Turkey Risotto

Today we have a guest post from the lovely Claire, who blogs at Life, Ninja Killer Cat and Everything Else

Claire made the risotto with long grain rice for this post, but says she would use risotto rice for preference.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 skinless boneless Turkey fillets or turkey pieces
1 Red onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 red peppers, halved deseeded and sliced thickly
1 garlic clove, crushed
100g long grain rice
400g can chopped tomatoes
300ml chicken stock
4tbsp ready-made pesto ) you'll find long-life jars on the shelves or more expensive fresh pots in the chiller cabinets)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 200c/fan 180c/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a large,shallow ovenproof pan, add the turkey and cook for 3-4 mins until golden all over. remove from the pan and set aside.




Add the turkey amd cook for 3-4 minutes until golden all over

Red onion

One red onion cut into 8 wedges

2. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 3 minutes, or until light golden

3. Tip in the garlic and fry for a min. Stir in the rice, then the tomatoes, stock and reserved turkey. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil.

Transfer to the oven to cook at 200c/fan 180c/gas mark 6 uncovered, for 20 mins.

Season to taste and drizzle over the Pesto before serving.

Thanks very much Claire. I've never thought of using pesto as a drizzle over risotto, but I'mdefinitely going to give it a whirl!















Gado Gado - an Indonesian salad

When Mark and I first got married, he was serving in the Brigade of Gurkhas, and our first posting was to Brunei, a small sultanate on the island of Borneo. Most of the island is occupied by the Indonesian state of Kalimantan, with the Malay states of Sarawak and Sabah along with Brunei making up the rest of the island. So the local food is predominantly Malaysian and Indonesian, with a lot of influence from the large Chinese population. (Disclaimer - I am totally rubbish at geography so please don't take these facts as being 100% accurate)

I was determined to start off married life by cooking fresh, wholesome meals and that meant looking for ways to cook the foods on sale in the markets rather than the limited range of imported goods sold in the NAAFI shop. The first obstacle to that was the unfamiliar smell of the markets - the first time I went into one, the smell of the fermenting salted greens caught the back of my throat and I had to rush out and be sick in the monsoon drain! But I soon got used to it - and learned which stalls to hold my breath while passing - and started to revel in treats like being able to have fresh coconut grated to order, or buy pineapples straight from the boats delivering them from up river.

But what to cook? I visited the local English-language bookshop, a small room in the offices of the newspaper, Borneo Bulletin, where I picked up a tiny book called "Art of Indonesian Cooking - the ABC's" by Agnes de Keijzer Brackman and almost 35 years later it is still one of my most-used and best-loved recipe books. (I've just noticed there is a copy available on Amazon, along with a couple of other books by her - I may be doing some shopping after I post this)

Later on, when living in Hong Kong, I became friendly with a lady called Nancy who, although American-Chinese, owned an Indonesian restaurant and employed only Indonesian cooks. She gave me lots of tips and advice that helped me to build on the recipes from my trusty book, and to adapt them to things I would be able to buy back in the UK.

So that is the background to my love of South East Asian food - now here is my own take on the classic salad, Gado-Gado. Normally this would include cubes of fried tofu and be garnished with prawn crackers instead of cashew nuts, but I left the tofu out as I was serving this with a creamy, coconutty chicken curry and felt there was already enough protein in the meal. And I  ran out of prawn crackers!

For the dressing:

2 heaped tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablepsoon Ketjap Manis (thick, sweet soy sauce - if you can't find this, use Chinese soy sauce and add a teaspoon of black treacle)
½ teaspoon Sambal Oelek or dried crushed red chilli flakes
juice of 1 lime
200 ml water

heat all ingredients together, stirring constantly. As it comes close to boiling, it will appear to curdle, but just keep stirring and after a few seconds of boiling it will come together to form a smooth paste. Set aside to cool. You can make this hotter or milder, to taste, or add brown sugar or treacle to sweeten it, thin it down with more water or thicken it with more peanut butter,  or replace the water with coconut milk - it can be different every time you make it. Tamarind juice and - if you can face it- blachan are interesting additions.  And it makes a great satay sauce or dip for crudités too.

For the salad:

2 eggs, hard boiled and sliced
2 carrots, cut into batons about twice the size of a matchstick
100g green beans, cut into 5cm segments
100g Chinese leaves, cut into pieces about 3cm wide
100g beansprouts
quarter of a cucumber, cut into batons  the same size as the carrots
a large handful of watercress sprigs
toasted cashew nuts to garnish

Bring a pan of water to the boil and drop in the carrots. After 2 minutes, add the beans and after 2 more minutes the cabbage. Cook for a minute then add the beansprouts. Remove from heat as soon as it all comes back to the boil, and immediately rinse well in cold water to stop further cooking and keep the colours bright. Drain well and cool completely. Just before serving, mix in the cucumber and watercress, top with sliced eggs (and tofu if liked) and garnish with cashews or prawn crackers.

It's going to be quiet for a while

Regular visitors to this blog and my competitions and Twitter advice blog, The Competition Grape Vine will know that my mother has been ill recently and has been in and out of hospital. This week she is due to come out again, and I am going away for a while to spend some time with her, getting her used to being back home and arranging the support services she will need help from.

Mum doesn't have any internet access and getting any mobile signal involves dangling hopefully out of an upstairs window, so I'm afraid the blogs won't be updated for a week or so

Review - Grated Hot Horseradish from The English Provender Co.

I was sent a jar of Grated Hot Horseradish from The English Provender Co  to test and review. I love horseradish, but I usually buy it in the form of ready made creamed horseradish, so I enjoyed the chance to experiment with  using it in other ways.

First of all, I had a dollop of it neat with steak and chips. I'd been a bit worried that it would blow the top of my head off, but in fact it was just right - although the flavour was strong enough to mean I only needed a small quantity,  it didn't have those mind-numbing fumes that go straight to your sinuses. (And I humbly apologise for putting the steaks on the griddle so the stripes  went the wrong way!)

Encouraged by my first taste, I also tried one of my other favourite combinations - horseradish and smoked mackerel. I often use horseradish cream instead  of butter when making a smoked mackerel and cucumber sandwich, so this time I buttered the bread and strewed the horseradish over the top.

The verdict? Delicious. In fact much nicer than when I use creamed horseradish.

Finally I made a trio of sauces for with roast beef. I whisked a little double cream and stirred some horseradish in for a horseradish cream,  blended horseradish into Dijon mustard for a more Eastern European flavour, and mixed horseradish into apple sauce as a gesture to Austrian "Apfelkren".

All three were delicious, and I was impressed with how easily it blended  into the sauces. And you can see from the amount left in the jar after using it in 5 different ways just how economical it is! I've definitely been converted from the ready made creamed horseradish I've been buying for years.

Some other ideas I've had for using it, but not tried yet:

•  added to hot dogs   - another Austrian inspired idea
• whisked  into Yorkshire Pudding batter to serve with roast beef
• mixed into the dough for dumplings when making a beef or game casserole
• whisked into a vinaigrette dressing for a beetroot and red onion salad to serve with smoked fishes and meats
• blended with sour cream, yoghurt or mayonnaise for a salad dressing or dip.

I'm going to have fun experimenting!

Note the sample was sent to me free of charge for review. No other form of payment was received and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

See, I CAN do pretty!

I'm not one for making pretty things - not that I have anything against them, it's just that pretty and dainty never seem to work for me. But I'm a big fan of Nikki Hall's Polkadoodles  designs, and  also a big fan of designs with dragonflies in them (I probably hold some kind of record for the number of dragonfly themed stamps I have) so when I saw issue 2 of her "Pen & Paper Circle" magazine, I had to get it!

The card I made today is based on the first design in the magazine, although instead of colouring in the images with watercolours I stamped them with Memento ink and coloured them with Promarkers,  which I am still very much a beginner with. 

I'm very pleased with the finished result and looking forward to trying more ideas from the magazine.

Tabbouleh and other tasty treats

My husband, who blogs over at Marks Veg Plot is good  at growing mint. He is VERY good at growing mint.  Our mint started out as a tiny £1 pot bought from a farmers market about ten years ago,  and gets stronger and more luxuriant every year. When it is at its best, I love to make a fresh, vibrant tabbouleh with it.  I soak bulghur wheat in hot water for about 15 minutes, drain it well and dress  it while still warm with olive oil and lemon juice, and some finely chopped onion - spring onion, red onion, shallot or common or garden everyday onion, whatever is to hand. When it is cool, I stir in lots and lots of chopped mint and parsley - the more the better.  In Middle Eastern restaurants, tabbouleh is often a huge bowl of  chopped herbs with just a little bulgur speckling it. While I love it that way, we often have it at home as our main  carb, so we adapt the proportions a bit.

This time I served it with home made hummus (chickpeas, sesame seeds - I was out of tahini - cumin, paprika, olive oil and lemon juice whizzed together until smooth) topped with tiny snippets of lamb, quickly fried until cooked through and mixed with toasted pine nuts.

and finally, a tomato, cucumber and melon salad sprinkled with more mint!

I am joining in the Herbs on Saturday challenge at Lavender and Lovage. Herbs used this time were parsley, mint, more mint and yet more mint........

A Bookatrix wedding card

When I want to make an extra special card, especially for a wedding, I almost always  turn to the Bookatrix embossing board. There is something about the open-book style that lends itself particularly well to weddings.  Here is a card I made for a young friend who married recently.

I embossed the outer layer onto pink pearlescent card, also embossing the third line in. Then I cut out along the outer line, and cut floral paper to fit inside the inner embossing line and stuck it in place. Next I embossed the second, third and fourth lines onto white pearlescent card, cut out along the outer line, and cut away the inner rectangle of the fourth lines.  I stuck acetate behind the windows created by this. Then I decorated the edges and windows with peel-offs, gems and paper flowers before sticking the white and pink cards together along the "spine".

The stand was made from card which had been covered on both sides with floral paper to match that behind the windows.

To complete the card, and protect it, I made a matching box. If the bride and groom keep the card - and I hope they will - they will be able to store it in this box.