Autumnal Favourite - Pumpkin risotto

It’s been a while since I added anything to the blog as we’ve been rather busy with guests throughout the last few months.

I realised that it’s nearly a year since I started this blog and we seem to have come full circle as you can see from this picture. As it’s pumpkin time again I’ve just completed this work using watercolour and pastel and it reminded us that one of our favourite recipes for this time of year is Pumpkin risotto. If you fancy trying it this is the recipe I use.

Ingredients for risotto for 4 people

500g pumpkin/squash

1 large garlic clove

4 sprigs of rosemary

Salt & pepper to taste

(optional – chilli flakes or finely chopped fresh chilli)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

50g of butter

1 red onion peeled & chopped finely

250g of risotto rice

1 glass dry white wine

1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock

150g of grated parmesan

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees

Take the seeds out of the centre of the pumpkin and cut into large chunks, leaving the skin on.

Brush a baking tray with a little olive oil and place the pieces of pumpkin skin side down in the tray.

Sprinkle the pumpkin pieces with salt, pepper, chopped garlic and rosemary sprigs then drizzle about half of the olive oil over them before covering with foil and baking until soft (about 45 minutes). You can also give your pumpkin a bit more kick by adding chilli flakes or fresh chopped chilli at this stage.

Once the pumpkin has cooked allow it to cool and gently remove the skin. Place to one side with any juice that is left in the pan.

Take a heavy bottomed frying pan and gently fry the onion in a mixture of the butter and remaining olive oil.

When the onion is soft (10-15 minutes) add the rice and stir for about a minute off the heat until it is mixed and the rice coated with the oil/butter.

Placing the pan back on the heat, add the stock a few ladlefuls at a time and simmer for about 15 minutes or so until the rice has absorbed nearly all the liquid. This should give you a nice creamy texture.

Add the dry white wine and the grated parmesan, stirring gently. Finally carefully add the pumpkin pieces with any juices and serve immediately.

A taste of Summer - slow roasted tomatoes

This is a great, easy summer recipe using plum type tomatoes very slow roasted on the lowest heat of your oven for 4-5 hours.

I usually cook them in batches of about 1 kg at a time but if you have an abundance of them you can do as many as you can fit in the oven!! Turn the oven on to the lowest heat and prepare the tomatoes by cutting them in half and laying them in a cooking tray. Sprinkle them with salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar in roughly equal quantities. Place the tray in your warm oven and leave to slow roast for about 4 hours – they should still be moist and juicy but will have reduced in size quite considerably.

You can eat them warm or cold and they will keep in the fridge in plastic or glass containers for at least a week or so – you can also preserve them for longer by putting them in sterilised preserving jars covering them with olive oil and sealing them tightly. They don’t usually last long enough in our house to do that.

As these tomatoes have a wonderful intense sweet flavour they make a delicious accompaniment to either meat or fish.

One of the particular favourite starters of our guests, using these tomatoes, is to crumble goats cheese and tear up fresh basil leaves over them and serve with an olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey dressing. Simple but delicious!

Didn't have any tomato paintings so thought some sunflowers and sunhat would create the right holiday feel.

Tarragon Chicken with Mushrooms

This is a simple supper dish that makes use of the lovely fresh tarragon available at the moment and goes very well with the plentiful spring vegetables now coming on the market.

To serve 6 people you’ll need:

6 Chicken breasts skinned and cut in half lengthways
500 gms small mushrooms (sliced)
1 pint chicken stock
3 tablespoons crème fraiche
Leaves of 4 sprigs of tarragon
Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of flour for thickening
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
100 gms butter

Slice the mushrooms and sauté them in half of the butter for a few minutes, then remove them from the pan and put to one side.

Using the same pan that you cooked your mushrooms in add the oil and the seasoned chicken breasts. Cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown on the outside. Remove them from the pan and arrange them on the bottom of a flattish ovenproof dish.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the chicken stock to make a sauce, and then add the crème fraiche, stirring continuously until you have a smooth creamy mixture. Season to taste with salt & freshly ground pepper. Now add the tarragon leaves and mushrooms to the sauce and pour over the chicken pieces in the dish.

Cover with foil and bake in a hot oven (180°) for half an hour, remove the foil and continue cooking for another 45 minutes until the sauce is a light golden colour on top and the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with new potatoes or rice and green vegetables. Our B&B guests loved this dish when I recently served it with ribbons of courgette and new seasons asparagus tips sautéed in a little seasoned butter.

Spinach & Goat's cheese tart

This is a very simple lunch or supper dish using the lovely fresh spinach leaves that are beginning to come on the market.

Ingredients:-
500 g spinach
Packet of Puff pastry
Soft goats cheese (amount depends on personal taste – about 200g)
5 large eggs
Salt & pepper

Method:-
Cook spinach after thoroughly washing.
Drain & allow to cool before putting into mixer with two thirds of the cheese, season to taste and blend together.
Whisk 5 large eggs until light and fluffy, fold into spinach/cheese mixture.
Line & put pastry into flan dish.
Pour mixture into flan case and decorate with rest of goats cheese broken into small pieces.
Place in pre-heated oven 200° for about 35 minutes. It should rise a bit like a soufflé and be an amazing shade of green.

Take out of oven and eat hot!! (be careful not to burn your mouth)

Susie didn't think a picture of spinach would be that exciting so thought you might like some artichokes instead!!

The latest recipe is a warming winter one from Morocco for these cold days – there’s quite a lot of preparation but it’s simple to cook and worthwhile:

Chicken Tagine – serves 6

You will need:
2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil
6 jointed chicken legs or 12 thighs/drumsticks
500 g carrots peeled & cut in chunks
500 g waxy potatoes, cleaned, peeled if you want but I prefer not to (charlottes or similar)
200 g sliced onions
400 g ripe tomatoes chopped or 1 large tin tomatoes
250 g sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
12 chopped dried apricots
3 tbs clear honey
Large bunch of coriander
A few bay leaves
4 large garlic gloves
4 heaped tablespoons of Ras el Hanout
1 red chilli , deseeded and chopped finely
Salt & ground black pepper to taste
2 shallots finely chopped

You will need a large flameproof pan to contain all these ingredients when mixed together.

The first thing you do is make a spicy paste using a mini blender to blitz the chopped shallots, chilli, garlic, a little salt & pepper and the stalks of the coriander – put this paste to one side for later.

Heat the cooking oil in a large pan and brown all the chicken pieces – remove from pan when golden brown and put to one side.

Add the spice paste to the remaining oil in the pan and fry for a few minutes the add the Ras el Hanout powder and fry for a further few minutes.

Take all the chopped vegetables – onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots – plus the tomatoes & apricots and add them to the spices in the pan. Stir to stop them sticking and then add the stock, honey & bay leaves. Stir again a few times & then add the chicken pieces back into the pan.

Simmer the whole thing for an hour or so stirring occasionally, making sure it doesn’t stick.

Serve the tagine with a big bowl of buttered couscous, sprinkling the remaining coriander on top.

Susie’s Cassoulet – a winter treat

Since we moved to France we have hosted a Cassoulet party on New Years Day and I have adapted several recipes over the years to come up with a hearty version that seems to have become a favourite with our friends and family. It’s a perfect antidote to the current cold wintry weather and can be adapted to suit your budget, with the main ingredients being beans, sausages, pork & duck. The quantities I use for about 8 people are listed below. Ideally you will have a large pot that can be used on top of the cooker to begin with and then put in the oven to finish off.

Ingredients:

• Bouquet garnie (celery stalks, parsley, thyme sprigs & bay leaves)
• 2 large chopped onions
• 6 large cloves of garlic (peeled & chopped)
• 500g smoked bacon cut into large cubes (hock joints are ideal – just cut the meat off the bone but leave the bones in for a while to impart flavour)
• 500g belly pork cut into large cubes with skin on
• 8 pieces of confit of duck* cut into two joints with some of the fat that the confit has been preserved in. (we prepare our own confit but the tinned version works perfectly well)
• 8 Toulouse sausages (I often make two small ones out of each sausage or buy the large ones that you can make into any size that suits your appetite)
• 4 chopped/peeled fresh tomatoes or 1 large tin of tomatoes
• 2 tins of haricots blancs (I use prepared Haricots from Castelnaudry which are cooked in goose fat if they are available) or 1 kg of dried Haricots soaked overnight and cooked as per the instructions on the pack.
• 1½ litres of chicken or vegetable stock
• Ground pepper to taste

* if you can’t get hold of duck you could use cooked chicken thighs or legs as an alternative – it would be slightly different but would work.

Method:

Take a large cooking pot and sauté the chopped onion in a little of the duck fat from the confit. When soft and transparent add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, beans and the stock. I tie my bunch of herbs to the side of the pot so that I can retrieve it later but make sure it is fully submerged to infuse the liquid.

Put the cubed smoked bacon (including bones if there are any) and pork into the pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, giving it a gentle stir now and then to make sure the beans don’t stick. Remove the bouquet garnie and ham bones if used.

While the sauce is simmering you can brown your sausages in a separate pan using a little of the duck or goose fat. Once coloured put the sausages into the bean & pork mixture with the duck pieces and cover ready to go into the oven.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and place the cassoulet in it for an hour or so until bubbling.

Serve with hot crusty bread or baked potatoes and a winter salad.

For a slightly different twist, If you happen to have some day old French bread, you can slice it up and lay the slices on top of the cassoulet for the last half hour or so of the cooking time – leave the lid off and this will soak up any fat from the duck etc and give a golden brown crust.

Incidentally this is a great dish to prepare in advance and store in the freezer if you are catering for a group – just cook it as above and allow to cool before freezing. Then make sure you get it out in good time to defrost and heat through until piping hot.