Roasted Broccoli and Blue Cheese Risotto for Two

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So, it's not the most photogenic thing I can think of, but, damn! it's definitely one of the most delicious! My love affair with risotto started only recently, when we were on honeymoon in Croatia. After having worked in a Thai restaurant for 4 years, I was always like "Rice? Meh." and I never ordered or ate risotto my whole life. I wish I'd known what I was missing! Creamy, cheesy deliciousness without the heaviness of cream! Comforting, warm and heavenly, risotto was nothing like I imagined it would be - it was a MILLION times better!

It started off in Rome, where I had a less than exciting mushroom risotto. I swear, those tourist restaurants skimp on quality and charge the earth, because they think we wouldn't know any better. It was alright, but I new there was some key element missing that would make everything right. That risotto was a little bit watery, and a little undercooked, not the best introduction, but I persevered.

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The next was at a tiny restaurant on the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. We discovered this little place on a long walk along the waters edge at sunset, and popped in just before the dinner rush. I'd been reading up on things we should try while in Croatia, and decided on the Black Risotto, a specialty of the area. Flavoured with squid ink, it was delicate, cheesy, rich, and delicious. Whatever the hubs had has faded in contrast with that risotto. A deep black from the squid ink, with little pieces of tender octopus, garnished with a single, red cherry tomato, it was exactly what I was looking for. And there my love affair started; I was determined to recreate this at home, but where to start?!

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[Enter, stage left: The Good Food and Wine Show] At the Show, I found an 'easy' package of risotto, which claimed to make cooking risotto easy. It included dried mushrooms, the arborio rice, all you needed was the wine, stock and cheese. Sounded easy enough, but I was still cowed by the reputation of risotto as finnicky and hard work. So I tried a baked risotto, and it turned out.. meh. It was alright, but it wasn't the creamy, rich deliciousness that I was after... Back to the drawing board.

A few months passed. We got married, life got in the way, and I was tired. I took a break from blogging, and it's been summer. We've had a heatwave, planned some renovations, and it's a new year. So in a bid to find something a bit more interesting (and vegetarian, in our bid to eat meat-free once a week), I decided to attempt risotto again. I bought the arborio rice, the Parmesan cheese, I planned a creamy, cheesy, mushroom risotto. You know, start with the basics. And you know what, people? It wasn't that hard. Sure, it took some time, and you can't go watch TV, but I was on the phone, and stir, stir, stirred away, and 45 minutes later, et voila! we had a plate of heaven on our hands! And I was hooked.

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That was last week. This week, I got more adventurous. Yes, I'm finally getting to the point of this post. THIS HAS BLUE CHEESE! Did that get your attention? I hope so. This cheesy bowl of heaven pushes all the right buttons! With a touch of green goodness from broccoli and cauliflower, and a whole lot of creamy heavenliness from the blue cheese and Parmesan, this is a winner. A keeper. And a whole bowl of goodness.. All you need is a little bit of patience, and within an hour, you'll have a wonderful, impressive, delicious meal to serve your loved ones. Go forth, and make risotto! I know I will be!

I scaled down the ingredient this time, as I was cooking for two, and the last batch (500g of rice) meant I was eating risotto for 3 days! These measurements were perfect for the two of us, with some leftovers for my lunch, win!

Roasted Broccoli and Blue Cheese Risotto for Two

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
Small pat of butter
Glug of olive oil
250g (1 cup) arborio rice
± 100ml (1/3 cup) white wine
± 1 litre (4 cups) stock (I used about 1.5 litres)
Small head broccoli and cauliflower, cut into small florets
± 125g (1/2 cup)Parmesan cheese, grated
Half a wedge of blue cheese

Method:

1. Saute the onion in the butter and oil for a few minutes until soft. I usually let them brown a bit, but if you want a whiter risotto, don't let them brown.
2. In another pot, make up a litre of hot stock, and keep it on a low temperature for the duration of cooking. You want it to be warm, but not boiling. If you look like you'll run out of stock before the end of cooking time, top it up with some clod
3. Add the rice to the pan, and turn up the heat a bit to toast the rice for a few minutes, until coated with the butter/oil, and slightly translucent on the edges - 2-3 minutes. Keep the rice and onion turning, so they don't burn.
4. Add the wine to the hot pan, and turn down the heat to medium. The wine should bubble quite vigorously, and will boil away and evaporate quite quickly.
5. When the wine has boiled away, start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time. If you don't have a ladle, use a large spoon and put about 2-3 spoons in at a time. You want just enough to loosen it up, without drowning it. When that liquid's absorbed, add the next, and so you go, stirring, adding, stirring, adding continuously for about 35-45 minutes, or until your rice is cooked, with a slight firmness to it (al dente).
6. When it's cooked, you can add anything - sautéed mixed mushrooms or asparagus, bacon bits or peas and mint, it's really up to you and your imagination, but I roasted up some broccoli and cauliflower (and then steamed a bit more, because it reduced too much when roasted), and added creamy blue cheese (Blue Tower from Fairview is a lovely, creamy blue, and doesn't cost the earth)

Serve with a side salad, or even as an accompaniment to a meat-centred dish. Or do what I do, and enjoy it with a glass or two of that wine you had to open to make the risotto. And remember, if you wouldn't drink it, you shouldn't cook with it! I discovered a lovely Californian Pinot Grigio at Pnp last night, and at just R29 it beat the locals, and was delish! Ah, I know, my carbon footprint.. but can you blame a girl for wanting to explore the world? through wine, at least...

And after that long story, I leave you.
Take care, my friends..

Spring Baked Mushroom Risotto

Hello!

{Image source: placid casual}

So, it's on my 30 before 30 list. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while now. And I finally did it! I've been planning to make risotto for an age now (no seriously, I've literally been telling the hubs every night for 2 weeks). I mean, I've have at least a dozen conversations about it over the last two weeks, and Claudz, Marisa, Ally, Matt and Nina have all made it since then, we even had a Twitter Risotto Off planned, that I started. And yet I hadn't made it. That's wrong, right? So I gritted my teeth, and eventually the weather turned a little cooler, and last night was the night. The Night I Made Risotto. Deserves capitalisation, in my book! And I had this package, that I bought at the Good Food and Wine Show a few months ago, a kit with the arborio rice, dried mushrooms, seasonings and one or two other things. I used that, so I think this was a cheat, and I'll be doing it again.

I did, however, peel and shell a whole pack of broad beans for the little fava beans inside, and serve the risotto (I have my in-laws down, it was hard enough getting into the kitchen, without suggesting a purely vegetarian meal!) with pork sausages and sauteed asparagus. And let me tell you, that this was a crowd pleaser! I think I impressed the inlaws.. maybe I'll be allowed in the kitchen more often now.. Oh. And I just realised I bought the wrong cheese - how's that for a foodie fail? Ah well, alls well that ends well, right? And it was still delicious, if not perfect. Just means I'll have to keep at it until it comes out right, hey?

{Image source: elana's pantry}

Spring Baked Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:
1 package of Cook me! Mushroom Risotto mix (500g)
1/2 an onion, diced
125ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine
750ml (2 1/2 cups) good quality stock - I used veggie stock
1 packet broad beans (here's a good how to for broad/fava beans)
1 bunch of asparagus (half for the risotto, half for serving)
250ml (1 cup) grated parmesan cheese (I used pecorino - foodie fail)
Glug of olive oil and a knob of butter

{Image source: beautiful cataya}

Fresh, unshelled fava beans

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Heat a heavy based pan, and put a knob of butter and some olive oil in.
3. Fry the onion for a bit, until soft and translucent.
4. Pour the rice mixture in, and turn up the heat. Stir to coat the rice in oil, and heat until it pops a little - you really want to toast them a bit.
5. Pour the wine in, and stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid. At this point, you can carry on on the stove top, stirring and incorporating the stock, ladle by ladle, but I had a couple of over things I still wanted to make, that needed my hands. So I decided to bake it.
6. Transfer the rice mixture to an ovenproof dish, and pour in the stock, stirring it gently to make sure the stock is mixed in, and pop the whole thing into the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, steam your fava beans for a few minutes, until the skins wrinkle up and they go a dull, grey colour.
8. Allow to cool, and peel them, revealing a bright green, nutty bean. Reserve, and stir into the risotto when you take it out.
9. After 20 minutes, remove the risotto from the oven, and check that it's wet enough. Add some more stock if it looks dry - the oven is always hotter than the stove top (and mine doesn't seem to have a thermostat), so you'll probably need more liquid to keep it creamy. You'll see that the rice has swelled up a lot, and it'll swell up more and get creamier. Don't add the fava beans now, add them at the end.
10. Put back into the oven for another 20 minutes, and start with the asparagus. 
11. Snap the woody ends of your asparagus, and snap in half. The stalks are woodier than the tips, and need a little more cooking. So in the pot that you steamed the fava beans in, steam the broccoli stems for a few minutes, then add the tips for another. Say 3 minutes for the stems, and 2 for the tips, which brings it to 5 in total for the stems. Remove from the heat, and run under cold water to refresh.
12. Chop the stems a bit smaller, and set aside with the shelled fava beans.
13. When 20 minutes are up, take out the risotto out, stir some more liquid in if it's a bit dry, then stir in the chopped asparagus stems and the fava beans.
14. Then stir in the cheese, handful by handful, getting it all worked in.
15. Quickly stirfry the asparagus tips in some butter, garlic and lemon, and serve all hot.

This is a bit long winded, but you get the picture. The baked risotto is slightly less creamy, but I hear adding a cup of liquid right at the end helps with creaminess. It also means you're free to do other things, whether that's frying up some sausages, or hanging the laundry, which all helps in the end, right?

I still plan to try the stovetop risotto, when it's just the two of us. My boy can take a vegetarian meal, but the in-laws are rys, vleis en aartappels mense (rice, meat and potatoes people). They enjoyed this, I served it with some pork sausages, which they eat rarely, and I think it made a nice change for them. I would've liked it a bit creamier,but that gives me a great excuse to make it again, right?

Enjoy!

Twitter: Risotto Off

Hi!

{Image source}

So, as usual some of us were talking on twitter yesterday, and the subject of risotto came up. Claudz and I were both thinking of making it last night, and while we were talking, Marisa got interested. Before long, we had a #RisottoOff on our hands!

Rules are as follows:

1. You have to have made the risotto yourself.
2. You need to post the risotto between today (Tuesday 28 September 2010) and next Tuesday (5 October 2010).
3. Please link to this post.
4. Have fun!

That is all! Within the next week, we'll all be cooking and comparing notes on our risottos. As you know, this is on my #30before30 list

My 30 before Thirty List

Hi! 

Ok, so this is a little off topic, but if you can bear with me, it might be an interesting project. I've been reading a lot about '30 before thirty' lists, and the idea is growing on me. The idea is that there are certain things we all wish we could do - life goals, small things, activities, etc. - but we never do them because life gets in the way. The idea with a list like this, and putting it out online, is that there is more pressure (and a deadline) to do these things.

Now, I'm not that old, only 25, but I have just gotten married, and I can see the way things may go, if I let life get ahead of me. There are things I want to do with my life, and things that I already wish I had done when I was younger, and I don't want to reach my old age and realise that I never had time to do most of the things I had wanted to do when I was young enough to do them.

So I'm making a list, a list to top all lists, and although I have 5 years (no, wait 4 years, it's my birthday just around the corner) until I'm 30, I think that sounds like a good enough time to get things done, wouldn't you say?

And I'm going to post it on this here blog to share with all of you, because I don't have the gumption to start and maintain another blog, and because I hope that you all (whatever your ages) will get involved and start life lists of your own, and tick them off with me.

I hope you enjoy taking this journey with me - and I promise, a lot of my goals are foodie-related, so hopefully you won't be bored!

The List:

1. Invest in property
2. Buy a car that I like
3. Get a job that challenges me, that I like, that I wake up happy to go to OR freelance
4. Grow vegetables (done! I grew tomatoes this summer, 2010-2011)
5. Make risotto (done!)
6. Successfully bake a cake (done!) and frost it (red velvets, no less!)
   
7. Go on a foodie holiday - a holiday where the whole thing is planned around food (markets, restaurants, food blogger friends, whatever)
8. Learn to dance with my boy
9. Start and stick to a retirement plan
10. Learn a new skill that will help with my career
11. Make macarons successfully
12. Wash my own car (don't laugh, I've never done it!)
13. Make money from blogging
14. Build a blanket fort in my living room and camp out overnight, eating dinner and breakfast there
15. Buy good quality, long lasting makeup, no matter what the cost
16. Get the brown leather handbag I've wanted for years, no matter how much it costs (leather lasts, right?)
17. Get involved with a charity that makes sense to me
18. Volunteer at an animal shelter
19. Take a really amazing holiday at least once a year - adventure while you're still young!
20. Donate blood
21. Get published (somewhere other than my blog ;) )
22. Read "War and Peace" by Tolstoy
23. Take a roadtrip without planning anything - just drive, and stop wherever the road takes us
24. Learn to take good photographs to help remember my life
25. Pull a sickie with my boy and spend the whole day in bed, forgetting the guilt over what we SHOULD be doing
26. Learn another language fluently
27. Get into shape, and flatten my stomach
28. Go away for a weekend with my girlfriends
29. Learn to start a fire
30. Re-upholster a piece of furniture

Ok. So that's it. 4 years is a relatively long time, so I suppose if  change some of these it's not the end of the world. I do think that though, that these are pretty good goals for me, and involve a lot of learning and growing, which can never be a bad thing, right?

I'll update and cross them off as we go, alright?

Now, who's going to do this with me? If you're keen, comment or tweet me below, and I'll make a list of people who are going through this with me!