Mushroom risotto.

You know you have a winner when you cook something again and again without minding that much. This is one of my go-to recipes whenever I don’t want to think about fancy dishes or when I’ve had a tiring day. There is some prep work involved and some stirring, but you could always get someone to help with that! You can use a mixture of fresh mushrooms and it’s even better with some dried porcini soaked in a little hot water. (Don’t even dream of using the canned stuff, and if you do please don’t tell me.) I like to use chestnut mushrooms because they are tastier than the white button mushrooms. (I don’t buy porcini often!) Anyhow, you will get more flavour from the grated cheese and fresh parsley later. This is a simple but delicious winter dish. Serves 4.

• 250g chestnut mushrooms, chopped
• 250g arborio
• knob of butter (approx. 25g)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 litre hot vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 2 tablespoons grated cheese (Pecorino or Parmeggiano)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

1. Pour the olive oil and butter in a large-ish saucepan and add the onions, garlic and mixed spice. Stir until everything is coated by the melted butter.
2. Add the arborio and 1 ladle of stock, and stir until this is absorbed by the rice. Continue to add 1 ladle full to 2 of vegetable stock at a time while stirring often. Add the mushrooms when you have used around half of the amount of stock. When you have finished adding the stock and the rice has absorbed it you should end up with a creamy consistency. If it is too dry try adding more stock.
3. Remove it from the heat, add the grated cheese and parsley and mix these into the rice. Call everyone to the table and serve at once.

A note on something completely different: I will be away for a couple of weeks, but will be back with some new recipes as soon as I’m back in Surrey, just in time for the run-up to Christmas. Enjoy!

Rob x

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Simple Squash and Carrot Soup

Now this is the season for heart-warming dishes. When the weather does not cooperate, I love spending time in the kitchen. When I want comfort I try to turn to something tasty and nutritious whenever I can, though I never say no to some chocolate! However there are times when not even chocolate does the trick. On the whole I prefer savoury stuff rather than sweets, so I make soup instead. Soups can either be boring or exciting, insipid or bursting with flavour. Good ones are just that: good.

What I am giving here is just a guide. And by no means am I saying that this is the prefect recipe! You know me more than that…and cooking is not rocket science. But this is how I go about making it. Just don’t let it influence you too much. There are no rules here; the thickness, texture and taste depends totally up to you. It’s a carrot and butternut squash soup, great for this time of year, at least in the UK where it’s getting chilly. I’m not sure if my Maltese readers will see the point in giving a recipe for soup now, since apparently it’s still warm there! Ah, you lucky lucky people! Remember that you could substitute the squash with pumpkin. Just a note before I give you the recipe: the photo shows my carrot soup. I didn’t use any squash here. It’s because the actual butternut soup photo I took isn’t presentable. So unfortunately this will have to do for this post. Maybe you cannot see any difference but I just wanted my readers to know. I will eventually replace it. You will need:

• 500g butternut squash, cubed and roasted (with a drizzle of olive oil)
• 200g sweet potatoes, cubed and roasted
• 200g carrots, sliced
• 1.5 to 2 litres vegetable stock
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
• ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
• pepper to taste

In a heavy-based pan put the squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, stock and spices together and wait for everything to boil. When the veggies are soft, blend the soup and add some pepper, and remember to taste at this stage. Serve in warm bowls and you could garnish with fresh parsley or coriander if you have some available. So easy and comforting. Enjoy!

Rob x

Note: There is no need to roast the squash and sweet potatoes but doing so will give more depth to the soup so I wouldn’t recommend skipping this step. Also you could add some freshly squeezed orange juice for a more zesty flavour. The potatoes will make your soup nice and thick and gooey.

Rosemary Cake

I love herbs. They bring so much taste, zest and greenness in the kitchen especially during the dullest of months. They are generally used in cooking I know, but I was really intrigued when I was flipping through Nigella’s books and found a recipe for a cake with rosemary. And incidentally, after making this I realised that it is quite a popular dessert too. I do have a confession though: rosemary is not one of my favourites. I cannot pinpoint exactly why; maybe because of it’s sometimes soapy taste and woody texture, or it could be simply because of it’s pointy shape. But there’s an endless list of savoury stuff using this particular herb, and you can be as creative as you want. It is great with chicken, though lately I don’t bother with it and use sage or tarragon instead, which works great for me.

Now I must say here that this cake was not very popular among those who had a taste. The cake itself was fine, but the rosemary bit was not to everyone’s liking. I was not surprised, but I loved not only the taste, but the aromatic smell wafting through my kitchen while it was in the oven. So even if I scared you off at the start (really…I didn’t mean to) I would recommend you give this a go. You could always serve it with some raw fruit, or a fruit compote if it’s not your cup of tea when eaten on it’s own. So here’s the recipe, taken from Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess with minor variations. You need a loaf tin for this.

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 210g self-raising flour
• 90g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, chopped but not too much
• 60ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar, set aside for sprinkling the top

Preheat your oven to 170ºC/around 350ºF/Gas Mark 3, and line a tin loaf with some butter and baking paper.

Cream the sugar and softened butter till everything is pale and light. Beat in the eggs slowly, preferably one by one, alternating with one spoon of flour.

Add the vanilla extract, then all the remaining flour. Now it’s time to add the rosemary.
To give the batter a slightly more liquidy consistency add the 4 tablespoons of milk and mix till it’s combined with the batter.

Pour your mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar on top. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until a knife comes out clean.

This cake will keep well for several days if stored in an airtight container. Like all Madeira mixtures it is ideal for tea-time. Enjoy!

Rob x

Orange Muffins

I was taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But let’s be honest: how many times do we get bored with the same cereal day in day out? Countless are those times when I throw my hands in the air and simply give up! Too many times for my liking. Worse case scenario? One cup of coffee and that’s it. Not good enough. More often than not, whenever I can, I eat breakfast later in the day – I just cannot take it at 6 or 7 in the morning. So guilty as charged.

Even though I’m always up for a good English breakfast especially on holiday, I’m always looking for recipes which can be adapted or used as good options for everyday. People tell me that breakfast is the last thing on their minds at home, but when on holiday it’s the first thing they think about. Does this ring a bell? To me it certainly does.

If you look for breakfast recipes in this blog you won’t find many, but J’s pancake recipe is great for weekends, when we may have more time to potter about in the kitchen. However preparing pancakes everyday isn’t my cup of tea. So the following could be an option for you once in a while because you can prepare them a day or two before and keep them in a cool, dry place. If not they will go mouldy (it happened to me), but if you store them correctly they will keep for two to three days. These breakfast muffins are taken from Nigella Bites with minor variations. They are very easy to conjure up.

• 80g unsalted butter, softened and slightly cooled
• 250g self-raising flour
• 25g ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 80g caster sugar
• zest and juice of 1 orange
• 100ml milk
• 1 egg

Line a muffin tray with paper and preheat the oven to 200ºC/395ºF/Gas Mark 6.

In a large bowl mix flour, ground almonds, baking powder, sugar and the zest of an orange.

In a smaller bowl or a jug whisk the orange juice, milk, egg and the cooled softened butter together.

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients folding it gradually until you have a lumpy muffin mixture. Don’t worry; this is how it should be.

Divide the mixture into your muffin cases. Mine yielded 11. Bake for 20 minutes and when cool enough to handle place the muffins onto a wire rack. These are best eaten while they are still warm, but they are still good if you choose to leave some for the next day! I would comfortable eat them with unsalted butter, marmalade or jam, or perhaps even top them with some glaze or icing. I’m really getting hungry now.

So, who’s up for a spot of baking? I am. Enjoy!

Rob x

Boozy Brownies

Some months ago I was going through my pantry and noticed that I had a whole packet of unopened hazelnuts. That’s very me unfortunately. It’s no news that sometimes I tend to buy food stuffs without really planning ahead. I’m improving though…Honest! Solution: Twitter and the lovely James Tanner. James kindly sent me a link to his recipe for Chocolate Nut Brownies. I changed it slightly because I had to work with what I had in the pantry at the time but the result was fantastic all the same. I’m no expert when it comes to alcohol so I just put my hand in the drinks cabinet and grabbed the first thing that was in there. That turned out to be a bottle of Islay, which was a good choice. Also I used 300g of hazelnuts instead of the selection which James uses because that’s all I had. Anything you use will be great anyhow: one of the beauties of these rich chocolate babies. You will love them. James, thanks again for this recipe. It was a hit.

• 560g dark chocolate, cut into small chunks
• 330g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 2 shots Islay whiskey (or water)
• 1 tablespoon of coffee granules/or a shot of espresso
• 5 large eggs
• 330g golden caster sugar
• 175g plain flour, sifted
• 300g toasted hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas mark 4, and line a 2 inch deep, 12 inch square baking tin with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water, and make sure that the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Stir occasionally.

In another heavy-based pan, gently heat the whiskey (or water) together with the coffee granules until these dissolve.

With an electric whisk, beat the eggs and the sugar in a medium bowl, also over a pan of simmering water, until the double in volume. This is called a Sabayon or Zabaglione. It should turn light and pale. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Slowly fold in the melted chocolate mixture into the Sabayon. Be gentle so you retain all that lovely airy texture. Now mix in the hazelnuts.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Leave to cool slightly and cut into squares.

Note: If you don’t have an electric hand whisk you can still make these brownies but it will take *a lot* of whisking. But it’s not impossible. Take it from me – I tried and tested it!

Enjoy!

Rob x.