Roast pumpkin and mushroom risotto

My gorgeous gentleman friend is out of town.  He is a man of many charms, however one point of contention between us is PUMPKIN and another is MELTED CHEESY BUTTERY THINGS, both of which he doesn't like.  I know, right?  I must really love him.  Obviously, in his absence I am indulging in both of the above in the best Wintry form I can think of: risotto. 

Obviously risotto is one of those meals that, once you've nailed the baseline, you can take in whatever direction you want.  However one technique I have learnt (from the aforementioned absent pumpkin-hating gentleman) is that of preparing your star ingredients and adding them right at the end, so that they don't go soggy or mushy.  We've made gorgeous risottos with chilli powder dusted roast cauliflower, but tonight is all about the pumpkin and the cheese, with mushrooms as well because a) I have them and b) who doesn't love mushrooms.  My man insists that risotto must be firmly yet tranquilly stirred pretty much the entire time it's on the stove.  My own rule of thumb when making risotto is to use leek rather than onion - it's a gentler, greener and a subtler flavour - and to use butter and cheese as much as possible whenever he isn't around.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Queensland blue pumpkin (or whatever alternative form of pumpkin you can lay your hands on - just let it be known that Queensland Blues are hands-down the best)
• 1 bag of white-capped mushrooms, roughly chopped
• dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 leek
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 2 cups aborio rice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 50 grated mozzarella
• 50-100g grated parmesan
• cracked pepper and salt
• olive oil and butter

 
So start by heating your oven to about 190 C and chopping up your pumpkin into bite-sized chunks.  Toss it in oil, salt and pepper and put it in the oven.  Next roughly chop your mushrooms, and finely chop your leek and garlic and put the 1.25 litres of water on to boil in the kettle to prepare your stock, if you're using the powdered variety.

After about 10-15 minutes add the mushrooms to the baking pan (the mushrooms will dry out much faster than the pumpkin so it's good to give the pumpking a head start).  Heat a large non-stick low and wide pan to a medium heat.  Once the pan is warm add a pour of oil and a small knob of butter.  Yes, that's right, oil AND butter.  That's how I roll when sir is away.  Sautee the garlic and leek until soft then add the rice and toss through until evenly coated in the oils.

Add the wine and some cracked pepper and stir with requisite tranquility until largely evaporated, and then do likewise with a splash of the stock (about 1/7th).  Pour some of the wine for yourself.  Drink throughout.  Chop your dried porcinis and scatter them through the rice.  You don't need to pre-soak them, they're going to soak up all your stock and wine.  Continue to add the stock in small batches, mixing it evenly through the rice.  The pan should be hot enough that the liquid simmers within 20 seconds if you stop stirring.  After your third or fourth batch of water (about 25 mins) turn the oven down to about 150 to keep your pumpkin and mushrooms warm but not burning.  When not stirring, grate your cheeses.

You'll need to taste test regularly (awesome) to see how the rice is progressing.  The interstitial liquid will start to get thicker but should never get gluggy.  When you reckon the whole lot is about 99% done, add the mushrooms and pumpkin and fold into the risotto gently, so as not to break up the pumpkin too greatly.  Finally, evenly sprinkle both your cheeses over the top and fold these in as well. 

If you're not sure which cheeses to use, go with your guts.  The parmasen is awesome with the mushrooms, and the mozzarella adds a springy, stringiness that I really love, but a creamy fetta or goats cheese would also work well with this combo. 

Tri-salad Sunday

Ah the change of seasons.  Time for finishing the scarf I started knitting over a month ago.  Time to buy some new 100 denier tights.  Time to consider growing my hair long, again.  Time to buy new batteries for my bike lights for the dark evenings.

It's also time to get my first dastardly head cold of the season.  Time to go to bed early.  Time to take fruit, and eat vitamins.  Time to up my vegetable intake massively.  Hence Tri-salad Sunday.  A way to capitalise on some time at home in the midst of my manic massive work and study load, to stockpile some high veg, low(ish) carbs, tasty meals to last the majority of the week.

One Sunday.  One blog post.  Three salads.  Let's do this thing.

1. Green lentil salad
2. Pearl couscous, beetroot and sweet potato salad
3. Roast mushrooms

Okay, that last one isn't really a salad, but it's vegetables, and it's yummy, so just go with it, okay?


Green lentil salad 

 Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups green lentils (Puy if you can get 'em) 
• Bay leaves 
• 1 tomato, diced
• half a green capsicum, diced
• half a red capsicum, diced
• half a small red onion, finely sliced
• goats fetta
• 1 cup walnuts
• bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• dressing - grape must, macadamia oil and raspberry balsamic

Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Dry roast the walnuts for 8-10 minutes.  Rinse the lentils under cold water then add to a pot.  Pour over 4.5 cups of boiling water (you can use stock if you prefer).  Add the bay leaves and simmer for 20 minutes.  To check if they're ready, taste to make sure the texture is right.  I wanted my lentils to be firm but chewy, and not tough.  Once cooked, drain the remaining water and again, run cold water over the lentils to cool them.

Finely chop your tomato, capsicum, onion and parsley.  Add the walnuts, vegetables, parsley and fetta to the lentils and toss through.  Make up your dressing and pour over.

Pearl couscous, beetroot and sweet potato salad

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of pearl couscous
• 2 cups stock
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 3 small beetroots or 2 medium beetroots, diced
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• 1.5 cups rocket 
• salt and pepper 

Peel and dice the beetroot and sweet potato.  Toss in oil and roast in a 180 C oven for up to 50 minutes, or until browning and crunchy.

While the vegetables roast, place the couscous in a saucepan with a dash of oil, and heat through, coating the couscous.  Add two cups of boiling stock, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Then cool and seperate with a fork.

Rinse the rocket and pat dry on a tea towel.  Then add the rocket and roast vegetables to the couscous, and toss.  Add a splash of olive oil, juice of one lemon, salt and pepper, and mix through.

Roast mushrooms

Ingredients:

• white button and large portabello mushrooms, roughly chopped
• olive oil
•  3 cloves of garlic
• fresh parsley
• knob of butter

Place the mushrooms  in a pan and drizzle olive oil over them, then toss.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over them if you fancy extra seasoning.  Add the garlic cloves to the pan and roast in the oven (180 C) for about 20 minutes, checking to make sure the mushrooms do not dehydrate fully.

Remove the garlic and squeeze out the roasted insides.  Add to a bowl with the knob of butter and microwave for 20 seconds, or until the butter is melted.  Add the mushrooms to the bowl with the finely chopped fresh parsley, and toss.

Serve all three with freshly baked dinner rolls and lemon infused olive oil.  Oh yum.

NB This will make huge quantities of salad, if you make all three at once.  Eat them all week and show your head cold who's boss!

Pasta sauce with slow roasted mushrooms (and other yummy things)

This is a pasta sauce that I like to make from time to time. It's basic, rustic and good for you. The giant field mushrooms have a really meaty texture, and the mushroom flavour becomes potent through the roasting. It takes a little while, but is ridiculously simple, and can be varied according to your preference and whatever you have to hand. Sometimes I also slow roast some tomotoes brushed with balsamic, then add some pecorino or fetta, other times I've just sliced and tossed the mushrooms through some pesto.

It always goes well with a chunkier pasta, like parpadelle, farfalle, orichiette or similar.

This time I mixed the mushrooms through with some sauteed kale and toasted walnuts and had it on gnocchi. This was an excellent combo. In a perfect world I would have made the gnocchi from scratch with a mix of both standard and sweet potatoes, but this time I used fresh potato gnocchi. Here's the recipe:


Ingredients
3 large field mushrooms
1 bunch of kale or Tuscan cabbage
lotsa garlic
a big knob of butter
olive oil
gnocchi
salt and pepper and parmasan to taste

Brush the mushrooms lightly with olive oil on both sides. Place them on their caps and throw a shake of salt and ground pepper over them. Put them in a slow oven (about 140 Celcius).

After about 30 minutes, start the rest of the preparations. First chop the walnuts into big ol' chunks and scatter them around the mushrooms, then return to the oven. Boil some water for the gnocchi, then melt the large knob of butter in a deep, non-stick frying pan.  While this is melting add the gnocchi to the water. Throw the roughly chopped garlic into the buttery pan and after about half a minute, the equally roughly chopped kale and toss through the butter.   At about this time the gnocchi will be done. It takes about 2 minutes, but will float to the top of the water when it's done. Drain the gnocchi on a plate. You can add a splash of the pasta water to the kale to help it wilt, and if you have a bottle handy, add a splash of wine (white or red, either is good but I prefer red) to it as well.

Remove the kale from the pan and rest in a dish. Take the mushrooms from the oven and slice in half, then across in approximately 0.5 centimeter slices. Mix the mushrooms and garlic through the kale.

In the same frying pan you cooked the kale, add a generous splash of olive oil and then scatter the gnocchi into the pan. Toss at 1 minute intervals, until each gnoccho is golden brown on at least one side.  Throw the mushrooms and kale mix over the top, add a small amount of salt and plenty of cracked pepper and grate parmasan over the lot.