Easy Seafood Risotto

Hello!

I'm not sure if you are a big risotto fan; I enjoy them on occasion . . . I wouldn't call myself a 'fan' but by that same token I don't mind having one now & then.

I know I haven't blogged about this before (forgive me!), but I regularly make my own stock. I have a wonderful seafood stock in my freezer made from the remains of a large snapper my brother dissected (he is an excellent seafood chef). I followed Donna Hay's recipe for making seafood stock (email me if you'd like the recipe). It smells amazing, largely due to the quality of the fish I am sure.

So anyhoo: following on from Mum's 60th, I had a few uncooked prawns in the fridge that I was keen to use up, along with arborio rice, white wine, a leek, and some frozen peas . . . . in short, all that I needed to make a lovely risotto for dinner! I would like to stress that I just did this on the fly, and didn't follow a recipe, so the below is guess-ti-recipe, but I assure you the end result is lovely!

And by the way: the 'Campbells' stock sold in Coles/Woolies is just fine!  Just remember the better the stock, the better the flavour will be, so do try & purchase the best quality stock you can.

Anth's Seafood Risotto
(Serves Two)

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 leek, thinly sliced 

zest of one lemon

2 cloves garlic, crushed & sliced

olive oil

knob of butter

1.5 cups arborio rice

1 cup white wine

3 cups seafood (or veg) stock

 large handful of green prawns

3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) peas

                                                      Parmesan cheese (as good as possible)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and once warm add the knob of butter. Let it bubble a little, and then add the sliced onion, leek & garlic cloves. Reduce the heat to low-medium, and gently cook for 15 mins until they are translucent, with a little bit of colour. 

In a separate saucepan, heat the stock to a gentle simmer. 

Add the arborio rice, it will fry a little, so be sure to keep stirring. After a minute or so, add the wine. It well smell a little harsh, but as the alcohol cooks off, it well smell lovely. KEEP STIRRING!

Once the wine has soaked into the rice, add a ladle worth of the warm stock, and a good pinch of salt.  Lower heat to a gentle simmer: just like when you make pancakes, you don't want the rice to cook from the outside leaving the inside raw. You need gentle heat & LOTS OF STIRRING! Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, making sure that you 'massage' the stock into the rice before you add another ladle. Try the rice to see if it is cooked: keep adding ladles of stock until it is. If you run out of stock, boil some water & add it (a ladle's worth at a time).

  

 Once the rice is just about done add the lemon zest and stir for a  minute or so. Once that has settled in, add a large handful or raw prawns.  Gently stir them in until the begin to colour. 

Once the prawns begin to colour, add the peas. Increase the heat to medium to bring the prawns to full colour and gently cook the peas. Take a vegetable peeler & drop several large strips of Parmesan into the mix along with another knob of butter. Place a lid on the pan & allow to gently cook for 2 or so minutes. 

Check for seasoning & serve: if you like your citrus flavours, squeeze some of the juice from the lemon you zested over the risotto. 

I didn't do this, but then my stock had a strong seafood flavour, and I didn't feel it needed it, but this is completely a matter of taste. 

Wine Match!

I would serve this with either a Sauv Blanc w/ lovely citrus flavours, or a lightly oaked chardonnay (I hate big oak flavours, and though if you have good quality prawns their creaminess may match a more heavily oaked white wine).

Winter Month Escape - Orange

Hi Guys,

As many of you will know, I am a big fan of the Orange region, and have been lucky enough to visit many times (shout out: Mel!).

It is the perfect place to escape for a winter weekend.

This last trip in late March was a family affair, and we really spoilt ourselves.

We had dinner Friday night at Lolli Redini, an Italian restaurant in town. Two courses for $60, 3 is $75. When you consider this is a hatted restaurant, you appreciate what good value this is. The meal was just wonderful: I had a risotto w/ pan seared prawns to start, the veal for the entree, and part of my fathers chocolate dessert to finish up. The whole of the meal was just wonderful, the service lovely.

http://www.lolliredini.com.au/

Our destination for dinner on Saturday night was Tonic restaurant, in the small village (it isn't a town: it really is a village!) in Milthorpe, about 15 mins south east of Orange (i.e. on the Sydney side of Orange).

I had eaten at Tonic twice before: once for breakfast, and once for dinner. Each time I was very impressed, particularly with the dinner: it was just gorgeous.I am very sorry to say I was disappointed on this visit.

The Milthorpe Town Hall is next door to Tonic, and is used as a reception venue for weddings, and the Tonic kitchen does the catering. This is a brilliant side-business I'm sure. Unfortunately on the night we were there it seemed that the kitchen couldn't keep up. I would definitely recommend Tonic, I know how good it can be, but perhaps check first if they will also be catering a function before making your reservation.

http://www.tonicmillthorpe.com.au/


The absolute highlight of our trip was our lunch at Racine, the restaurant at La Colline, a vineyard just outside of Orange (about 10-15 mins from the town centre) on Saturday.

I had eaten there once before, but the restaurant has since changed hands. The current chef & team were behind the restaurant at Mayfield Vineyard, also in Orange, that received allot of positive attention in the last couple of years. They decamped to the restaurant at La Colline about 9-12 months ago (I think).

This meal was quite possibly one of the best I have ever had in my life. Everything was just perfect: the setting, the service (a lovely, friendly, endlessly obliging waiter named Mark), and the meal was just amazing.

This is a picture of my brilliant dessert, a quirky take on peach melba. An ensemble of total yumminess: berry coulis w/ a biscuit base, vanilla ice-cream, topped w/ a poached peach, and a toffee cage sitting on top of it all. It was just wonderful.

I cannot remember exactly what I had for my entree, other that it was delicious. My main was a 'poached' fillet of ocean trout that just melted on the tongue: one of the best pieces of fish I have ever had.

The wine we ordered with our lunch was also wonderful: Mark recommended La Colline's Pinot Noir, which was a revelation. It was unlike any Pinot I have ever tried, and I promptly bought a few bottles to take home with me.

2 courses are $60, 3 courses are $70.

If you eat pub-grub for all of your meals in Orange (and you can, the pubs are great), make 1 meal a foodie meal & spend it at Racine.

Ricotta Hotcakes

And a big shout-out to Cam!

This is based on Bill Granger's recipe for his famous ricotta hotcakes. I must admit I am not a Bill Granger fan. On the whole I find his recipes don't work. I have made several attempts at different things of his, and they have almost never turned out. And I don't think I am the only one to think so: a colleague of mine went to a bookshop looking to buy one of Bill's books, and was told me the bookseller that "We don't stock his books, his recipes don't work" !!! On the other hand I do know a few big fans of his . . . maybe you can let me know what you think?

That said, these ricotta hotcakes are always a winner. Given my trepidation when it comes to eggwhites, I have always been very happy at how these consistently turn out well.

Ricotta Hotcakes

1+1/3 cup ricotta; 3/4 cup milk; 4 eggs, separated; 1 cup plain flour; 1 tsp baking powder; pinch salt.

Mix the ricotta, milk & 

yolks together in a bowl.

Sift the flour, baking powder 

& salt into a bowl. 

Add the ricotta mix slowly to the flour 

mix and stir until just combined.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold half of the eggwhites through 

the batter w/ a metal spoon.

Mix the last half of the 

eggwhites through the batch.

Ladle or pour (it is a thick batter, so it doesn't pour well: I recommend ladling!) into a very warm frying pan that has had a small knob of butter melted in it. Keep the heat on medium.

Cook for 2-4 minutes depending on how effective your frying pan is. Once the underside is cooked, carefully flip it over. The top side will still be quite raw so you will need to flip it carefully, and cook for a further 3 minutes. 

Only do one at a time! Keep this one warm in the oven and continue with the rest of the batter until all done.

This mixture should yield about 4 large hotcakes.

I served these with yogurt from Harris Farm, and a warm berry compote: take a heap of frozen berries, put in an oven dish & put into an oven @ 160'. After 10 minutes, put in a tablespoon or so of brown sugar & mix it through the berries. Cook for a further 10 minutes (or I just keep it cooking until all the hotcakes are done).

Wine Match!

Serve with champagne & guava juice for a gorgeous, special brunch.

Mum's 60th birthday Recipe Requests - Shortcrust Pastry

So, I think it is fair to say that one of the cookery, um, skills (?) I am best known for is anything pastry related.

Generally sweet pastry, the kind that goes with apple pie, pecan pie, and all those good things.

For Mum's birthday I made a couple of savoury tartlets. One was filled with roast vegetables, the other with caramelised onions & goats cheese. The next post will be musings on the subject of tarlet-fillings.

This is how I made the tartlet shells: it is a recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 1.

Basic Shortcrust Pastry
2 cups plain flour
145g (5oz) butter
some iced water

Process the flour & the butter in a food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. As I have noted in my previous post it is important not to overwork the pastry mix. Always bear this in mind: there is nothing more dispiriting than tough, flat pastry.

Once you have 'breadcrumbs' slowly, in small increments, add enough iced water to form a smooth dough. I usually find that it doesn't come together into a 'ball', and adding more water ruins the mix. What I do is add a table spoon or two of the iced water, and once you have blended it through the mix, turn off the motor and take a teaspoon and press it against the mix. If it looks like it will 'hold' so that you can form into a smooth ball. It will likely take several tablespoons, but it can vary: in my experience there is no rhyme or reason as to how much water it takes!  Once you have the mixture to the right consistency turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and very gently knead & roll into a circular disk, wrap in clingwrap, and refrigerate for one hour.

You can then roll it out and shape it as required e.g. for a large pie tin, or for individual tartlets.

Individual Tartlets

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Dip a large, upended tumbler glass in flour, and then use it to cut out circles from the pastry, and then line a muffin tray. I use the tumbler as I find cookie-cutters to be too small. Just pick something that will give you a smooth edge, & the right shape.

NEVER grease the tray first when baking pastry: there is enough butter in the thing to stop it from sticking!

Once you've filled all 12 muffin-holes w/ the pastry, place it into the freezer for 20 minutes.

Line each uncooked tartlet case with a square of baking paper, and baking weights (rice, pulses etc work too). Pop into an oven preheated to 180'c for 12 minutes, remove weights & baking paper, and put back into the oven for another 12 minutes, or until golden.

You can fill these whilst still warm, you can let them cool & then fill, or you can let them cool, then put them into the freezer to save for another time.

Mum's 60th birthday Recipe Requests - Lemon Syrup Cake

So I hosted my mother's 60th birthday last night, and it was a lovely evening.

For the birthday cake I made a delicious lemon cake, and it really was so yummy! By request, here is the recipe:

Lemon Syrup Cake 
This cake is very easy to make, and it is just delicious. If at all possible, serve it still slightly warm from the oven with a dollop of thick cream. This has a wonderful lemon flavour, and don't worry about the syrup, it isn't either to citrusy or too sweet: it really is just perfect.

Ingredients
Cake
melted butter
250g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
grated zest of 1 lemon
200g caster sugar
250g softened unsalted butter
4 large eggs
Syrup
2/3 cup caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 160'c. Line a 24cm springform tin with baking paper. Brush paper & sides of tin well w/ melted butter. Stir flour, salt & baking powder into a bowl.

In a food processor, blitz (really, really blitz) the lemon zest & sugar in a food processor, then add the softened butter until thick & pale.

Add 2 of the eggs, pulse well to combine, then the1/2 flour, the last 2 eggs, then the rest of the flour, pulsing to combine well in between each addition.

Tip the batter into the prepared tin, and bake in an oven for approx 1 hour.

To make the syrup, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat.

Cool the cake for a few minutes in the tin before allowing to cool on a rack. Pierce the cake in a few places before pouring the syrup over, so that it really soaks in.

This is from Stephanie Alexander's seminal book: 'The Cook's Companion'.

She recommends allowing the syrup-soaked cake to cool completely before serving.

If this were a cake for afternoon tea or similar, serving the cake cool is what I would do.

As I noted above, last night I served it warm w/ a dollop thick cream, and it was fantastic. I'd do it this way if you were after a more 'dessert' type of treat.

Wine Match!

This is lovely with a simple glass of champagne for a tres elegant afternoon tea or dessert. A nice riesling could be good too - ask your bottle shop to recommend one to work with lemon flavours; you wouldn't want a riesling high in sugar as that would just be overwhelming I think. If you wanted the ultimate citrus hit, you could serve this with a glass of chilled lemoncello. 

Update: Raspberry & Oat Bars

I made (& then blogged about) these quite late last night, as my pesky cold wouldn't allow me to fall asleep. As they were straight from the oven when I posted the recipe, I hadn't had much of a chance try them (though the smell was just amazing).

O. M. G!! These are freaking awesome!!!

I think the choice of raspberry jam was very important: I used Harris Farm (own brand) raspberry jam.

Why Harris Farm own-brand? Well, when I  looked at the ingredient list of the many, many yummy looking jams they had & compared them (including the expensive fru-fru ones), the Harris Farm jam's list of ingredients stood out as being the best: raspberries (50%), sugar, pectin.

As in: the only 3 ingredients you would find in proper jam like Grandma used to make (assuming your grandma was into jam making that is). All of the other jams had more than 3 ingredients, including preservatives, fillers etc.

The quality of the jam is evidenced by the amazing flavour from these little bars of joy.

These, ladies & gentleman, are a recipe-box keeper!

Delights from Ottolenghi: Raspberry & Oat Bars

And a massive shout out to the gorgeous & much missed Sophie Rose! This recipe comes from 'Ottolenghi: The Cookbook' which was sent to me especially from London by Miss Rose for my birthday last year. Her birthday present for last year is still wrapped in tissue paper & sitting on my dresser: she is a much better friend than I am!

I have never eaten at either of the Ottolenghi establishments, but all I hear is how fabulous they are, and if the recipe's in the cookbook are anything to go by, I can see why it is so popular.

They have a cookbook of new vegetarian recipe's coming out, many of which can be found in a column by Yotam Ottolenghi in my favourite newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/thenewvegetarian

Unfortunately, the cookbooks are not available in Australia, though you may be able to order them online (though they aren't available in the US either, so maybe check a UK based website).

This was a really easy recipe, and I tweaked it a little based on what I had in my pantry: I used self raising flour instead of the plain + baking powder combo, and I used what nuts I had, so I am giving you my recipe, not the original one.

Raspberry & Oat Bars
Base
120g self raising flour
100g unsalted butter, diced
60g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
80g whole rolled oats

Filling
220g raspberry jam

Topping
280g almonds
(or 280g any combo of nuts)
100g butter
75g caster sugar
40ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence


Preheat the oven to 170'c'. Lightly grease a 20cm square tin & line w/ baking paper.

To make the base, sift the flower into a bowl, and add the butter, sugar & salt, and rub everything together with your fingertips to form crumbs. Stir in the oats, and make sure you work it all together to get a good consistency.

Spread mix over the base of the tin; try not to press down too much, you want the base to remain light. Bake for 20 minutes, or until light brown.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool a little, and then spread the jam over the base.

For the topping, place the nuts in a large bowl. In a small saucepan heat the butter, sugar, milk & vanilla. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then pour the mixture over the nuts & stir together.

Pack the nut mix evenly over the jam & return to the oven for 30 minutes, until the nuts have turned a nice golden brown.

Leave to cool, then remove from the tin & slice into bars or squares.