Best recipes for leftovers: Quick and easy pork and summery vegetable risotto recipe
I always used to choose risotto in Italian restaurants as I imagined that it was a complicated dish to cook. “Let them do all the stirring and sweating.” I’d think as I pointed to my choice on the menu. Recently I discovered that risotto is easy and quick to make. And a great way to transform the leftovers from the Sunday joint into something delicious. You can use uncooked meat and fish in a risotto but this recipe is designed to breathe life into pork or chicken that you find kicking about in the fridge. There are two...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Goose risotto to die for
“Come on over. We are having goose risotto.” “What sort of goose?” Gilbert’s tone was wary. “A free range Gressingham goose. Cost a fortune but it was a present from my Mum as our Christmas Day treat.” There was no response so I added: “A goose that’s had a happy life in a goosey sort of way. It even came with a small cookbook and an oven thermometer.” Gilbert thought for a moment. “So it arrived for Christmas with full instructions on how to cook it? Thank goodness geese...
read moreEasy squid, sweet Romano pepper and Basmati rice salad recipe
Supermarkets are clever. They mark down their soon to be out of date produce. Someone might buy it before it is swept off the shelf and banished (hopefully to a homeless shelter). Danny haunts these shelves when he does the final post run down to Newmarket in the evening. I often return home to find a few bargains on the kitchen table. Last week he had found a fat bag of previously frozen squid, “They were such a bargain that I grabbed them.” There is always a posse around the Tesco shelves. The next evening I returned to find him...
read moreCheat’s pork meatballs with tagliatelle
A few years ago, one of the Sunday papers had a weekly column “How to Cheat at Cooking”. Canny recipes created by Delia Smith. Danny and I loved trying these. They introduced us to new ingredients and showed us how to cut corners. They encouraged us to experiment and become a bit more relaxed about all our cooking. After a while we lost interest as we were striving to cook everything from scratch. Great if you are home early. If you totter in at eight, scratch cooking means that you could well be eating at ten. As we have found to...
read moreMushroom and chicken risotto recipe
Despite a few clouds this afternoon it has been sunny all day. Only 12 hours ago I was wrapped up like Eskimo Nell and considering collecting twigs for a fire in the igloo. On a warm summer evening I love concocting a risotto bursting with summer flavours and colour. Last night, I flicked on the heater in the kitchen and mulled over the menu for supper. I wanted deep earthy flavours and tones. Comfort and warmth were a priority. There were chestnut mushrooms in the fridge and Arborio rice on the shelf. Perfect. I enjoyed making this dish,...
read morePasta with a creamy wild fennel and ham sauce recipe
About ten years ago I invited Danny to stay for the weekend. This was the first time he met my dog, Fly. A lot more nerve wracking than being invited to meet my mother. I knew that he’d like the cottage but I wanted him to have a really great weekend so I invited a handful of good friends to supper on the Friday night. I planned to take a day off to have everything ship shape but unfortunately found myself working 70 miles away in London on a job that had to meet a tight deadline. I drove back to the cottage with an hour to spare before...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Simple pork, tomato and sweet pepper risotto
Gliding past the meat counter in the supermarket at the weekend, I noticed a happy man laughing as he tossed a bag of meat into his trolley. I don’t usually stop at the meat counter but the laughter indicated a great bargain. I hit the air brakes of my trolley and spied a half price rack of pork. I have never tasted this before. Smiling broadly I left the counter. Danny roasted the rack on Sunday and we ate half. Delicious, delicate tender meat. The chops on the rack look quite small but three chops are plenty for the two of us. The...
read moreAsparagus, haddock and prawn risotto recipe
It was my turn to cook tonight. On the way down to Essex this morning, I decided to cook kedgeree. I had found some traditionally smoked Haddock in the freezer. The bag looked small so I poked about for something else. We had the remains of a pack of uncooked tiger prawns. Danny is 54.5% keen on kedgeree as a supper dish, this might tip him over to 64.5%. Especially if he had a starter of asparagus. On the journey home I changed my mind and decided to make an asparagus and smoked haddock risotto. Everything would be in the one dish. The...
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