In celebration of National Pie Week a recipe from Food Network Chef Andy Bates – a Black Pudding Pear Pie.

Black Pudding & Pear Pies
Ingredients
• 400g pork mince
• 200g black pudding, chopped
• 1 large diced pear
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
For the pastry:
• 450g plain flour
• 200ml water
• 170g lard
• 1 free-range egg yolk, beaten
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
How to make Black Pudding and Pear Pies
1) Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2) For the filling, mix all ingredients together and season well. Then divide into four 150g portions.
3) For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl and set aside.
4) In a pan, heat the water and lard together and gradually bring to a simmer, or until all the lard has melted. Bring the mixture up the boil and then pour this onto the flour mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon to create a firm dough.
5) Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead the dough quickly for a few minutes. Roll the dough out flat, take one of the pie portions and place on the pastry. Cut around the portion leaving enough room for you to fold the pastry around the mix creating a parcel. Repeat this with the remaining portions.
6) Roll out the remaining pastry then stamp out with pastry cutters 4 mini circles for the lids. Brush the lids with beaten egg yolk, then place the pastry on top of the pies and press down to seal. Cut a small hole in the top of each pastry lid and transfer into the oven for 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown and the meat is completely cooked through.
7) Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

A new cookbook from reknown blogger Niamh Shields has just been released. Comfort and Spice draws on some recipes that Niamh used to great success on a Covent Garden fresh food stall, while others have appeared on her blog, Eat Like A Girl.

Blogging since 2007, Niamh states in the introduction that she is largely a self-taught cook and not a ‘chef’. “I am an enthusiastic home cook… I adore spices and flavour, comfort and fun, food that zings and sizzles. Quick week day recipes and long weekend ones, where my oven does the work while I drink some wine, or often while I sleep”

She also advocates using your spice box as a paint palate. “With a £10 investment in fresh spices every six months, you can change the way you eat and the way you cook”. She advocates the use of a simple palate of spices, those she uses most in her kitchen: sumac, cumin, coriander, cloves, turmeric, and cinnamon and herbs such as sage, parlsey and bay.

While many of the recipes draw on Niamh’s Irish ancestry – Irish Soda Farls, Black Pudding Croquettes, Blaas – others draw on cultures from around the world, Bircher Muesli from the antipodes for example, Chinese noodles with tofu and green tea, Beijing Dumplings Chorizo in Cider, Beef, Beetroot and Horseradish burgers and so on. Most recipes are savoury dishes with a few desserts, mainly fruit based, making it to the final chapter. These include such delights as Elderflower and Gooseberry Fool and Rhubarb and Blood Orange Meringue Pie.

Comfort & Spice (New Voices in Food) by Niamh Shields is currently available from Amazon for £7.94.

Niamh will be ‘doing a demo’ at the Abergavenny Food Festival on Sunday 18th Sept at 11am, with fellow New Voices in Food author, James Ramsden. Tickets available now.

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

The French Country Table: Simple Recipes for Bistro Classics

Is it the evocative photographs – all nick-knack laden white dressers, French rusticity, market scenes, and sun-dabbled patio tables that make this book so ‘delicious’ or simply the ease, simplicity and freshness of the recipes?

It is a touch of both of course. Any cookbook that imparts such a strong identity of place with superb photos like the fresh salad leaves in a white colander, the one of a corner of a room with wooden kitchen utensils in an earthen-ware jar or the two French sticks on a magnificent old butchers block has my heart from the moment it is flicked through. Add in a selection of recipes that produce near effortless delicious results and you have a near prefect recipe book.

The recipes are relatively simple, as one would expect with bistro style foods. It is one of the few cookbooks that I’ve returned to several times – the Beef and Potato gratin is on tonight’s menu, last week it was the pork chops with piquant sauce and the chicken with tarragon that tantalised the palate. The Braised Red Cabbage with chestnuts and apples with accompanying sausages is to feature with a wine match on spittoon as soon as red cabbages make it back to the Waitrose shelf… and I can’t wait to try out the Walnut Cake either.

“Traditional bistro fare is the essence of French country cooking. For the4most part, bistro menus often mimic the kinds of meals prepared in homes, using local ingredients and seasonal produce – it’s not expensive or complicated and it never goes out of style. Laura Washburn’s recipes for classic French country dishes offer home cooks simple ideas for good, honest food.”

The French Country Table: Simple Recipes for Bistro Classics is available from Amazon.co.uk for £11.04.

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

A bit late for this one – for Agatha Christie’s birthday was on the 8th September 2010, but a special chocolate cake recipe by Jane Asher has been launched on www.agathachristie.com to celebrate her 120th birthday.

The Delicious Death recipe gives chocolate lovers a novel way of celebrating Christie on her birthday, 15 September, when they can either make their own Delicious Death or enjoy it in venues across the country.

Jane’s recipe is inspired by a passage in Agatha Christie’s 50th novel, and a Miss Marple classic, A Murder is Announced (1950), in which Delicious Death is the victim’s “last supper” before she is poisoned to death. Baked by Miss Blacklock’s housekeeper, Mitzi – an émigré with a horror of English cooking – the cake is dubbed Delicious Death because it is so rich. It becomes an apt name when Dora Bunner is found dead in her bed after her birthday tea.

This is the first time the recipe has been officially created and Jane Asher describes the cake as follows, ‘It has an intense, forbidding dark Belgian chocolate centre which is lifted by the unexpected sharp zing of its brandy-soaked cherry and ginger filling. The glorious assault on the senses doesn’t end there: the cake is decorated with flecks of pure gold, sprinklings of crystallised rose and violet petals, and swirls of ganache piping. This paragon of a cake is as beautiful to look at as it is delicious – and deadly? – to eat.’

Jane based her recipe on the original ingredients mentioned in the book: a tin of butter sent from America, some raisins saved for Christmas, ‘a slab of chocolate’ and ‘a pound of sugar’. Jane has herself appeared in numerous TV productions of Christie and, most recently, in ITV’s Poirot Three Act Tragedy.

She comments, ‘Together with the brilliant team of bakers at my shop, I had such fun creating this special recipe. As a long time Agatha Christie fan (as a teenager, it was her books and those of Conan-Doyle that got me hooked on reading and that gave me a life-long love of fiction), I was delighted when I was approached to bring a cake from one of her books to life. I think we’ve done her proud and that she’d be thrilled with the taste and texture of Delicious Death: a cake that is worthy of the sensuous and evocative description in the original story.’

Those fans that don’t bake will have the chance to sample the cake during Christie Week (12–19 September 2010) at a number of Agatha Christie haunts across the country. Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair – said to be the inspiration for At Bertram’s Hotel – will be serving Agatha Christie Afternoon Tea, whilst the annual Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay will be serving the cake at its opening fête (alongside film screenings and tea-dances) and the Chiswick Book Festival will hold a Crime Fiction Tea, celebrating Agatha Christie and Val McDermid, winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger 2010. It will also be on the menu at Greenway – Christie’s holiday home in Devon, now a National Trust property.

The cake recipe is detailed here

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Think of all the famous chefs you know. Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Marcus Wareing, Heston Blumenthal, Marco Pierre White. Notice a trend? They’re all men. And traditionally, all the best bakers are male too. Recent research has shown that 46% of dads would rather BBQ than bake, but there is no reason why they would not excel in the kitchen.

The majority of baking at home is done by women, and there are also thousands of toys targeting young girls to help teach them to bake, even if it’s mud pies or a batch of imaginary muffins, however this is not the case for boys.

Now a new campaign is launching to show how easy it is for men and boys alike to express their creativity in the kitchen while retaining their masculinity. ‘Baking for Boys’ is an initiative coinciding with Fairtrade Fortnight – the Big Swap (Monday 22 February to Sunday 7 March), who are encouraging people to swap their usual products for Fairtrade ones. This could be switching to Fairtrade bananas or Tate & Lyle Fairtrade sugar which doesn’t cost you a penny more.

The research also shows that 47% of dads find baking with their child stressful. Well help is at hand. In the following video, cupcake queen Lily Vanilli and her godson Alfie prepare some simple and fantastic edible delicacies as she passes on her craft to an eager helper who shows men can bake.

To view the video directly in your browser click this link.

After the fold the recipes for Lily Vanilli’s Fairtrade Bacon and Banana Cake and Fairtrade Devil’s Food Ale Cakes…

The recipes

Lily Vanilli’s Fairtrade Bacon and Banana Cake

Ingredients:
4 rashers unsmoked organic back bacon
150g ripe Fairtrade bananas (approx 2 small)
60g Fairtrade honey
100g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)
40g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar
140g organic plain flour (sifted)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 large, free-range organic eggs (at room temperature)
Handful Fairtrade Brazil nuts (toasted & chopped)
1/2 tsp grated Fairtrade nutmeg
1/2 tsp Fairtrade ground cinnamon
12 paper cupcake cases

Method:
1. Lay rashers of bacon on a foil lined sheet and place in a cold oven with the temperature set to 200c for approx 20 minutes or until crispy. Allow to cool
2. Turn heat down to 180c
3. Mash bananas with honey in a small bowl and set aside
4. Sift together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl – flour, sugar, baking powder, salt
5. Cut butter into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients, blend with an electric mixer on medium speed until evenly incorporated
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition
7. Mix in the banana/honey mixture, spices and Brazil nuts to taste
8. Spoon into cupcakes cases, filling almost to the top
9. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
10. Remove and leave to cool in the pans for approx 3 minutes – then transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Frosting:
55g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)
325g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade icing sugar
1/2 cup (4fl oz) organic double cream
2 tbsp Fairtrade honey

1. Beat the butter until smooth, then add half of the sugar, the double cream and the honey
2. Continue beating, slowly adding the rest of the sugar to achieve a smooth, even texture
3. Ice each cooled cupcake with a thick swirl of frosting and top with strips of cooled bacon and chopped Brazil nuts.

Fairtrade Devil’s Food Ale Cakes

Ingredients:
115g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)
45g Divine Fairtrade cocoa
155g Fairtrade ale (Honey Ale)
170g organic plain flour (sifted)
Pinch of salt
2/3 tsp baking soda
225g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar
1 large free-range, organic egg (at room temperature)
3 fl oz (3/8 cup) organic buttermilk
12 paper cupcake cases

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180c
1. Bring ale to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa. Leave to cool until it reaches room temperature
2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixture until very light and fluffy (about 5 minutes)
4. Add the egg and beat until just incorporated
5. Beat in the cooled ale/cocoa mixture
6. Add the sifted dry mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts – beginning and ending with the dry and beating after each addition
7. Spoon the batter into a baking tray lined with cupcake cases (2/3 of the way full)
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean
9. Cool briefly in the pans and then transfer to a wire rack until cooled completely.

Frosting:
85g/3 fl oz (3/8 cup) – Fairtrade honey ale
15g Fairtrade cocoa
115g Unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)
340g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade icing sugar
1/2 tsp Fairtrade vanilla essence
Small bar Fairtrade chocolate to decorate
Handful toasted Fairtrade Brazil nuts (optional)

1. Boil ale in a saucepan, remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa. Allow to cool completely – transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge if necessary
2. Beat the butter until smooth
3. Add the vanilla, ale/cocoa mixture and half the icing sugar and continue to beat. Gradually add all of the sugar – beating continuously until you reach a consistency you like
4. Spread onto cooled cupcakes and top with shavings of Fairtrade chocolate and Brazil nuts.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fair Enough – Results of the 2009 Annual Fairtrade Wine Awards (simonwoods.com)
• Martha Stewart’s tiramisu cupcakes recipe (telegraph.co.uk)

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Valentine’s Day gives us the perfect opportunity to treat that special someone to a romantic dinner at home. And this year, impressing the other half will be a doddle thanks to two of the UK’s finest chefs – Ainsley Harriott and Simon Rimmer.

The chefs have teamed up with Tabasco to develop some fantastic recipes demonstrating the versatility of the famous pepper sauce, and it just so happens that the following recipes have the perfect ingredients for ensuring a little romance.

With the renowned aphrodisiac qualities of shellfish, chocolate and, of course, chilli these delicious recipes will certainly turn up the heat!

AINSLEY HARRIOTT’S BAKED MUSSELS ON CHERRY TOMATO AND TABASCO RISOTTO

350g cherry tomatoes
1 red onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
300g risotto rice such as Arborio or Carnaroli
150ml white wine
750ml hot vegetable stock
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon Tabasco + extra to serve
1kg live mussels, cleaned
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven 200c/400f gas mark 6. Place the cherry tomatoes in a large roasting tin and scatter over the onions. Drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and stir in the risotto rice, wine, stock, rosemary, teaspoon of Tabasco then return to the oven for 20 minutes until the rice is almost tender and the liquid has almost all been absorbed. Scatter the mussels over the top of the rice, cover tightly with foil and put back in the oven for a further 15 minutes. Take out of the oven, lift the foil and check the mussels, discarding any that have not opened. Scatter over the chopped parsley. Serve at the table immediately with a bottle of Tabasco for those who like an extra kick.

SIMON RIMMER’S TABASCO CHOCOLATE FUDGE PUDDING

450g/1lb dark chocolate, minimum 70 per cent cocoa solids
200g/7oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
10 free-range eggs
3 tbsp soured cream
300g/10½oz caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out
200g/7oz plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder
10ml of Tabasco Pepper Sauce

For the sauce
250ml/9fl oz whipping cream
60g/2oz unsalted butter
100g/3½oz cocoa powder
100g/3½oz caster sugar
100g/3½oz soft dark brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
100g Strawberries and whipped cream to serve
Method
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water. Whisk the eggs, sugar, soured cream and vanilla over simmering water for 5 minutes until fluffy and voluminous. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Sift the dry ingredients together, fold into the chocolate, together with the Tabasco. Spoon mixture into a lined ovenproof dish and bake at 160c/g3 for about 1 hour. Sauce – put it all in a pan and stir for 4-5 minutes until gooey and yummy. Serve a piece of pudding covered in sauce and a few delicious strawberries and cream.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Chocolate banana bread (gastronomydomine.com)
• Madagascar Coffee and Walnut Cake (winecountry.co.za)
• Chocolate and beetroot cake recipe (telegraph.co.uk)

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Whilst we are all attempting to stick to our New Year’s resolutions to lose those last few pounds and keep them off this winter, it doesn’t mean we cannot indulge in something sweet and tasty when we fancy it. We all crave a little sweetness in our diet now and again and fruit is an excellent way of getting part of your five a day whilst satisfying our sweet cravings.

Many of us may be suffering from the winter blues at the moment. But for those of us with a nagging sweet tooth, going ‘cold turkey’ does not have to be an option, as it’s possible to balance our taste for sweetness without having to compromise on our healthy lifestyle. The beautiful country of South Africa has some fantastic fruits available this winter, to keep you warm, full and healthy, including plums, peaches, nectarines and grapes.

So for those of us looking to satisfy our hunger pangs, fruit can provide a natural alternative to sugar that satisfies our sweet cravings without being too high in calories.

Here to help us is Sophie Michell, author, chef and presenter of Channel 4’s Cook Yourself Thin, with several great recipe ideas. From delicious roasted brown sugar plums to chargrilled nectarines, there are a variety of sweet fruit recipes that can provide that sugar fix the healthy way.

Clicking this video link should load the video straight into your browser.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cape Town – a culinary snapshot (cooksister.com)
• Peach and papaya jam (gastronomydomine.com)

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Win the opportunity of a lifetime, courtesy of Maille, France’s leading mustard producer. The prize, which will be offered to one winner and their seven guests, on all Dijon and Wholegrain jars of Maille, is a sumptuous dinner prepared by highly acclaimed chef, author and food writer, Paul Gayler. Paul, who is the Executive Chef of The Lanesborough (one of London’s finest 5 star hotels), will create the most incredible feast incorporating Maille in each course. He will demonstrate the versatility of mustard and how, with a little bit of know how, it can be used to enhance all sorts of dishes – even desserts!

In order to be in with a chance, all you have to do is visit www.maille.co.uk and register; you’ll then be automatically entered into a draw. When visiting the site, look out for additional opportunities to enter more than once! If you’re not lucky enough to win the main prize, don’t worry, because fifty runners up will also receive a luxurious hamper filled with Maille merchandise and products – enough Maille to prepare your own fabulous feast.

The promotion will run in store from late November for around three months, but for those of you who fancy experimenting with Maille in the meantime, Paul has kindly developed these exclusive recipes plus a few mustardy tips…..

BAKED SALMON WITH MAILLE MUSTARD , LEMON AND CAPERS

4 X 170g Skinless Salmon fillets
1 tb MAILLE Dijon mustard
1 tb honey,warmed
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 beaten egg, mixed with a little cold water
150g white breadcrumbs
2 tb olive oil
50g unsalted butter
2tb superfine capers
1tb chopped flat leaf parsley
2 lemons, peel and pith removed, cut into slices
Salt, pepper

Mix the mustard and honey together and brush liberally over the salmon fillets
Season with salt and pepper
Dip the fillets into the beaten egg, then dredge through the breadcrumbs
Heat a large non stick frying pan, add the oil, when hot lay in the salmon fillets, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.
Remove the cooked salmon and keep warm.
Remove any excess fat from the pan, and add the butter.
When the butter begins to foam up and turn golden, add the capers, parsley and zest and juice of the lemon.
Place the salmon on serving plates, top with the lemon slices, pour over the caper butter and serve immediately.

CELERIAC, POTATO AND MUSTARD SOUP
25 grams unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 small leek, chopped
1 medium sized celeriac, peeled and chopped
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 l chicken stock
100 ml double cream
1 tsp MAILLE mustard
1 tbs chopped chives

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and leek, cover and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until soft. Add the celeriac and potatoes and cook for a further two minutes. Pour on the chicken stock and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Reheat the soup to the boil, whist in the mustard, cream and chives. Season to taste and serve.

Mustard tips:

• Add a little MAILLE Dijon mustard to a basic cheese sauce to accentuate the flavour of the sauce.
• MAILLE is delicious when mixed with a little honey and brushed on barbeque chicken or pork, great for barbeques.
• Add a little MAILLE mustard with tomato ketchup, great served with fish and chips.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Spatchcocked grilled poussin with capers and oregano (gastronomydomine.com)
• Céleri rémoulade salad – the real thing (ckenb.blogspot.com)
• Chicken and Shrimp Soup (marksdailyapple.com)

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Pork is one of Britain’s favourite meats – yet many of us have no idea how to cook it, or what other foods to put with it bring out the full flavour.

We all know how to stick some bacon or sausages in a pan – some of us may also be a dab hand at creating a pork Sunday roast. However when it comes to cooking with more adventurous cuts like pork belly, shoulder, ribs or creating crackling, many of us are scared we will make a pig’s ear of it.

Pork is a very versatile meat – and an ideal accompaniment to a variety of flavours and ingredients, and can feed a family of four for less than any other red meat. There is also a multitude of ways to cook it.

Pork might not be the first meat that springs mind when it comes to cooking curries for example, but Spicy Pork Pumpkin Curry, which requires only five ingredients, is perfect served with crusty bread and seasonal vegetables as the evenings start to grow longer.

Of course no pork recipe collection would be complete without traditional Sunday roasts and family-favourite chops and the new Love Pork booklet doesn’t disappoint. So after a long day at work, give the Pork Chops Topped with Bramley Apple and Cheddar Cheese a try. Taking just 20 minutes to cook and using just four ingredients this dish couldn’t be easier.

Liz McClarnon will be touring the country from Monday 14th September to hold exclusive cookery demonstrations in London, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Derby, Chesterfield and Leeds. This is just one of the recipes that Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon has devised for her Autumn Pork Collection. Below are details on how to make this and two other succulent pork dishes.

Spicy Pork Pumpkin
Serves: About 4
Takes: About 1 hour

Ingredients
225g (8oz) Lean pork mince
30ml (2tbsp) Medium curry powder
400g (approx) Can chopped tomatoes
15ml (1tbsp) Mango chutney
1 Small pumpkin or butternut squash

Method
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4-5, 180ºC, 350ºF.
In a large non-stick wok or saucepan dry fry the mince until browned. Add curry
powder and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and mango chutney and bring
mixture to the boil.
Take pumpkin, cut off top to create lid, or if using a butternut squash cut in half
lengthways and scoop out the seeds and stringy bits using a large spoon.
Place the pumpkin on a piece of foil and place in a roasting pan. Spoon into
the pumpkin the spiced mince, replace lid, add a small amount of boiling
water to the bottom of the pan and loosely wrap in foil.
Cook for about 1 hour until pumpkin flesh is soft.
Serve large scoops from the pumpkin and serve with crusty bread and
seasonal greens.

Pork Chops topped with Bramley Apple and Cheddar Cheese
Serves: About 2
Takes: About 20 mins

Ingredients
2 Lean pork loin chops
1 Bramley apple cut into 4 thick slices (across the core) or an eating
apple, cut thickly
50g (2oz) Cheddar cheese, cut into two thick slices

Method
Place pork chops under a hot preheated grill.
Cook chops for about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes turn chops over and add the thick
slices of apple to the grill pan.
When chops are cooked stack the apple on top of the chop, top with slice of cheese and
cook for 1-2 minutes until cheese has melted and is gooey.
Serve with mashed celeriac and steamed leeks.

Pork Belly with Plums and Cinnamon
Serves: 4-6
Takes: About 1½ hours

Ingredients
700g (1½lb) Pork belly joint, rind removed
30ml (2tbsp) Damson jam
5ml (1tsp) Cinnamon
1 Cinnamon stick
125ml (¼pt) Cloudy apple juice
4 Ripe plums, cut in half

Method
Preheat oven to Gas 4-5, 180ºC, 350ºF.
Line roasting pan with double layer of foil. Place belly joint in pan and rub cinnamon
into skin.
Mix together jam, cinnamon, cinnamon stick and apple juice. Pour this mixture into the
pan. Add plums. Scrunch foil loosely around the joint.
Cover with foil and cook for about 1½ hours, until meat is tender and soft. Serve with
creamy mashed potato and steamed curly kale.

For more information and recipes visit www.lovepork.co.uk

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

The debate over the nation’s favourite food continues – is it Chinese, Indian or maybe, Italian? One thing is certain, the British love affair with ethnic food continues to grow. More and more Brits are trying Italian dishes when dining out, and are also experimenting in their own kitchens, and one dish that’s definitely increasing in popularity is risotto. Why have we taken so long to realise how delicious it is? Risotto is not difficult to make, it is not time consuming, in fact it is simply delicious. And there’s a plus, risotto is incredible versatile – it’s a fantastic way of enjoying the best of our own seasonal produce or everyday leftovers and store cupboard basics.

Risottos are a staple dish of the Italian weekly repertoire and each region in Italy has its own speciality. In Veneto, particularly in Venice, seafood risotto is the most popular, in the north truffles feature strongly and risotto alla Milanese (flavoured with saffron) is arguably the national favourite. The regional preferences in Italy inspired Riso Gallo (Italy’s leading risotto rice producer) to conduct a survey to see which risotto tickled the British palate……and the results are in.

The top five risottos are:

Number 5 Primavera (vegetables)

Number 4 Chicken

Number 3 Seafood

Number 2 Mushroom

Number 1 Asparagus

Which is your favourite? Riso Gallo has created two variations of the top 5 recipes below to try…

RISOTTO OF PRAWNS WITH LEMON

Refreshingly flavoursome, this delicious mix of tiger prawns with the zing of lemon zest and juice makes a superb risotto using Riso Gallo Vialone Nano rice which gives a delectable creamy consistency, no wonder it’s the 3rd most popular risotto in the UK.

Serves 4
25g/1oz unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
900ml/1 1/2pt chicken, fish or vegetable stock
1/2 wine glass dry white wine
225g/8oz Riso Gallo Vialone Nano Risotto Rice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 raw Tiger prawns, peeled
Juice and zest of half a lemon
Dill sprigs for decoration

Heat the butter and oil in a pan and gently fry onion and garlic over low heat to soften but not brown. Add chilli and toss around in the mix. Add rice and stir around in the mix. Pour over white wine and stir with a wooden spoon until absorbed.

Add a ladleful of stock and continue stirring over medium heat until stock is absorbed. Continue like this until rice is just tender and creamy. You may not need all the stock. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. At the same time fast fry the prawns until just pink, then stir into risotto. Add lemon juice and zest and stir. Serve immediately decorated with dill sprigs

RISOTTO PRIMAVERA

Fresh tasting and fragrant, this beautiful risotto made with Riso Gallo Arborio rice an excellent choice for traditional vegetable risottos. This one has fresh asparagus and courgettes and is a perfect lunch dish or first course

Serves 4
225g/8oz fresh asparagus
2 tbsp olive oil
1 meidum onion, peeled and finely chopped
225g/8oz Riso Gallo Arborio Risotto Rice
1/2 wineglass dry white wine
900ml/1 1/2pt vegetable stock
3 medium courgettes, trimmed and cut into dice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
25g/1oz freshly grated Parmesan
25g/1oz unsalted butter
juice of half a lemon
Parmesan shavings for serving

First, snap asparagus at the natural breaking point to break off the tough bottom ends of the stalks. Blanch stems in lightly salted boiling water for around 3 minutes. Drain. Cut into 5cm/2in lengths and reserve.

Heat oil in a pan and gently fry onion over gentle heat to soften but not brown. Add rice and stir to coat. Pour over wine and stir with a wooden spoon until absorbed.

Add a ladleful of stock and continue stirring over medium heat until absorbed. Continue like this until rice creamy – but not quite cooked. Stir in courgette dice. Add another ladleful of stock and stir rice until absorbed. You may not need all the stock. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in freshly grated Parmesan and butter. When rice is just cooked, stir in asparagus pieces and squeeze over lemon juice.

Serve immediately topped with Parmesan shavings.

a

The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK