Miserable Meatless Monday

Rain rain go away!! Man, it rained constanly yesteday! Between that and the fact that I was in no mood to go out (I stayed in my jammies all day) dinner was a bit of a stretch last night.  By now you should all be able to guess my go-to meal when in a pinch or totally lazy...yup! you guessed it...Risotto! I had seen a recipe in a magazine last month for Creamy Leek Risotto and couldn't for the life of me find it yesterday in the house...I knew I didn't have any ricotta or goats cheese to make the creamy bit of the risotto, but I sure did have leeks...

I made this risotto a little bit differently from how I usually would, there was no soffritto, no sauteeing onions, garlic and celery...the base of this risotto is a bit of chopped garlic and sliced leeks sauteed in a bit of butter until just soft.  I added a good large glass of white wine to the leeks and let them simmer away to soften and cook.  Once the liquid has cooked away THEN the rice is added and the traditional risotto method (or my method at least) can resume.  Really yummy and satisfying!

WIld Garlic take 2

I've received many nice comments about my post from Friday night's dinner...and the introduction of new vegetables... so I thought I would share another way to use wild garlic.  Last night I used the last handful of wild garlic (before it wilted by its own accord) and made Penne with Crispy Pancetta, Portobello Mushrooms and Wild Garlic.

This was one of those simple suppers that I really should have saved for a work night but I couldn't risk leaving the wild garlic too long.  It is only in season for such a short period I didn't want to waste it!  By the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta the sauce is done, it is all tossed together and voila!

Ingredients

(SERVES 2)

250g penne or other pasta shape (orecchiette works well too)

6 or 7 slices of thin smoked pancetta sliced into matchsticks

2 portobello mushrooms, cubed

handful of wild garlic

olive oil (i used chili infused olive oil)

Method

1.Put water onto boil, add pasta when ready to start sauce (reserve a mug of cooking water)

2.While pasta is cooking sautee mushrooms in some butter.

3.When mushrooms are cooked, remove from pan and wipe the pan out to clean out any mushroom juices.

4.Drizzle some olive oil in pan, add pancetta and fry until crispy. **There is enough fat in the pancetta to cook without the oil, but you will find you need a bit more oil to hold the sauce together and flavour the pasta***

5.By this point the pasta should be cooked. If it isn't then remove the pan with the pancetta from the heat and return it to the heat when ready to drain the pasta and finish the sauce.

6.Add the mushrooms back to the pan with pancetta and place the wild garlic on top.

7.Drain the pasta and add to pan with the sauce, toss to combine.  **The heat from the pasta and pancetta oil will wilt the wild garlic**

8.There should be enough oil to coat and flavour the pasta, if not add a bit more or a splash of the reserved cooking water. 

Serve in big bowls with lots of grated parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper. 

You could always used spinach instead of wild garlic and just sautee some chopped garlic wihen you cook the mushrooms!

Enjoy! x

Homemade Cheesy Crackers

One of my all time favourite snacker crackers are Pepperidge Farm Goldfish...also one of the hardest 'American' prodcuts to find here in the UK.  When I first moved here Waitrose used to carry them, they had been re-branded FINZ but still had that salty fake cheesy taste (I am also a sucker for Kraft Mac & Cheese).  Waitrose doesn't carry them anymore.  My family has been fuelling my GOLDFISH habit for the last four years delivering them to me when they visit...but I am just not very good at rationing them!!

Last week my world was changed! I came across this post for Homemade Goldfish Crackers over at Cupcake Project and knew I just had to try them!

Little Cheesy Stars and Flowers.  Crunchy, savoury and cheesy.  Not quite like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, but an excellent substitution!

A Seasonal and Romantic Three Course Meal for Two

So I have been feeling a little bit pathetic as of late due to struggling a bit to work and feel motivated in the kitchen at the same time. I found some inspiration on Thursday with the arrival of our vegetable delivery, and vowed (secretly) to go all out Friday night and create a romantic meal to make up for a week of fumbles and uninspired meals. 

The arrival of our vegetable box also announced the true arrival of spring...no more parsnips, no more beetroots, no more turnips...just beautiful asparagus, wild garlic, jerusalem artichokes and new season potatoes all sitting there just begging to be used!

I've never cooked with jerusalem artichokes before.  The lady I lodged with at Kew Gardens grew them in her allotment and made me some soup once, but I have never actually cooked with them myself.  Jerusalem artichokes are rather sweet looking, like little artichoke shaped root vegetables...

You can peel them if you like, but the skin is perfectly edible.  I ended up making a simple soup with them.  Onions, jerusalem artichokes and stock all cooked and then blended.  I added a little bit of whole milk and some mild cheese at the end.  Jerusalem artichokes have quite a strong flavour, which to me is a bit salty, meaning very little seasoning is needed.  In fact I didn't use any. 

Another vegetable in the box that was new to me was Wild Garlic. I've had it before in dishes, again cooked for me...but I have never used it myself.  Wild garlic is related to chives but has a distinct and often strong garlic flavour.  It doesn't have a very long growing period and is often hard to buy in shops...so you can imagine how excited I was to see it in our vegetable box on Thursday!

Simply wilted in a bit of butter or stirred through a pasta sauce seem to be the best ways to use this amazingly flavoured leaf.  It can even be used in pesto instead of basil (yum!).  David and I love garlic and often add slivered garlic to sauteeing spinach and other greens, so these gorgeous green leaves are just up our ally! In the end I paired the Wild Garlic...wilting it in a little bit of butter...with simple oven baked salmon steaks, baked in a little olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. 

Last night was truely a night of firsts! First time cooking with jerusalem artichokes and wild garlic...and dessert was no exception! I have been drooling over a chocolate pots recipe in The Williams Sanoma Bride and Groom Cookbook generously given to us by my friend Emily in Toronto.  I haven't made anything in ramekins since we moved in...mostly because we didn't have ramekins...but we received two volcanic orange Le Creuset ramekins as wedding gifts.  So no excuses!!!

Pure Romance!

            

Working Wednesday Mid-Week Meal

I know that this is going to sound pathetic, I mean women/wives juggle work and home all the time....for decades...why oh why is it so hard for me?? Maybe it is because I have been 'retired' for all these months...I don't know...

There are a few things that I am going to have to start getting my head around...mainly using the freezer and meal planning.  The first isn't too difficult...other than the problem that there are 18 cupcakes taking up most of the space in the tiny freezer we have...meal planning on the other hand...while fun in theory it is something that I don't all together like doing.  Mostly it is because I really love taking my time and pottering into town daily to browse and choose what to make for dinner...possibly not the most economical option but the most fun for me...not to mention there is minimal (think itty bitty) space to store a week's worth of groceries in our kitchen. 

I did my best this week though...I tried...and David helped...the funny thing is that we were both soooooo hungry by dinner time Monday and Tuesday that I didn't even think to take any photos...although I was proud of both of our meals...and of US! Meatless Monday was a return to Canadian Maple Flavoured Mushroom Burgers with oven baked fries (easy peasy)...Tuesday David goes to the gym after work leaving a little more time to cook so I baked chicken legs smothered in dijon garlic and lemon with boiled potatoes and salad...I will definetly be making it again so Watch This Space!

Last night was a bit of a hodgepodge and by mid week (actually the end of my working week) I was totally exhausted so together we created this totally easy veggie pasta with a cream sauce...I suppose it was a cheat's primavera...watch out Delia!

We basically used the veggies that were left in the fridge...a couple of huge portobello mushrooms, left over asparagus spears, a couple of handfuls of baby spinach and peas and about 300ml of creme fraiche.  While the pasta was cooking I sauteed the musrooms with half a chopped shallot and a clove of garlic in a little oil and butter, added the asparagus and then the creme fraiche and a ladel or so of cooking water from the pasta.  Once the sauce had combined I added the spinach, turned the heat down and let that wilt into the sauce.  Meanwhile the peas went in with the pasta about 5 mins before that was done cooking. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce (or vice versa) and serve with loads of parmesan cheese and black pepper! Not the most attractive of dishes, but it sure was yummy.

I've got 5 days off now so will have to think of some meals to make in batches and freeze...we can't have easy pasta every night...although I would really love to!!!

Got the work blues...I miss my kitchen!!

I started a part time job last week. ugh. It is funny...I was itching to have something steady to do, but seriously I am not finding it easy to get back into the swing of it after being off from work for the last 6 months! I think that the part I miss the most about being at home is planning my day around doing the chores and most importantly taking the time to make a really nice dinner for me and David.  Working now means that I will have to be a bit better at planning my meals, making batches of things to freeze and well....it will just be different adn I will have to learn to SHARE.  

On Saturday I worked a full day leaving David at home and when I returned????

David had totally tidied the house AND made this gogeous meat lasagna with creme fraiche.  It was so so so nice to come home to a lovely home cooked meal, but in all honesty...I would rather be the one MAKING the meal! :)

We've sat down and planned our meals for the week so we shall see what works and what doesn't!

St Patrick's Day Risotto

Normally I would post this in the morning but seeing as David has abandoned me to study and I am off to work (gak! more on that later) tomorrow morning I am using the most of my "alone time" tonight...until he comes downstairs to watch tv and eat cupcakes!!!

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day today (not that either of us is Irish) I created a Risotto Verde with asparagus, zucchini, peas and parsley all brought together with crispy salty bacon, some ricotta and just a hint of chili flakes.  Hardly dancing a jigg in the street funneling Guiness down our throats, but a nice Italian twist on green food for this holiday!

A little hint if you haven't made risotto with asparagus before...chop the stalks up into rounds about 1/2 a centimetre and put them in when you add the stock, this will cook the tougher bits of the stalk while cooking the rice (and a bit of the flavour will seep out into the rice) and then put the tender tips in closer to the end of the cooking process so they don't over cook and get mushy (ick!!)