Bacon, butternut squash and taleggio risotto

Risotto is one of those gorgeous, warming comfort foods which I crave when the weather turns cold. We had a few leftovers in the fridge and Nigel Slater always bangs on about how lovely taleggio cheese is so I decided to whip this up for dinner. In hindsight, it’s probably better to buy the cheese from a deli- I got mine from Tesco and was decidedly underwhelmed by its subtle creamy flavour but full frontal cheesy pong! On the other hand you could just substitute it for some parmesan.

I added some chestnut mushrooms to this mix as well but quite frankly they were surplus to requirement. This makes enough to feed four averagely hungry people but because Nick can eat a colossal amount of risotto I made this for just two.

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled deseeded and chopped into small cubes.
• 100gms unsmoked bacon chopped into strips
• 100gms taleggio cheese with the rind removed and cubed
• 250gms Arborio rice
• 3 pints chicken stock (I use 1 stock cube to 3 pints hot water)
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• Small handful of fresh lemon thyme washed and chopped finely
• Salt and pepper
• 1 glass white wine (any kind will do)
• 2tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a big saucepan or wok over a low heat. Add the bacon and onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 2-3 mins until the onions have softened and the bacon has cooked through.
2. Pour in the rice and stir well to coat with the oil. Add the wine, turn up the heat and allow the wine to bubble off. It’s important that you keep stirring the risotto from now onwards. This is what makes it creamy and prevents it from sticking to the pan.
3. Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, start adding the stock one ladleful at a time, only add the next ladleful when the one before has been absorbed. Add the squash, lemon thyme and seasoning at this point as well. You may need to reduce the heat a little so that it just simmers gently.
4. It will take a good half hour or for the rice and squash to cook so be patient and keep stirring. You may not need all of the stock, but when you’re about two thirds of the way through the jug start tasting the rice to see if its cooked- you want it to retain a little bite and not get too mushy. When you think it’s starting to near readiness stop adding the stock but keep stirring until the liquid in the pan is absorbed.
5. When the risotto looks like a rice pudding-type consistency add the cheese and stir through, keep stirring until it has melted. Check the seasoning and serve immediately.

p.s. this would also be really nice if you roasted the squash before adding it as well. It would enhance the sweetness and give it a softer texture.

Banana bread

This is the most heavenly banana bread I’ve ever come across. The recipe was given to me by a kiwi chef named Lawrence. At the time I was working at the YMCA gym in Abbots Langley. We had various facilities there, one of which was a day nursery. Lawrence was filling in for the nursery’s usual chef while she was on holiday.

At approximately 5pm every evening the kids would have their tea and any leftovers would occasionally be offered to the reception team. I remember being given beautiful curries, hand made profiteroles, cakes, stews… the kids ate really well.

One day the chef had made banana bread and the leftovers (enough for three people at least) were brought out to me. Needless to say I gobbled them all down and asked for the recipe, and here it is. Even people who claim not to like bananas enjoy this cake!

Ingredients

• 125gms butter or margarine (I use flora margarine)
• 125gms soft brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 4 medium very ripe bananas- even black or bruised ones which have been hanging around for weeks will do
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2tsp baking powder
• 250gms self raising flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease/line a 500gm loaf tin (I use the same one which I bake regular bread in)
2. In a big bowl or a food processor, beat together the sugar and margarine until pale and creamy. Crack in the eggs one at a time and beat well.
3. Peel the bananas and, in a separate bowl, mash them with a fork (this stage isn’t necessary if you’re using a food processor, just peel and chuck them in) then mix into the batter.
4. Fold in the flour bicarb of soda, baking powder and vanilla essence then pour the batter into the cake tin.
5. Bake in the oven for 50mins to 1 hour. Check after 50mins by sticking a knife into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean its ready, if not leave it a little longer.
6. Turn out of the tin onto a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before eating.

Nigella's moonblush tomatoes

Having made tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato salads and a myriad of other tomato-based recipes in response to the glut of fruit I found myself with come September this year, I was stumped for ideas (and frankly low on enthusiasm) on how to use up my excess tomatoes until I found this.

They aren’t quite sundried tomatoes- you know the ones that have a chewy, slightly tough texture- they’re more sunblush. They last about 1-2 weeks in the fridge and are much softer, just with a sweet, concentrated tomatoey flavour.

Apparently Nigella adds them to pasta dishes and salads but I found them to be very good in sandwiches and particularly with cheese-on-toast. Yum!

By the way, the tomatoes in the photo are pre-roasting, they will look slightly mushier and a bit crinkly once they are cooked.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes- lots of them! These can be any kind and any quantity. You will see from the photo that I had approx 500-750gms but you can adapt the seasonings to match the quantity you have.
• Salt and pepper
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1tsp dried thyme

Method

1. Switch your oven on to its very highest setting (mine manages 250 degrees C) and leave it to warm up for ½ hour.
2. In the mean time half your tomatoes and lay them cut side upwards in a baking tray, sprinkle over a pinch of salt and pepper, the oil and the thyme.
3. When the oven is up to temperature, put the tomatoes in and turn the oven off.
4. Leave it like this with the door closed (don’t even open it to peek!) overnight or for around 8 hours. This dries them out slowly and concentrates their flavour.
5. After this time remove from the oven, scoop into an airtight container and use as and when you fancy.

Homemade bread

Another product of my mass bake up a couple of weeks ago! This bread is delicious and freezes really well. I tend to double the recipe and freeze a loaf so that there’s some bread on standby- you could also just make one big loaf though.

I found the recipe in Nigella Lawson’s book How to be a Domestic Goddess. It’s actually a lot less hassle than I thought making bread from scratch would be and fills the house with the most delicious smell when baking!

Ingredients

• 500gms strong white or wholemeal flour, plus some extra for kneading
• 1x 7gm sachet of easy blend yeast
• 1tbsp salt
• 1tbsp caster sugar
• 300ml warm tap water
• 1tbsp butter

Method

1. In a big bowl mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the warm water gradually- you may not need the full amount or you might need a little more if it’s too dry (it all depends on the type of flour you use) and mix until all the flour is combined and the bowl is clean. You will now have a big shaggy mess of dough.
2. Add the butter and fold in.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and begin to knead it. This will be very messy at first but the dough will gradually begin to get smoother and more elastic as you continue (this part is very good for toning bingo wings!)
4. Once you have a nice smooth ball after about 10 mins take another big clean bowl, grease it well and put the dough inside. Cover with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise for two hours. It will double in size.
5. Then comes the fun part- knocking back! Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and punch it very hard with the heel of your hand all over. This removes the excess air and prevents you getting great big hollow bits in your bread. The dough will shrink a little but don’t worry.
6. Flour a baking tray or 500gm loaf tin and place the dough on/in it. If it’s on a tray make it into an oblong or round loaf shape. If you want a soft loaf sprinkle the top with flour, or if you want a crusty loaf, brush the top with a little beaten egg.
7. Put the oven on to 220 degrees C or gas mark 7 to heat up and leave the dough to rise for ½ hour.
8. Bake the bread for 35mins after which time it should be golden and will sound hollow if you knock on the base of the loaf.
9. Leave to cool and either freeze or eat as appropriate.

Apple and almond cake

I booked a Friday off work a couple of weeks ago and finding myself at a loose end in the afternoon (a very rare event) I decided to make a cake. However, one was not enough and somehow it turned into a giant bake up! I made two loaves of bread, a cake and some of Nigella’s moonblush tomatoes (recipe to follow shortly!) It was a bit of a Pringles ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ kind of scenario! Nick was naturally delighted with the results and this cake was scoffed within a matter of hours.

Mum has been making apple and almond cake for as long as I can remember and its one of my favourites- not too sweet and satisfyingly dense and fruity. It’s a must have teatime accompaniment and a refreshing change to a regular sponge.

You can substitute the fruit as you see fit- for the one in the photo I used two ripe nectarines and added vanilla essence instead of almond essence- that was just what I had hanging around in the fruit bowl at the time and I couldn’t be bothered to go shopping for apples! It turned out just as delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 5oz margarine
• 8oz self raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 3oz caster sugar
• 12oz eating apples (not bramley cookers)- any kind you like, peeled, cored and sliced thinly into half moons
• 1 tsp almond essence (you can get this from any supermarkets)
• 2tbsp flaked almonds to decorate the top
• A deep 8inch round cake tin- this cake cant be made in two shallow tins and sandwiched so do try and find a deep one.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C or gas mark 3, then grease and lightly flour the cake tin
2. In a food processor or a big bowl beat together the sugar and margarine until pale and creamy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the flour, almond essence and baking powder.
4. Pour half of the cake batter into the tin and scatter over the apple slices, then top with the remaining cake mix making sure all the apples are covered. This will look like there isn’t enough cake mix but be patient and spread it about a bit. It will rise and cover the apple properly in the oven.
5. Scatter the almonds over the top and place in the oven. Bake for 1-1.5 hours. Checking periodically to make sure that the cake doesn’t burn. When you think its ready stick a knife into the centre- if it comes out clean its ready, if not pop it back into the oven for another ten mins.
6. Turn the cake out on to a wire baking rack to cool and eat as and when you’re ready.