncovered for a couple of minutes to evaporate. Add a ladleful of hot stock, allow to gently cook away and when the stock has evaporated, repeat this stage until your risotto rice is cooked, and has a creamy texture – anywhere up to 30 minutes or so. Grab yourself a glass of wine and a favourite cookbook to help the process along!

2) When the rice is soft and cooked, break the cooked salmon fillets into small chunks and gently stir into the rice along with the vegetables, being careful not to break it up, gently cook for a couple more minutes to warm through.

3) Remove from the heat and stir the in parmesan to taste and season with salt and pepper, and the shredded basil leaves. The risotto should be creamy consistency.

Serve immediately, garnished preferably with fresh basil leaves

Oven Baked Risotto

As you will all note from an earlier post, I recently became the proud owner of a lovely shiny black Le Creuset casserole and was dying to christen it!!

As part of my new years resolutions, I have vowed to cook at least one recipe a week from the mountain of books and magazines that own the bookshelf in the spare room, and so decided the first recipe would combine both that and the Le Creuset!

I love risotto but making it can be a chore, especially on a week night when there is a million other things occupy your time, I had seen in a copy of a Good Food mini-mag a recipe for oven baked risotto and thought it would make perfect first recipe, its also available here online: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2818/ovenbaked-risotto- (link removed)

Ingredients

250g pack smoked bacon , chopped into small pieces
1 onion , chopped
25g butter
300g risotto rice (I used spanish paella rice)
half a glass of white wine (optional) - (I didn't want to open a bottle so used a splash of Vermouth)
150g pack cherry tomatoes , halved (approx 7)700ml hot chicken stock (from a cube is fine) (I used a chicken boulion cube)50g parmesan , grated

1) Heat the oven, 180 fan / 200 gas. Gently heat an oven-proof deepish pan I.e. a Le Creuset casserole, add the bacon and fry until crispy. Note: Do not put lid back on as doesn't aid the browning part!

2) Add the onion and butter, mix well and cook until golden, a couple of mins, stir in rice and vermouth /wine (if using), pour over stock, mix well and transfer to oven, with lid tightly on. It took about 19 minutes in my fan but note on Good Food comments some people said took longer.

3) Grate over parmesan and serve. It made 2 large bowls for dinner and two smaller tubs for our lunches today

Pearl Barley 'Risotto' with Chorizo and Petit Pois

Makes 3 good sized bowls

Easy
Takes 1 hour +

Ingredients:
1 small onion, diced
115g chorizo sausage, diced into 1/2 cm chunks
200g pearl barley
1 vegetable kallo boulion cube dissolved in 1100ml boiling water
1 tsp dried rosemary
Pinch of sea salt
Black pepper to taste

1) Heat a large lidded pan with a couple of sprays of oil to medium hot, add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until starting to brown, add the chorizo and fry for about 4 minutes so that it releases its lovelyness, add the pearl barley and mix well




2) Add a glug of the stock and mix well, then add about 1/5 the stock and cover, simmer until almost absorbed and repeat for about 35 minutes

3) Add the dried rosemary, petit pois and any remaining stock, cover and simmer until nearly all absorbed, like a risotto and serve immediately


Really tasty :-)

Chicken, Chorizo and Petit Pois Risotto

We had this for dinner last night and it was yummy!

Makes two large bowls
Easy

Under 30 mins

Ingredients (approx as kinda threw everything together!!)

90g chorizo sausage, chopped into small cubes
4 tbsp apx of grated parmesan
1 pint light chicken stock, hot
1 level tsp dried rosemary
mug of petit pois
1 small onion finely chopped
Big handful cold cooked chicken, shredded
165g risotto rice (I used carnaroli)
Olive oil
Tsp butter

1) In a large heavy based pan heat a little oil and the butter, add the chorizo and onions and gently saute for about 5 mins

2) Add the rice and rosemary and mix well with the oil, add a little stock to moisten, let it absorb then repeat, halfway through add the chicken and the petit pois near the end and enough stock and cook for a further 8-10 minutes until nearly all absorbed

3) Remove from heat, stir in the parmesan and serve!






Piccie to follow!