Forever Nigella 5 - Moonblushed tomato and goat's cheese salad

I think I'm sneaking this one in just in time..... again. I always plan to be more organised, but then somehow, time seems to run away with me and before I know it it's the end of the month, deadline day and I still haven't submitted my entry. This month the theme is salad, which is unfortunate given the weather we've been having. I suppose casserole as a theme in May just wouldn't have seemed right in the northern hemisphere! This month's Forever Nigella, founded by Sarah at Maisoncupcake, is being hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen.

My salad is based on one given by Nigella in Nigella Express. I only purchased this book fairly recently and although I've bookmarked many recipes in it, I've yet to actually make any of them. Whilst flicking through my many Nigella books in search of salad, I spied Nigella's moonblush tomatoes and although the weather isn't playing nicely at the moment, we do at least have the first of the new season's tomatoes to play with. The recipe is followed by one for moonblush tomato and goat's cheese salad, which is what I have adapted here.

I didn't much fancy green leaves so left those out and my goats cheese is a firm one rather than soft. I also didn't moonblush my tomatoes - not organised enough, but I was roasting lots of things so added some tomatoes too. I have to confess though, that I wasn't really a big fan of the thyme on the tomatoes. I might use oregano next time. The goats cheese I used was Inglewhite which wasn't too strong and goaty. It paired nicely with the tomatoes.

In the background of the photos you can see the soda bread I made to accompany the salad. It was absolutely divine - recipe to follow!

Courgette Risotto

I don't often post savoury recipes. I love baking, and tend to share the fruits of my labours with my work colleagues or family if I happen to be visiting them at the right time, but my savoury side isn't as well developed. I blame it on living alone. It doesn't seem worth it half the time to make something interesting just for me, but I must get out of this mindset and start making more of an effort. Anyway, I was visiting J and T this weekend and we decided that we wanted courgette risotto. I've blogged about mushroom risotto before here and I use pretty much the same method for making the courgette risotto.

The inspiration for the recipe originally came from the BBC Food website, from their video section, Get Cooking, which is really instructive. The recipe is one of Sophie Grigson's, Courgette and Herb Risotto. I have to admit that I've never made it with all of the herbs specified (or in fact, any of them!) because lots of small amounts of fresh herbs are not budget friendly and the only thing growing in my garden at the moment (aside from weeds and grass) is rosemary, which wouldn't have quite the desired effect!

However, I think my take is good too!

Courgette risotto
Ingredients (for 3 people)
Olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 medium-large courgettes
250g arborio risotto rice
100ml dry sherry
750ml-1 litre vegetable stock (I use Marigold Bouillon powder)
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
- Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large-ish pan, and add the chopped onion. Sweat slowly until softened but not coloured, about 5 minutes or so.
- Coarsely grate about 1/3 -1/2 of your courgette into the pan and continue to cook over a medium heat until the courgette has started to soften.
- In the meantime, coarsely chop the remaining courgette and saute over a medium heat in a large frying pan.
- Add the risotto rice to the grated courgettte/onion mix and stir for around a minute to coat the rice, which should go translucent.
- Add the dry sherry and simmer until it is all absorbed.
- Start adding the warm vegetable stock, a ladleful at a time keeping stirring as much as you can. The stock needs to simmer while it is being added, if the heat is too low the rice won't cook. Too high and the stock will evaporate before the rice has had a chance to absorb it.
- Add the stock until the rice is cooked to your liking. Al-dente is traditional, but I like mine softer.
- When it is cooked, add salt and pepper to taste and stir in a knob of butter and some grated parmesan (as much as you like!) and grate some more parmesan to add at the table.

J made a lovely rosemary and rock salt foccacia and a green salad to go with the risotto, which were great accompaniments.

Food for the Fireworks

I went up to visit J yesterday as we wanted to go to the firework display together. It's becoming a tradition for us, this is the third year we've watched them together. The weather has been rubbish the past couple of days and yesterday evening was no exception - windy and cold. That's ok in moderation, it adds to the atmosphere of the firework display and we decided to have something warming and hearty before we went out. Meal of choice, mushroom risotto. We both like this and it seems appropriate and autumnal for a windy day. Plus, both J and I have a sweet tooth and love puddings and as J said, risotto is essentially savoury rice pudding! (I tend to make my risotto more on the soft than 'al dente' side. Yes, this probably makes it less authentic but I really don't care - it's my dinner after all!)

Mushroom risotto (serves 2)

I don't so much follow a recipe for this, just add what seems about right.

Pour boiling water over a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms (about 5-10g) and leave to rehydrate for 15 minutes or so. Soften a finely chopped onion in a glug of olive oil until soft but not coloured. Add chopped mushrooms of your choice (I used two large open portabella mushrooms plus a handful of brown chestnut ones that wanted using up) and turn the heat up high to draw out the water from the mushrooms and brown them a little. Add risotto rice (I used 150g for the two of us) and stir for a couple of minutes to coat in oil. Add a good glug of dry sherry and allow to evaporate. Add the mushroom soaking liquid plus the chopped up rehydrated mushrooms. Don't add the gritty bit of soaking liquid at the bottom of the bowl! Make up 1/2 litre of vegetable stock (I used Marigold bouillon powder) and add gradually to the risotto, allowing it to dry out a bit between additions. Don't have the heat high enough to boil the rice, it needs to be a bit slower than that. Keep stirring. Yes it may be slightly tedious (although I quite enjoy it, and it warms you up nicely!) but the end result is well worth it. The stock will probably take about 25 minutes to add. Test a grain of rice to see if it's done. It should be slightly 'al dente' but I like mine soft, so I keep going until it's lovely and soft and gungy!!! Season with black pepper and salt (if you want, I don't bother with salt as the mushrooms are tasty anyway and the bouillon powder is salty) to taste and stir in a big load of grated parmesan. Serve straight away.

We had it with a lovely green salad prepared by J; lettuce, spinach and avocado with a vinaigrette dressing, which offsets the rich risotto perfectly and adds a bit of crunch.

In the end we decided it was raining too much to go out and see the fireworks, but all was not lost because J has a fabulous view of the fireworks from one of the upper floor windows at the back of her house, so we watched in comfort there! And propping the window open slightly meant that we could hear the fireworks banging and get a little bit of a draught to simulate being out in the open. No substitute for actually being there but better than being drenched or missing them entirely. And opening the window meant I could attempt to take photos of the fireworks. I think they've come out rather well, considering that we were quite a long way from the display!

Happy bonfire night!!!