LEEK & DOLCELATTE RISOTTO

It has been a very long time since I last posted a recipe but gradually I am starting to cook again. My little monkey has now turned two and life is slightly easier albeit she still wants to be carried / held as soon as I start cooking. Thankfully she can now be bribed with TV. My husband and I decided to cook this for lunch today and it was the perfect recipe for such a cold, rainy day. Risotto has always been one of my favourite foods and I am obsessed with blue cheese. This is a recipe from the Waitrose magazine last year and it took around 50 minutes in total to prepare and cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

4 medium leeks / 3 large leeks
50g butter
350g risotto rice
125ml dry white wine (I left this out)
1.5l fresh vegetable stock, heated (I only had chicken)
100g dolcelatte, cut into cubes
2 handfuls of grated Parmesan (plus extra to serve)

Slice the leeks, both the white and the green bits, into rings. In a large frying pan, fry the green parts in about 15g of butter with a pinch of salt until softened. This took about five minutes. When they are ready, tip into a bowl and cover.

Melt the remaining butter (35g) into the same frying pan and fry the rest of the leeks with a pinch of salt for around 8 minutes, until they are soft. Next stir in the 350g rice for a minute or two until hot and thoroughly coated in the butter. If you are using wine, this is the point where you turn up the heat and tip in 125ml dry white wine. Bubble and stir until the liquid has been absorbed.

Add two ladlefuls of hot stock and cook, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Add another ladleful and repeat. Carry on doing this until the stock is finished and the rice is al dente. This normally takes about 17-20 minutes. 

Stir in the 100g dolcelatte and the two handfuls of Parmesan, season and cover. Leave to stand for 4 minutes. We turned the heat down very very low at this point. 

Serve in bowls, topped with some of the fried leeks, a drizzle of olive oil and a scattering of Parmesan.

This was delicious, very creamy but not too rich as the leeks balance out the cheese. Ours definitely needed seasoning but it all tasted incredible. I loved the combination of the leeks and the blue cheese and I would be tempted to add some lardons next time. Unfortunately there is no way I will be able to persuade the kids to eat this as they are not blue cheese fans, however that just means more for me :-)

PIZOOKIE (A PIZZA SIZE COOKIE)

A couple of months ago I went to a fantastic restaurant on the Chelsea / Fulham border called Megan's and I had the most amazing pudding. It was basically a warm giant cookie with Nutella in the middle served with vanilla ice cream. The waiter tried to suggest it might be too much for just me but of course being such a piglet, I managed to finish the whole lot off and I have been dreaming about it ever since. Megan's isn't very pram friendly so I decided the quickest way I can have this pudding again is to make it myself.

This recipe is from Waitrose magazine and it took about 45 minutes to make. You need to leave it to cool for at least 10 minutes at the end.

Ingredients for 8-10 slices

125g salted butter, at room temperature
150g light soft brown sugar
100g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
250g milk chocolate, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 4.

Put the butter and sugars in a bowl and using electric beaters, beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

Then beat the eggs in one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Tip into the butter mixture, beat until just combined and then stir through the chocolate chunks.

Spoon into a 20cm ovenproof frying pan or similar size cake tin. I used a 23cm cake tin which I sprayed with cooking spray and then lined with baking paper so it was easy to remove.

Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes until golden, (25 minutes yields a molten centre whereas 30 minutes will be slightly more set).

Cool for 10 minutes at least and then serve with a big dollop of ice cream if you like.

There are no words to describe how absolutely scrumptious this is.....it is so good I have made it twice this week! This pizookie is very easy to make and it tastes heavenly. Mine was incredibly soft, warm and gooey and it went perfectly with the ice cream. One word of warning, it is not good for the bikini body!!! If you manage to resist eating it all in one go, it will keep for a few days.

RAREBIT CAULIFLOWER STEAKS

My husband needs to eat less sugar and less carbs....basically his two favourite things. Whilst I believe I am healthy and in pretty good shape, I could do with a little more "clean living" however I love comfort eating, covering everything in cheese and I am addicted to milky coffee with sweetener. 

Anyway the sun was shining yesterday so we decided to barbecue some beef to up our protein intake and then as a side I made these rarebit cauliflower steaks. This is a recipe from Olive magazine although I omitted the beer (!) and it took about 25 minutes.

Ingredients for 2 people:

1 large cauliflower
25g butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
100g grated mature cheddar
1 tsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard
1 small egg yolk
A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200C / fan 180C / gas mark 6.

Chop the cauliflower in two down the middle and then cut a thick slice from each half to make 2 steaks. You will have some cauliflower left over - we ate this dipped in hummus.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Season the cauliflower steaks and then fry on each side until golden. This took about 8 minutes.

Lift the steaks onto a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes or until tender when pierced with a knife. Next time I will cut the stalks off the the cauliflower steaks as they are pretty tough.

Meanwhile put the cheese, mustard, egg yolk and Worcestershire sauce (if using) into a bowl and mash together. Season once again. Spoon the cheese mix over the cauliflower steaks when they are ready and grill for 4-5 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

These were really good and could be a meal in itself. I love welsh rarebit, it is something we had at weekends for lunch during my childhood and using cauliflower here is certainly a healthier version. I reckon my daughter Arabella would also be a fan. A great alternative side dish.

BAKED FETA WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND GARLIC TOAST

We have barely done any entertaining since our baby was born almost a year ago and I have forgotten how much I enjoy it. In the past year I think I can count on one hand the nights I have stayed up post 9pm! However last night we had our friends Hard and Fran round for supper and so I decided to cook a couple of new dishes. The first one being this baked feta which I did as a starter / canapé whilst we had some drinks. The recipe is from Olive magazine and it was very easy and it took about 25 minutes.

Ingredients for 4 people as a canapé or 2 people as a starter:

Olive oil
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
200g feta
4 slices of sourdough
1 clove of garlic, halved
A drizzle of balsamic vinegar
A few leaves of oregano, chopped (I didn't have some so just used dried leaves)

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6.

Drizzle a little oil in the bottom of a oven proof dish and then add the tomatoes, the feta and season. Add a dash more olive oil and then cover with foil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Just before it is ready, toast the sourdough, rub with the cut side of the garlic (you don't need to rub too hard - a little goes a long way), and then drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Remove the feta from the oven, drizzle with some balsamic vinegar (I was a little heavy handed here) and sprinkle with some oregano.

If you are into presentation, I would definitely recommend fresh oregano leaves as it will make the dish look so much better. Even though I had used dry herbs, this was still mouthwateringly tasty and I am very pleased to say everyone enjoyed it. It was a little messy to eat - my husband Pascal suggested next time I use bigger slices of toast - but I don't think it mattered. According to my daughter, making a mess is a sign of food appreciation!

This would also make a great lunch and you could serve it with a green salad.

SMASHED CHICKPEA & FETA SALAD

It was so good to see the sun today; like true Brits we were immediately in our flip-flops, the paddling pool was out and a barbecue planned. 

In my family, there is always a disagreement over what side to serve with the meat - I like a vegetable kebab of mushrooms, courgettes, onions and peppers. However that is my daughter Arabella's idea of hell. She would normally opt for something simple such as chopped cucumber but that is far too boring for me. Pascal's ideal would be a pasta or potato salad but I try and push him to something a bit lighter as neither of us are "summer body ready"!! So instead today we compromised on this salad which I found in Olive magazine. It took about 15 minutes in total to prepare.

Ingredients for 4 people:

Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 small red chilli, seeded and diced (optional - we left this out)
2 x 400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 a cucumber, diced
12 baby plus or cherry tomatoes, halved
100g feta, crumbled
A small bunch of dill, parsley or mint, chopped (I used mint as that is what we had in the garden)

In a large bowl, lightly mash the chickpeas with a potato masher or the end of a rolling pin. I didn't realise I was meant to rinse the chickpeas first and thankfully it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. Add the onions, cucumber and tomatoes.

In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon juice, 4 tbsp of olive oil, cumin seeds and chilli (if using) and season generously. Then pour into the chickpea mix and toss together.

Leave to marinate for 5 minutes and then stir through the feta and herbs to serve.

This was a super successful salad. We are all huge hummus fans (despite the effect it has on my husband's bottom) and so love chickpeas. This tasted very fresh and flavoursome and I loved the Greek salad aspect - feta is one of my favourite cheeses. I think my daughter Arabella would have preferred it with goat's cheese which would also work. This was a perfect barbecue side however it would also work on it's own as a main with or without some fresh bread depending on how good (or naughty) you are feeling!