Baby it's cold outside

It appears the mild winter is as distant a memory as our New Year Resolutions.  The first cold snap of 2012 is upon us.  As the temperature plummets don’t despair because as the old adage goes….every cloud has a silver lining.  Freezing cold weather brings with it the desire to cook delicious, soul pleasing comfort food.  It is futile to resist the lure of a sticky toffee pudding or beef stew with dumplings, the seductive mistress will always get her way.  On such days my vice is undoubtedly Mushroom Risotto.  Its luscious texture and alluring aroma satisfy all the senses.  Clinging to your bones as you consume it, it warms your core unlike any other food….in my humble opinion. 

Mushroom Risotto

Prep:  10mins  Cook:  30mins   Serves: 4

Ingredients

50g Dried Porcini Mushrooms

200g Chestnut Mushrooms – or any type you like
1 medium Onion
1 large clove Garlic crushed
Zest and Juice of a Lemon
200ml White wine
400g Risotto Rice
1 ¼  litres  Veg Boullion Stock
75g Parmezan cheese
6tbsp Parsley
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

Steep the Porcini Mushrooms in 200mls of hand-hot water and allow to plump up, this should take around 20mins.  Set aside for later.  Slice the Chestnut Mushrooms and sauté on a high heat in 1 tbsp of Olive Oil. 

Once browned, set the mushrooms aside for later. 

Finely chop the onion and sauté in 3tbsps of Olive oil over a medium heat until translucent.  Add the crushed Garlic, grated Lemon zest and juice and cook for 2-3 minutes. 

Add the wine, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes.

And now the rice….

Add the rice to the pan and mix well with the other ingredients.  Cook for 2 – 3 minutes or until the rice grains begin to become translucent around the edges. 

At this stage you can start to add the stock to the rice.  Add the stock a ladel-full at a time and gently stir until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next ladel-full. 

 Make sure the stock is simmering when you add it.  The best way to do this is to keep a pot of simmering stock on the stove whilst you are cooking the Risotto.

Once you have adding about 4 ladel-fulls of stock turn your attention briefly back to the Porcini Muchrooms.  Remove them from the water and squeeze out any excess water.  Roughly chop them and add to the Risotto along with the liquid they were steeped in, also add the Chestnut mushrooms. 

Gently stir until the liquid is absorbed then return to adding the stock a ladel-ful at a time.  At this stage you can remove the Garlic.  Once all the liquid has been added stir in the Chopped Parsley and Parmezan. 

Now check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Garnish with a generous shaving of parmesan and a drizzle of Olive Oil.

Spend time over stirring your Risotto.  It’s extremely therapeutic and allows you the time to dream about the summer to come.

Just like Mamma used to make.

I started this blog so that I could share my family recipes with the world.  I hope you have enjoyed what I have shared so far however today I am sharing my most secret and delicious recipe.  With this recipe you can create all number of different dishes from Parmigiana to Pasta Fagioli.  My Nonna would kill me but hear we go….

Pomodoro Sauce – The Baronello family recipe

(Tomato Pasta Sauce)

Ingredients

6 cans chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of Garlic

100g (large bunch) fresh Basil

Olive Oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

In a large bowl process the chopped tomatoes through a Food Mill.  Set aside to be used later.

In a large, heavy based Saucepan heat 3 tbsps of Olive Oil.  Peal and crush the Garlic, add to the Saucepan.  Cook over a low-med heat for 2 minutes.  Do not let the Garlic burn as it will taint the sauce and taste bitter. 

Add the tomatoes, basil and 2 tsps of salt and gently warm until it reaches a gentle simmer.  Note:  Just use the Basil leaves and place them in the sauce whole, do not chop them.

After about 15 minutes check for seasoning and adjust accordingly.  If the tomatoes seem a little tart then add a heaped tsp of Sugar.

Finish by drizzling some Extra virgin Olive Oil over the sauce. 

(I served this with meatballs)

This quantity will serve 8 people so I tend to freeze half and use half.

Such a simple and cheap dish, classic Cucina Povera.

Affogato

No matter what the season or menu, Affogato is the perfect dessert.  Made up of Ice-cream and an Espresso, even the least accomplished cook can create a fabulous treat.  For the Ice-cream I prefer to make my own.  My preferred Vanilla recipe is in my “Christmas Day Dessert” post.  I also add sugar to the Espresso before dousing the Ice-cream.  Enjoy!!

Brown paper packages tied up with string

Imagine the scene.  Lying in bed, snug as a bug, the kids have slept in (woo hoo) and I have nothing I need to get up for…..bliss!  Alas, I must suddenly leave the embrace of my duvet.  No, I don’t have to answer natures call……there is an intruding knock on the door.  Naturally I fly immediately into an unreasonable rage, grab my dressing gown and stomp down the stairs to confront the offending person who dared to spoil my serenity.  Granted last nights mascara smudged across my face may take away from the seriousness of my tone and body language.  Nonetheless, I march on.  Thankfully before I reach the door it dawns on me, I am expecting a delivery.  Not just any delivery, not the delivery of tv or celeb mag or video game or anything else designed purely to sour the soul.  I am expecting a delivery of my favourite things from the fabulous on-line deli Nife is Life www.nifeislife.com.  I first discovered this deli at their shop on Amazon in my pursuit of my best loved pop Chinotto.  I was delighted to discover they also stocked a variety of my preferred brand of Pasta, De Cecco.  I would recommend a look around their shop on the website, it’s a culinary Aladin’s Cave.  So that is why brown paper packages tied up with string are now one of my favourite things.

Christmas Day Dessert

Love, love, love Christmas.  My family is huge and has an abundance of children so Christmas is always very loud and very over-indulgent….bit like myself.  Coming from a family of feeders this joyous time of year becomes an unadulterated feeding frenzy and offers the opportunity to showcase new recipes.  And so we neatly arrive at the point of this post….Christmas Day Dessert.  No, no typo.  This clever little trio of delights deserves a capital letter on every word. I’m not usually one to blow my own trumpet, but Ta Dah!!!

So, the desert is made up of a Champagne Sorbet, Chocolate covered Ice Cream ball (the little Christmas pudding thingy) and a Chocolate Ganache.  The plate is garnished with chocolate shavings, chocolate stars, edible glitter and mini toadstools (made of marzipan).  The astute amongst you will notice a little cheat…..I bought the Ganache *shame*.  Well I love GU products so I was happy to plate it along with the home-made bits-and-bobs.  Everything…..and I mean EVERYTHING can be made in advance.

My preferred ice-cream recipe comes from the Good Food website and was developed by Angela Nilsen.

Ingredients

284ml Double Cream

300ml Full-fat Milk

115g Caster Sugar

1 Vanilla

3 Egg Yolk – please use free-range eggs

Method

Pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan, then tip in half the sugar. Slit the vanilla pod down its length and scoop out as many of the seeds as you can into the cream mixture, add to the pan along with the scrapped pod.

Heat the cream and milk over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it almost boils - you'll see a few bubbles at the edge. Take off the heat and set aside for 30 minutes so the vanilla can infuse.

Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the rest of the sugar and beat with an electric hand beater for about 2 minutes until the mixture has thickened, is paler in colour and falls in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters. Using a measuring jug, scoop out about 125ml/4fl oz of the cream mixture and beat into the egg yolks to slacken them. Reheat the cream until it just comes to the boil, take off the heat and stir in the egg yolk mixture.

Cook mixture in the pan until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon – about 8-10 mins.  Watch that it doesn't boil.

Let the mixture cool then place put the bowl of custard in the fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight, so it gets really cold.

Churn the mixture in the ice cream machine according to manufacturers instructions.  Put in a container and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Once the ice cream is made it can be formed into balls then placed back in the freezer.

Remove from freezer after 1 hour and roll in melted chocolate (I used Terry’s Chocolate Orange) then roll in Chocolate flakes. 

To remain in-line with the Christmas theme I topped the balls with a blob of white Chocolate and a few snippings of Glace Cherry (holly berries).

For the Champage Sorbet I followed a recipe from the Daily Mail website.  Never read the paper but the recipes available on-line ALWAYS work.

Ingredients

225g (8oz) granulated sugar

Juice of 1 small lemon

300ml (½pint) champagne or sparkling wine

Method

Place the sugar in a medium-sized pan with 500ml (18fl oz) cold water. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer this syrup gently for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and cool. Add the lemon juice and champagne or sparkling wine and stir well.

Pour into an ice-cream maker and churn until it is almost frozen, then turn into a freezer container and freeze overnight. (Alternatively, freeze for 8 hours, whisking with a fork every few hours to break up the crystals).

I served this in large shot glasses and decorated with edible glitter.

And now to plate…….

The Ganache should be topped with gold leaf and edible glitter.  The plate is prepped by drizzling melted chocolate over most of the plates surface.  Sprinkle the plate with chocolate shavings, chocolate stars and edible glitter (this step is optional).  Place the Ganache, Sorbet and Chocolate ice cream ball in a triangle formation.  Place two tuille biscuits at the front of the plate – side of the plate which will face the person eating it.  Finally place two small toadstools on the plate randomly…they add a nice splash of colour.

I used a bog standard tuille recipe.  Half vanilla and half coco, then I piped leaf veins onto each tuille.

(These toadstools are made out of Marzipan, red food colouring and topped with edible glitter)

Phew, sounds exhausting right? Wrong!  Everything can be made in advance so all you have to do on the day is plate up.  Meaning you can concentrate on the Main event.

Please, please, please try this…..had loads of compliments and it took hardly any effort.