Asparagus & Spring Greens Risotto

When I lived in Istanbul, I was spoilt in early Spring with the artichoke sellers plying their trade on barrows down narrow streets selling ready sculpted hearts in little bags of acidulated water and sometimes bags of fresh shelled “fava” beans too. Those were the ingredients for the most heavenly risotto, in some way inspired by a recipe in the River Cafe’s “Green” but mainly by those most astonishing transient offerings. And were there any leftovers, I used to make “Dolmasi yapragi” : stuffed vine leaves as an excuse to savour the flavours over again. For this is a recipe about Spring and the fleeting first flavours of things green. I like to make this recipe variously with asparagus, peas, mint and lemon, with nettles,spinach and chard, with watercress, fava beans and mangetout with whatever looks interesting and good at the market. So first stop…the market…

Ingredients (for 4)

320g risotto rice such as arborio or carnaroli. at a pinch if you have a craving for risotto and no posh Italian grains in the cupboard pudding rice will do

1 medium onion diced

1 clove of garlic smushed

1 litre of liquid which in this case should be approx 800ml of stock and 200ml vermouth or wine.If you are vegetarian use a veggie stock but personally I like a chicken stock.

Butter, olive oil,

approx 100g parmesan, salt & pepper, good quality dried thyme or fresh

zest of 1 lemon or lime

Greens: 500-700g of the greens because this risotto is all about the greens, more than the rice. If using spinach this will be a huge volume but fear not as it will wilt down in a matter of minutes

How To

Put the stock in a saucepan and heat very gently – you must add warm liquid to the risotto as you cook it else you are stopping the cooking process

Put a small knob of butter and a glug of olive oil in a saucepan with a heavy base – if you have a Le Creuset use it for risotto. Try and have a “wedge” shaped wooden spoon/ spatula as you want to be moving the rice around and having a clean saucepan bottom all the time. Fry the onion until translucent and add the garlic and rice and swirl around the pan for a couple of minutes taking care not to brown the onion.

Tip in the vermouth/wine and enjoy the “whoosh” and associated alcohol vapours! Give a good stir but this will probably absorb instantaneously. Then start adding the stock and stirring slowly. This is quite hypnotic and generally much helped by having a glass of wine in your hand too. Add a teaspoon or so of the dried thyme at this stage.

Keep adding the liquid slowly as the rice absorbs it until it is just done – keep testing grains between your teeth until the rice is done. Do not be surprised if this takes 30 minutes or so. It should be firm but not uncooked in the middle of the grain (that will end in tummy ache!). At this point test for seasoning and add salt and pepper according to your own taste.

At this point you need to add the parmesan, maybe a little knob of butter and take the risotto off the heat and just stir gently and then leave the risotto for the all important relaxation stage (risotto is just soooo Italian). This is to allow the parmesan to melt gently and create a creaminess and depth of flavour.

It is quite rich…I have drunk with minerally whites and smooth reds as pictured here.

Speedy Sun Dried Tomato & Walnut Pesto

Speedy and super versatile. Always have some in your fridge.

My original version uses preserved lemons but I realise not everybody has those to hand. In this speedier version the zest of a lemon is used. I use this to spread on bruschetta, make instant galettes, coat pasta, make crusts on meat, as a dip, on crostini as canapes, in chunky sandwiches with goats cheese and more.

In summer it is incredible made with home made slow roasted tomatoes and a great thing to do with a tomato glut. In winter or when time is short, a jar of good sun dried tomatoes in oil can be put to no better use I think.

Gadgets & Gizmos

A blender. For this recipe actually a small hand blender is better than your big one that you might use for smoothies and soups as the quantity is smaller.

Ingredients

Here is my basic recipe and the quantities are for guidance only, the key thing here is to make it how you like it:

A jar of sun dried tomatoes oil and all or a jar of home bottled roast tomatoes in which case no need to add any extra tomato puree or water which you may need to add if you are using jarred sun dried tomatoes. The jar I use is approximately 300ml.

200-250g of walnuts. The ones from the market I always prefer but they do contain teeth shattering shards of shell often!

The zest of one lemon. take care to scrub the lemon first unless it is organic and free of nasty waxy stuff.

chilli (I am sensitive so I dont add a huge amount…if you prefer a dip more on the muhamara side of things…spice it up)

If you are using home bottle tomatoes you might want to add a glug more of olive oil

2 to three and possibly four cloves of garlic. I like quite a lot

salt pepper and absolutely do not omit the cinnamon. half to one teaspoon.

As long as there is a little layer of oil over the pesto it will keep very happily in the fridge for 4-6 weeks.

You Are What You Eat

Tomatoes are a treasure of riches when it comes to their antioxidant benefits. In terms of conventional antioxidants, tomatoes provide an excellent amount of vitamin C and beta-carotene; a very good amount of the mineral manganese; and a good amount of vitamin E. But it is their “lycopene” (a carotenoid that is a powerful anti oxidant) that makes them a real superstar. Interestingly to absorb this lycopene you need to eat them with some oil – so the pesto is the perfect way! Read this HMS study about their benefits.

How To

Blitz it up in a food blender. I like to keep mine with a bit of texture – think of the difference between crunchy and smooth peanut butter.

Thats it.

Slutty Salad #2 Herby Hanoi

Fresh herbs, rice noodles and zingy miso ginger dressing. Just add cold beer.

This salad is for all those who love coriander, ginger and spring onions ie that trilogy of Asian flavours that at once says bright, palate cleansing and mouth poppingly good. In hot weather the flavours are so refreshing that merely thinking about them seems to lower the temperature…mint, basil, coriander, lime and a zingy dressing with the ginger and miso… then crunchy peanuts and carrots or baby sweetcorn and if you want something a bit more substantial then add marinated beef fillet, some char grilled chicken or squid.

Continue reading “Slutty Salad #2 Herby Hanoi”