Baked Risotto

Baked Risotto on Freedom Day in sunny South Africa. Just the dish you need when you do want to serve risotto, but don't want to stand stirring until cooked. The stirring part has always put me off, but then I found this recipe in the May issue of the Essentials magazine...Baked Risotto! Fantastic! No mess, no fuss. Having guests - they would think that you have been on your feet for hours trying to prepare supper.
The original recipe is made as a vegetarian dish using goats cheese, but I made a few minor changes and served it with lovely Kassler Chops and a green salad.

Recipe:
500gr mixed mushrooms, sliced and soaked in hot water
4 sun dried tomatoes, sliced and soaked with the mushrooms
300gr risotto rice
1 chopped onion
2 to 3 cups of chopped butternut
olive oil and blob of butter
1L chicken stock
Flat leave parsley
Salt and Pepper

Heat oil and butter in a pan and gently cook the onion. Add the mushrooms and tomato and fry for about 2 mins. Add rice and mix well.
Heat oven to 180˚C. Transfer risotto to a shallow oven proof dish. Add butternut, stock and mushroom water. Cover the dish (I used foil) and bake for +- 40 mins. until rice is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from oven. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Serve with some flat leaf parsley.
Cook's notes:
I used powdered stock - I like shortcuts. I might add a dash of cream next time around or some grated Parmesan cheese to give it a creamier taste. But that is what it's all about...Try and try again.

Apple Tart

 
As I mentioned, I am still new at this and trying to learn all the tricks, but thought I'd better show that I am still around.
It is getting a bit cooler and that generally leads to staying indoors and a bigger appetite.  Also cooler weather = comfort food.  As I also mentioned before, the way to my husband's heart is through his tummy and there is no better way to do that than with an apple dish. 
Yes apples again, but this is so quick and easy and if you have a can of pie apples in the cupboard, then you can whip it up in no time.  I found the recipe in a little recipe book which I bought from the Women's Auxcilary from our church whcih they published as a fund raising effort, back in 2000 and unfortunately it has no name to it.  I can safely say that it put a contented smile on his face...

The recipe:
3 tbsp butter
3 eggs
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 x tin pie apples (420g)

(Preheat oven at 180˚C)


Cream butter and sugar.  Then add eggs one at a time.  Add dry sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Add the milk.  Pour into a shallow greased oven safe dish.  Drain the apples and press the apples evenly into the batter.


Bake at 180˚C for about 25 minutes.  It rises well.  While in the oven, make the following syrup in a saucepan:
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
3 tblsp butter
Simmer for a few minutes.
Puncture the baked tart with a fork and pour the hot syrup over.

Cook's note:  Reduce the sugar in the syrup if you don't want it to be too sweet.  You can serve at least 10 to 12 people.  I served it with cinnamon and cream.

Apple Parcels

If there is one one way to win my Hubby's heart, it's with stewed apples. He just loves it in any dessert form, even just with ice cream.Now keeping this in mind, I have a confession to make... As an amateur I have never worked with phyllo pastry before. Over December I bought some for the freezer thinking I can impress the family, but just never got that far. So, on Sunday Hubby says he feels like apple something and what better opportunity than to try an apple something and a quick apple something too. I paged through my books and found a recipe in a book my brother bought me for Christmas - Seasons by Phillippa Cheifits - and it's called honey apple tarts. Turns out that I finished the port over the holiday season and the men in my life are not crazy about raisins. I therefore had to improvise. The result a very simple, yet delicious dessert.
I will give you my recipe 1st and then what it was suppose to be:
8 sheets phyllo pastry
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup runny honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Admittedly I did not measure the last 3 ingredients - it was a chunk and a few shakes, etc.
Filling:
I used a tin of pie apples.
Method:
Cut the sheets in 4 squares, making 4 sets of 8 sheets. Mix melted butter, honey and cinnamon and brush over squares, stacking squares at a time.

Then spoon a few apple wedges into the middle of the squares and fold the sides up as to make a little parcel. I placed these on a wax paper lined pan and backed in a preheated at 180˚C oven for 25 to 30 min or until pastry is well browned.













The original recipe calls for +- 3 tbsp port, 4 granny smith apples, 1/3 cup seedless raisins or cranberries which are then soaked in the port after being dunked in boiling water. It also suggest that you serve it with icing sugar or vanilla sugar and Greek-style yogurt, but my family choose ice cream.

Please accept my apologies for being such a slow starter. I often only realise after a meal that I should have taken photo's, because it was such a nice dish. For instance... the grape and feta salad I made the other night when friends came around for a braai/barbeque or my canaloni I made Saturday night, just because I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge. I will try and get remember the camera and will try to post more often. But please try the salad...



What you need:

Herb salad leaves or at least make sure you have some rocket in the salad mix. The strong taste compliments the sweetness of the grapes.

Green and Red grapes - I used seedless and I cut these in half.

Feta cheese broken in big chunks

A few good grinds of black pepper

Balsamic dressing - I have made my own a while ago, but will have to check the quantities of the ingredients when I make it again.



This salad was so refreshing and it was different from the usual tomatoes, olives and feta. By the way, I still batle to get an olive down my neck...



Until next time then...