Thought for the day...

"To summarise, we need to eat more vegetables and less flesh because vegetables are the foods that do us the most good and our planet the least harm."
From Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall's piece, The joy of veg in The Guardian.

Sceptics may say he's just trying to promote another book, but whatever you think, it's an article which got me thinking (and triggered a fairly fiery debate with my boyfriend).
For me, the most frustrating thing here is that he's preaching to the converted. This article needs to be in a less liberal newspaper if it's going to have any impact. But then, why would they listen to a man with a double-barrelled surname?...

Like this? Visit the Meat-Free Monday campaign.

Roast dinner risotto

I have just stuffed my face with the best risotto I have ever cooked. 
This blog will  not be accompanied by a photo because a, it wasn't meant to be a culinary adventure and b, I ate it far too quickly to stop for a Kodak moment. This was, however, a definite advert for thrifty eating. I used surplus roast chicken from yesterday's dinner and plenty of ingredients that were just clogging up the fridge. 
It's good to share, so next time you've cooked a roast chicken - give this a try.


Natto's accidental roast chicken risotto
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
2 knobs of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
One small white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups of risotto rice (arborio is fine)
One glass of white wine
1 pint of chicken stock (I used Knorr powder)
5 button mushrooms, sliced
Zest of half a lemon
A few sprigs of thyme
2 portions of leftover roast chicken meat
4-5 spring onions, finely chopped
1/3 head of brocolli - use the smallest branches or cut into small pieces
4 runner beans, de-stringed and sliced
A cup of frozen peas
Salt and pepper
Grated cheese to serve (I used cheddar but if you have parmesan in the fridge it's probably a better choice)


Give it a go...
Heat one knob of butter and the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and cook slowly until they begin to soften, then add the garlic. Cook for about five minutes until it smells amazing. 
Add the rice and fry for about a minute, stirring into the onion and garlic mix. Add the wine and stir occasionally until it has been completely absorbed. 
Now start adding the stock, one ladle at a time, allowing the stock to be absorbed before adding the next. After you're about halfway through the stock, add the mushrooms, spring onions, lemon zest and the leaves from the thyme. 
Keep ladling the stock as before but now get the veg cooking. You can cook the brocolli, runner beans and peas in the same saucepan - they'll only need about 7-10 minutes. At this stage add the chicken and the second knob of butter to the risotto. 
By the time the veg is cooked, your stock should all be absorbed into the rice. Drain it thoroughly and gently combine with the risotto. 
Season with plenty of pepper and, if required, salt. Serve with grated cheese.


Hopefully I've not forgotten anything. I can't wait to roast another chicken so I can make this again!


Nx

My favourite cookbooks

#1 - My jotter 

Initially bought for taking to uni, ten years later it's rammed full of recipes on scrap bits of paper, splashed with fish sauce, melted butter and tomato puree.

This traditional exercise book, stolen from my sixth form college (sorry KEVICC) is a bible for favourites: my speciality lemon drizzle cake, cheat's pizza, bestest pad thai and the only spaghetti bolognese recipe I'll ever need. I should probably upgrade to a recipe binder but I'm really quite attached to 'natfish's recipes'.  

#2 - Good Housekeeping New Step-By-Step Cookbook

My sisters and I were each given a copy of this by our mum about five years ago. It's been in our family for much longer however, with an older version gracing her shelf for many years before.  It's the source of failsafes - Victoria sponge, Fish pie, lasagne... you name a classic recipe, there'll be something in there. It might not be haute cuisine, but it's pretty indispensible to my collection.



#3 - Cook Yourself Thin

I kid you not. This is a great little book. And where did this series disappear off to anyway? The closest I can get is following Gizzi on twitter. This has some great ideas for saving on calories without losing the flavour (no, i don't work for them). Plus, it taught me how to cook really nice fluffy fragrant rice.



#4 - The Cranks Recipe Book

I've told you my Cranks love story before. It's absolutely stunning food which has left a lasting impression on me. Don't be scared off by the vegetarian subtext. It's wholesome, warming food and for me, it smells like home. Get a copy for the homity pies, cheese scones, soups and fruit cakes. Delicious.

Posset-ively delicious

Lemon posset and me, me and lemon posset. It's a big joke now. 

Apparently my reaction to the dessert when it was served to me in Hotel Du Vin, Bristol a couple of years ago was to rival Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. 

Last night I went to dinner with friends and decided to inject some joy into the evening and make them a posset. God bless Google and James Martin. I found the simplest recipe which, together with some skinny shortbreads, brought out the inner Meg Ryan in all four of us. 

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy (literally), here it is.

600ml double cream

140g caster sugar

Juice and zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

Slowly boil up all the cream and sugar in a large pan. Leave to simmer for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Pour into 4 (very generous portions, you'll look less like Meg Ryan, more like Billy Crystal by the end of it) to 6 (recommended if you need to move any time soon after dinner) ramekins, cups or posh glasses. Pop in the fridge for at least two hours. Grate a little lemon zest on the top and serve with shortbread thins (I used Marks and Spencers'). 

I can't use the O word here, I just can't bring myself to. But you know what I mean. They're really, really good.

A cuisineless country

After a long break I've wondered what to return with. Something to do with absence seemed apt. So I'm writing in response to my gut feelings (get it?) following a recent trip to Croatia.

I definitely take for granted the variation and exoticism of foreign cuisines. I've become obsessed with Greek food, fallen in love with Thai flavours, and love playing with global ingredients. Holidaying for me is as much about the food as it is about the place. So when I spent a week in Croatia I experienced an odd feeling - they don't have a unique cuisine.

Croatian restaraunts are largely a mix of italian food (pizza, pasta and risotto as standard), fresh fish options and they serve chips with pretty much everything. The food I experienced was almost always oversalted - a poor substitute for that truly unique flavour I was hoping for. When I tried to experience something new and tried shark steak I found I was also eating about a bathtub of salt -it made for an uncomfortable night's digestion.

So clearly, my expectation is to experience a taste sensation in every new place I travel. Be it the fresh feta in Lefkas, or the enormous pancakes in America. But where does this expectation even stem from when we don't have a cuisine ourselves?

British cuisine is just meat and potatoes. Discuss.

Our pubs are also lined with stolen cuisine. "I really fancy some classic pub grub" generally means Lasagne, spag bol (meat and, the refreshingly different alternative to potatoes, pasta) or a version of our own great British classic (meat and potatoes) Shepherd's Pie, roast dinner, steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips or a big breakfast (and no Hilton Hotel, there's nothing continental about hash browns). 

But it's not all bad in Britain. What sets British food apart to me is down to a combination of things.

Our ability to borrow ideas is pretty good. Jamie Oliver being a great example of someone who has mastered world cuisine for the masses, giving enough inspiration to our untrained cuisineless minds to go out and experiment, just enough. 

I'd also say we're leading the way in changing attitudes to food, with TV chefs talking more and more about where their food is being sourced as much as the end result. Sourced in Britain, cooked using Indian spices - works for me.

But finally, I've found the thing we do really well. Baking. Cream teas, Victoria sponges (including the jam), iced buns, flapjacks, millionaire's shortbread, butterfly cakes - thank you WI!

So, perhaps we naturally choose one direction or the other. Sweet or savoury. With us lucky Brits able to access so many global foods locally, I guess we can't really complain.

But what about Croatia? Who fail on a, savoury at least, cuisine. What's their pièce de résistance?
I give you - Ice cream...

 

Happy vegetarian week!

A wannabe conscientious omnivore, one day maybe even a pescatarian, I may be - but I too struggle with the concept of one day completely eradicating the salty pig from my diet. Today's Jay Rayner article merely in it's conversational roundabout makes it clear that even scary health statistics can't make us give up the red stuff. My solution? What i've advocated for a while now - just cutting down.

So, my contribution to National Vegetarian Week is to say, jump on the Meat Free Monday bandwagon - and, of course on the other days, check the label for happy pigs.

Place your bets

Just checking in quickly as the big day for Masterchef 2011 is now here.

Well, my heart hopes that Professor Tim takes this year's title. As an inferior series in many ways, when compared with the high emotions of Dhruv, Tim and Alex in 2010, Tim has brought a well needed dose of excitement (and liquid nitrogen) to this series and fully deserves the trophy.

Right, and with that, i'm off to make a cheese, ham and pumpkin croque monsieur. (Will write more soon, promise).

N.x