salmon, asparagus, tomato and basil risotto.

An indulgent salmon recipe with an Italian twist, featuring tomatoes, wilted spinach, grilled asparagus and a hint of basil. This risotto is finished with a spoonful of cream cheese stirred through, giving it a light and summery flavour. Perfect for summery evenings when you still fancy some comfort food. And it goes towards your five a day too of course... 

asparagus and mozzarella risotto with gooey poached egg.

with asparagus coming into full season in the next month or so, i've noticed an abundance of this lovely vegetable hitting vegetable markets and supermarket shelves alike. one of my favourite vegetables (though i'm still not sure what the plural is) i thought it was about time i put up my asparagus and mozzerella risotto recipe. complete with a gooey poached egg.

prawn and pea risotto.

shopping list
♥ 200g arborio risotto rice
♥ 180g frozen jumbo prawns
♥ 100g peas
♥ 200ml vegetable stock
♥ one white onion, chopped
♥ two garlic cloves, chopped
♥ block of parmigiano reggiano
♥ a knob of butter
♥ lots of black pepper

makes two large portions.

so i decided to make risotto for my lovely friend nicky. with her as chief taster of course!

begin by caramelising the garlic and onion in a pan on a low heat with butter. 

after about ten minutes, add the risotto rice and lightly toast by moving around the pan for about thirty seconds before adding the stock. 

next, simmer for around 20 minutes whilst adding the stock bit by bit. add a little bit of cheese and stir it in - especially if you like your risotto extra creamy! 

don't be afraid to make more stock if you think it needs more - just don't let it stick to the pan and keep on stirring.

lastly, add the prawns about ten minutes before the end and peas five minutes before the end. it should (hopefully) all come together so that the prawns and peas have defrosted at the same time the rice is cooked.  

serve with a little black pepper, grated cheese and a smile.

grilled aubergine, leek and mushroom risotto

serves four


shopping list
♥ one aubergine
♥ three leeks
♥ handful of mushrooms
♥ one red onion
♥ 250g risotto or paella rice
♥ 3 tablespoons of philly
♥ vegetable stock
♥ cherry tomatoes to garnish

now i should probably begin by explaining how this particular dish came about and the unusual choice of ingredients! it was basically a bit of a "bung it" and it made me feel a little like i was on ready, steady, cook! when you have to make a dish out of odds and ends. i even chopped everything up nicely, see? which is all part of the fun of course!


so hopefully that explains the paella rice you can see as well as the lack of garlic in a risotto (dun, dun dunnn). oh and it also made it nice and veggie too!


so i began, as all great recipes do, with caramelising the onions in the pan on a low heat. when cooking with aubergine the first thing i do is slice them up and leave them to rest with a bit of salt. i'm not really a fan of adding salt to food (always black pepper for me!) but i learnt that it takes away the bitterness you sometimes get.


in a separate griddle pan, or grill if you prefer, begin grilling the aubergines. so now you should have the onions cooking nicely and aubergines beginning to soften. the aubergines will take around 10-15 mins so just keep turning.


next add in the rice - lightly toasting at first and then very soon after adding in a splash of stock as and when. as i mentioned before, i created this when using up food in my cupboard. and i just so happened to have paella rice instead of risotto. so hands up that this isn't strictly a risotto! however - the difference between the grains is that risotto rice is creamier which is why paella rice suits having a more tomato based, spicey accompaniments. so cue philly cheese - i used this to create the creamier texture and flavour i desired. low in fat too  :)


keep adding in the stock when the rice seems like it may stick. you then add in the chopped leeks, then mushrooms and lastly the aubergines, chopped up. you could leave one slice for the top like i did too :) you then put in the philly cheese. you don't have to use it of course and totally up to you if you want to use more or less. when cooking with philly i pretty much always put it in last or at least near the end as it can go gloopy and separate under heat.


my tip for any risotto is whatever vegetables or meat you use... just think of how you want them all to come together in the end and how each component might need to be cooked. so if you're cooking with meat, perhaps start that first or in a seperate pan. think about how if you want to use bacon you might want to grill it and slice it up. or perhaps if you use veg, for example frozen peas, how these might cook or defrost in the stock like they would if you were simply boiling them. i really so find that risotto or paella works out different pretty much every time - you just need to really mother it and keep adding stock or changing the heat when needed really. you'll be making all sorts of combinations of perfect risotto in no time!


if you like this you also might like my parma ham and mozzarella risotto recipe. over and out! x

parma ham and mozzarella risotto.

shopping list.
♥ 80g of arborio risotto rice per person
♥ a ball of mozzarella
♥ a few slices of parma ham per person
♥ a jug of vegetable stock at the ready
♥ a knob of butter
♥ a couple of cloves of garlic
♥ a red onion
♥ a bag of spinach
♥ a cheeky dash of white wine
♥ as much parmigiana reggiano cheese as you fancy

this is probably one of my favourite meals so far. i came across it in a restaurant in prague last easter and instantly wanted, no needed, to recreate it.

the key to a good risotto is preparation. you need to have all your ingredients chopped, boiled, grated and on stand by to avoid any disastrous consequences. rice stuck to the bottom of a pan is just never good in the washing up pile. and it doesn't taste half as good either.

so for this recipe, begin by putting the kettle on to make the stock. there are no rules on how much to make, but as i said you don't want any unexpected rice-sticking situations so go for one cube and the biggest jug you can.

next chop up your onion and garlic. you also need about two handfuls per person of roughly chopped spinach, but keep some if you want to decorate with afterwards. plus the spinach leaves taste AMAZING with the parma ham parcels.

you also need to chop the mozzarella into slices. i'd say you get about six to eight per ball. wrap the parma ham around the slices and arrange on a tray to grill later. this is something i sometimes leave to do whilst the rice is absorbing the stock, just so i don't get too impatient. though this is with experience. well, i say experience, more just overdosing on risotto.

you will also need to grate some parm reg. this may seem like a lot of prep, but think how excited you'll be will all the little bowls of ingredients around you. it'll feel like masterchef. maybe even invite a bald cockney and a dr fox lookalike round to taste and judge your masterpiece.

okay so now you can start. begin by throwing the knob of butter into a pan (literally if you like, everyone loves an ainsley harriott) followed by the onions. keep it on a low heat as you only want to soften them. if it starts looking like the onion grill/pit at a fast food van, stop and begin again. the better you do the onions, the nicer the risotto will be. if they are burnt then you will really taste it later.

next add the chopped garlic. again make sure they do not go much more than a golden brown as if they do your risotto will have a bitter taste.

drum roll please. you are now ready to add the risotto rice. add the rice to just the onions and garlic at first to lightly toast and infuse the rice. then after no more than a minute, add a dash of the stock.

then next part is a waiting game. keep adding the water bit by bit over about half an hour and stirring to keep the rice moist. nurture it as it were your child. no walking off to check your facebook feed or re-organise your blackberry contacts, oh no. you may also add a little wine or black pepper to taste.

about five minutes before you think the risotto is ready, put the parma ham parcels under the grill on a medium heat. at about the same time, stir in the chopped spinach to the mixture. and lastly, stir in some grated parm reg to taste. the more you put in the creamier your risotto will be. i would say less is more, as you could add more cheese on top later.

these last few steps should mean that your risotto and parcels are ready at the same time. the risotto will be ready when the rice has softened and there is no watery stock left in the pan. the parcels will be ready when they look crispy and the cheese is melted, as in my picture.

serve and arrange with the parcels and a few spinach leaves on top. perhaps a crunchy twist of black pepper and a sprinkle of parm reg to finish. and then, enjoy!

oh, and if you need any more convincing of how amazingly tasty this dish is. i actually spent an extra ten days in prague due to the icelandic volcano flight cancellations. and this, my friends, is what got me through.