BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CHORIZO & ROSEMARY RISOTTO

Risotto has always been one of my favourite recipes, although I rarely have it in a restaurant unless it is a very smart one, as it is easy to get wrong. Before I learnt to cook, my sister would very kindly make me risottos of all different combinations depending on what was in the fridge. My favourite would always be mushroom, bacon and lots of cheese however as my daughter Arabella is mushroom-phobic, we rarely have them. 

Last week I found this recipe in the Sunday Times magazine however it used pumpkin rather than butternut squash. I couldn't find pumpkin in the shops so I substituted it for squash and it worked very well. Risottos are simple but time confusing and this took about 40 minutes.

Ingredients for 4 people:

450g pumpkin or squash, skinned, deseeded and cut into small pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

50g butter

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

300ml dry white wine

300g risotto rice

200g chorizo, finely chopped

2 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 litre hot stock

100g Parmesan, grated

Chop all the ingredients in preparation and make up the stock.

Bring a large pan of boiling water to the boil, add the pumpkin / squash and cook for around 6 minutes until it begins to soften. I did about 7 minutes. I forgot to cut my pieces so just did it after they were cooked.

In a large non stick frying pan over a medium heat, fry the celery and the onion in the olive oil and half the butter until it begins to soften. This took about 5 minutes. Next add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the rice and stir until it becomes opaque (a couple of minutes). Add the wine and cook for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

Add the chorizo and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the pumpkin / squash and stir in half of the rosemary leaves.

Now for the time consuming part! Add the stock one ladle at a time, stirring constantly to give a creamy texture for about 15 minutes. This is good exercise for your arm! 

Season with salt and pepper, add the remaining rosemary and butter and about half the Parmesan. Cover and rest until creamy - we were all starving so only waited a few minutes! Serve with the remaining Parmesan and tuck in.

The combination of the rosemary, squash and chorizo is powerful but it works very well. It is a perfect meal for this autumnal weather that is starting to appear. My husband, daughter and I all loved this and will be fighting over the leftovers. I am definitely keen to try this again with pumpkin - I reckon around Halloween will be the perfect time when we are trying to decide what to do with all the leftover pumpkin!!

CHICKEN, BACON & CHEESE ROLLS

These school holidays I have found all the cooking so tiresome and I am constantly trying to decide what to serve for both lunch and dinner, stay healthy (ish) and have some variety in our diet. It is not easy. 

When I was growing up, my father did most of the cooking for the family. My mother loved food (she used to drive us mad with her menu reading - a trait I have now inherited) but she had no confidence in cooking. Despite this, she LOVED to do cooking classes. I have kept some of her recipes and I know she will be so happy that I am cooking them......as she never did!! I decided to try this simple chicken dish of her's that took around 35 minutes.

Ingredients for 2 people:

6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless (I only had 5)
3 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Around 90g of Gruyere or Cheddar cheese
6 slices of smoked streaky bacon
Wooden cocktail sticks

To serve:
Garlic Mayonnaise
(You can just buy this but I made it myself with):
100ml mayonnaise
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
10g spring onions, finely chopped 

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Unroll each chicken thigh and cut away all the nasties. I love chicken thighs, I much prefer them to the breast, but I hate this part of preparing them!

Spread about a teaspoon of mustard on to each thigh.

Cut the cheese into fat matchsticks of around 15g each and place one in the middle of each thigh. Then roll up the chicken.

Wrap each chicken thigh with a rash of bacon and secure with a couple of cocktail sticks. Put the chicken rolls in a baking tray (I lined the tray with foil) in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Cut into the chicken to check it is cooked before serving.

While the chicken was cooking I made the garlic mayonnaise and I basically just copied a random recipe from the Internet. However I had to change the measurements as otherwise I was making a week's supply of mayo!! it was very simple to make, I just mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl and voila!

Despite all the cheese melting out of our chicken rolls, I scooped it all up with a spoon (waste not want not) and these worked perfectly. I love how tender chicken thighs are and I am a big fan of the cheese and bacon combo. These worked perfectly with a green salad for me and cucumber and sweetcorn for my daughter. Another easy recipe to add to the list. These can also be made up previously and frozen until needed. Just defrost fully before you cook. Perfect for the busy school afternoons that are soon to be upon us.

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.

VALENTINA, PUTNEY

Last weekend we wanted to do a family activity, however it is quite hard to find something relatively inexpensive, local and suitable for a baby, a tween and two adults! After much deliberation, we settled on a trip to Battersea Park as there is mini golf and a great playground. We decided the winner of the golf, could choose the restaurant for lunch. I wanted to go to Tendido Cuatro but Bella was desperate for us to try Valentina which is her favourite restaurant near her father's house. In the end Pascal won and he went for Bella's choice.

Valentina started as a small family delicatessen in East Sheen in 1991 however it soon expanded into a restaurant as well and now there are 8 branches in London and Surrey.  

We went to the one in Putney and I was impressed as soon as I walked in as there were tasters of mortadella and mozzarella on ciabatta in the entrance...I love a bit of free food. The Valentina concept reminds me of Carluccio's with the blue and white colour scheme and the gorgeous appetising food on display. I wanted to pull up a chair there and then!

There was a fantastic musician playing to the diners and it was a pleasure to listen to him while we perused the menu. There was a lot to choose from - antipasti, salads, pizza and pasta. There is also a children's menu for £6.50. It was a spacious airy restaurant with an outside terrace that looked very inviting.

We decided to share the pizza fritta to start which is fried dough sprinkled with rock salt and rosemary and served with garlic aioli. This was really good - even the baby liked it although we had to wipe off the salt. We were fighting over the last bits. It made a great change from garlic bread.

For mains Arabella had her usual all time favourite, spaghetti carbonara served English style with cream. I have to say I had serious food envy. It was a huge portion with big chunks of bacon and a heavenly creamy, cheesy sauce.

Pascal had the veal Milanese with spaghetti in a tomato and basil sauce. Like Arabella, it is his all time favourite dish. However unfortunately he wasn't very impressed. The veal was greasy and there was too much sauce on his pasta.

I ordered the Cappella Romana which is al forno tagliatelle with Italian sausage meat, cherry tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan and wrapped with smoked speck ham. I have mentioned in my blog before that I love Parmesan and I really hate it when you aren't allowed to keep the cheese at your table. The waiter very kindly covered my pasta with Parmesan but it still wasn't enough. My dish was lacking something - I am not sure what as to me it sounded like the ideal pasta recipe - sausage, cheese, ham and tomato but it wasn't as good as I was expecting. I think it needed more cheese! It wasn't bad but I just didn't love it and didn't finish my plate which is unheard of for me.

We had no room for pudding unfortunately, I had my eyes on the Italian pastries in the deli but decided to give it a miss and tuck into some ice cream at home. I was surprised when the bill came, it was nearly £70 for 3 of us which I thought was extremely steep considering we had only had one starter, no alcohol (just water and a Diet Coke) and no puddings. 
However the service was very friendly and efficient, the music was fantastic and we had really enjoyed half the meal. 

I wouldn't rush back but if a friend wanted to go, I wouldn't say no. Maybe I am just spoilt because there are so many good Italians around London. Having said that I am keen to try the deli......especially the pastries!

Valentina Putney

75 Upper Richmond Road,
London
SW15 2SR
Tel: 020 8877 9906
Email: putney@valentinafinefoods.com

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

My one year old Olympia tried a blueberry muffin the other day and she absolutely loved it so I decided I should bake some. I haven't made any since I was about 15 and so searched online for an quick and easy recipe. I feel I am cooking all the time at the moment. I like to cook in batches and then freeze it for Olympia but she seems to get through it all so quickly....a little piglet like her mummy!!

This recipe is from Inspired Taste website.

Ingredients for 10 muffins:

195g plain flour
150g granulated sugar
A pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
80ml vegetable oil
1 large egg
80ml-120ml milk (dairy or non dairy)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Line a muffin tray with 10 muffin / cupcake paper cups. Fill the remaining two cup holes with a couple of tablespoons of water to help the muffins bake evenly.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. I just used a handheld whisk.

Pour the oil into a measuring jug, crack in the egg and then add enough milk to reach the 240ml line. I added about 120ml. Next pour in the vanilla extract and whisk to combine.

Add the milk mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients and use a fork to combine. Do not over mix - you want the batter to be quite thick and "scoopable". If the batter is too dry, add a little bit of milk whereas if it is too runny, add a little flour. I had absolutely no idea whether my batter was the correct consistency, but I just went for it. Finally fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes. I did 20 minutes. To check if the muffins are cooked, the tops need to dry, not wet and if you insert a toothpick, it comes out with crumbs not wet batter. Mine didn't come out with crumbs but it wasn't wet either so I took that as a sign they were cooked.

Transfer to a cooling rack and then tuck in.

I gave one of these to my baby Olympia to do the taste test....and I am proud to say they passed with flying colours. She devoured it in a matter of minutes. I loved how many blueberries were in each muffin (so they are not too naughty). They will only last a few days at room temperature before going stale but they can be frozen. A great snack for the baby (and me)!!