Recipe: Chorizo and Broad Bean Risotto

Ugh, finally!! Finally submitted my lame lab report. I had to write a 2000 word lab report on how bacteria grows in egg mayonnaise- seriously!! And I actually already hated egg mayonaise, and don't understand how people can eat the stuff- now I can barely even look at it at work! Lol! This is a nice risotto recipe, bit of a strange combination, lots of strong flavours together, but it's gorgeaus and earthy and comforting. You can use soy beans or peas as well as or instead of the broad beans if you fancy it.

Chorizo, broad bean and wild mushroom risotto (serves 2)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 knob of butter
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
800ml vegetable stock
120g chorizo, diced
15g mixed dried wild mushrooms
800ml vegetable or chicken stock
Pinch of mixed herbs
120g frozen broad beans, soaked in boiling water and podded.
1 tbsp parmesan (plus extra for garnish if you want)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Sautee the shallot, celery and garlic in the olive oil and butter, in a large sautéing pan, for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the chorizo and fry for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the rice, stir to coat, and add the drained soaked mushrooms, mixed herbs and stock(adding the stock gradually, and stirring often). Cook for about 12-15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the stock and is al dente. Around 5 minutes before the end of cooking, add the parmesan and the broad beans.
4. Meanwhile, put the chorizo in a roasting dish and roast in the oven for 8 minutes. Serve the risotto with the crispy chorizo garnished on top, and some extra grated parmesan if desired.

Recipe: Chicken, Ham and Pea Risotto

This is by no means a traditional risotto recipe but it's certainly a tasty one. It's good recipe for using up cold cuts,such as after Christmas, for example. I've just come back from Yorkshire and, like normal, my boyfriend's mum sent us packing with a joint of beef, and a load of roast chicken and ham. I know that in normal risotto recipes you are supposed to add the stock gradually, but since my boyfriend doesn't like his risottos al dente, I just chuck it all in at the same time. It's a less authentic way of doing it but also less fussy I suppose.

Chicken, Ham and Pea Risotto (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
Knob of butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
150g risotto rice
600-700ml vegetable or chicken stock
1 bay leaf
100g cooked (leftover roast if possible) chicken
50g diced ham
100g frozen peas
1 rounded tsp Philadelphia
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan shavings for garnish

1. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil for 6 minutes. Add the rice, stir in, and then add the stock and bay leaf and cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat, stirring often.
2. Add the chicken and ham, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the peas and Philadelphia, and cook for 2-5 minutes, or until all of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked. Season to taste and serve with parmesan shavings!

Recipe: Mel's Savoury Rice

Hey guys. Now I call this dish "savoury rice" because the colour, and the smell of it when it's cooking, really reminded me of that Batchelor's savoury rice- do you remember? The instant stuff that came in a packet that you added water to? I wonder if they still sell that any more, i used to quite like it! This dish however, is far superior to that packeted variety! It's sweet, tangy, and chock full of vegetables and chicken. It's perfect for me to eat either before or after a workout, because before the workout it works as a big portion of protein and carbs to fuel my time at the gymn, or after workout its great because usually i'm so hungry- a massive portion of anything is what I want! Maybe slightly defeats the purpose of excercizing to lost weight, if all it does is make me excessively hungry, but never mind!

Mel’s Golden Rice (1-2, depending on personal greed, lol)

80g basmati rice
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
½ onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
Handful fresh coriander, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
6 spears asparagus, diced
½ red pepper, diced
Handful leftover roast chicken (preferably dark meat)
150ml chicken stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the basmati rice for 9 minutes in a pan of boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same pan, fry the onions, garlic and coriander for 3 minutes in the oil, stirring often. Add the spices, asparagus, red pepper and chicken, and stir fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, honey and sweet chilli sauce, and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes.
3. Add the reserved rice, and stir fry for a further 3 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been soaked up. Season to taste, garnish with a little extra coriander, and serve!

Recipe: Leek, Pea and Red Pepper Risotto

Another lush leek recipe! Still got loads in the garden, but I spose i've got to dig them up soon because some of them are bolting, and I reckon it wont be long before we get frosts! I love those roasted peppers you get in jars, they are so convenient and yummy. I guess a bit of a "cheats" ingredients, but I really love the flavour of them. The sweet leeks and red peppers in this risotto really compliments the creamy rice and parmesan. Heaven in a bowl!

Leek, Red Pepper and Pea Risotto (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 large or 3 medium leeks, finely sliced
160g Arborio rice
100ml sherry
1 tsp herbs du Provence
700ml vegetable stock (made with 2 stock cubes)
120g sliced roasted red pepper (the ones you get in jars)
100g frozen peas
25g finely grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Finely chopped parsley (optional garnish)

1. Fry the leeks in the butter and olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the sherry and herbs du Provence and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Begin to gradually add the stock, as the rice absorbs it (this should take about 15 minutes). 5 minutes before serving, add the red pepper, peas and parmesan. Season to taste, garnish with some finely chopped parsley (optional) and serve!

Recipe: Garlicky Chicken and Spinach Risotto

This is a delicious, sophisticaed risotto dish, that works perfectly as a light lunch or as a sophisticated dinner party dish. I went over to nick's and cooked him a nice meal while he was working upstairs, aren't i lovely girlfriend?? Yes darling you can go and have a drink with your friends at the pub, and i'll call you when dinner's on'table! I feel like a northern housewife without the ring! Hahaha! When cooking risotto, you want the end result to not be too dry (you should never be able to put risotto into a ring and present it- i hate it when restaurants do that- risottos should always have a bit of sauce!) and you want the rice to still retain a little bit of bite to it- we dont want savoury rice puddings now do we? Risottos are easy, but they do involve a little bit of judgement from the cook.



Garlicky Chicken and Spinach risotto (serves 3)



4 tbsp olive oil

9 chicken mini fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper

Knob of butter

1 white onion, finely diced

6 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped

½ tsp dried oregano

180g risotto rice

700ml vegetable stock

Zest of 1 lemon and ½ the juice

100g diced true spinach

5g finely grated parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste



1. In a deep frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of the oil and fry the chicken mini fillets for a couple of minutes on each side, until both sides are golden and they are fully cooked all the way through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover tightly with tin foil to keep warm

2. Lower the heat of the frying pan to low, and sauté the onion and garlic in the other 2tbsp of oil and the knob of butter until very soft, for about 15 minutes.

3. Add the oregano and rice, and stir around to coat. Begin to gradually add the stock- this process will take about 15 minutes.

4. 10 minutes into this process add the lemon zest, lemon juice, spinach and parmesan. Continue to stir and add the stock.

5. After fifteen minutes the rice should have absorbed all the liquid, the spinach will have been cooked, and the rice will be cooked to perfection (the rice needs to be soft, but it still needs to be “al dente” or “have a little bit of a bite to it”). Season to taste, and serve with the reserved chicken fillets on top.

Recipe: Massaman Chicken Fried Rice

This is quite a healthy, nutritious and spicy meal for two, that barely take 15 minutes to prepare and less than 10 minutes to cook! The rice get's coated in the slightly spicy curry scented massaman mixture, which makes the chicken and mixed green vegetables in the dish taste divine.

Massaman chicken fried rice (serves 2)

150g basmati rice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
100g cooked diced chicken
¼ tsp dried thyme
25g sliced Sugarsnap peas
25g sliced French beans
50g frozen peas
30g Massaman curry paste (I use Sainsburys)
20ml soy sauce
20ml water
1 tsp vegetable oil
1.5 tsp sugar
Chopped Fresh coriander for garnish
Salt and pepper

1. Cook the rice 2 minutes less than the packet instructions recommend (as it will be fried later- we don’t want overcooked rice!). Drain and set aside.
2. Mix together the Massaman paste, soy sauce, water, tsp oil and sugar. Set aside.
3. Put the oil in a wok and bring to a high heat. Pour in the beaten egg and stir frequently, breaking it up as the egg cooks. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the pieces of egg are beginning to go golden.
4. Add the chicken, thyme, Sugarsnap peas, French beans and peas, and stir fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice and the Massaman mix and stir fry for a further two minutes.
5. Season the rice to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with fresh coriander and serve!

Recipe: Wild Mushroom Risotto with Griddled Asparagus

I'm loving the photo for this- Gert posh isn't it??? I would be very happy to serve people this at a dinner party, or even in a restaurant, because i think it looks very impressive- and lucky for everyone it tastes very impressive too! It does require a liiittle bit of multi-tasking, but us women are fairly good at all that! (Just kidding, I don't believe in all that "men can't multitask" nonsense. If that was true then there wouldn't be so many male chefs- cause you need to be very good at multitasking to be a chef. DEFINITELY). You will probably end up with some of the mushroom soaking liquid left- dont chuck it away! You could make a lush soup, sauce or gravy outta that! You can of course use vegetable stock instead of chicken to make it vegetarian- I just think the chicken stock makes it taste better!

This recipe won me "The Italian Table Cookbook" by Ron Suhanosky, through submitting it on "Take a Break's My Favourite Recipes" Facebook page.

Wild mushroom Risotto with Griddled Asparagus (serves 2 generously!)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large knob butter
1 small white onion, very finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp fresh thyme
30g dried mixed wild mushrooms
160g Arborio rice
100ml white wine or rose
250ml chicken stock (made with 2 chicken Oxos)
2 bay leaf
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (plus extra for garnish)
20g finely grated parmesan (plus extra for garnish)
Plenty of black pepper and salt
6 spears asparagus, woody ends trimmed

1. Soak the mixed wild mushrooms in a full pint of boiling water. Leave soaking for 30 minutes. Boil the asparagus for a couple of minutes, drain, and set aside.
2. Sautee the onion, garlic and celery in the olive oil and butter, on a low/medium heat for 10 minutes. Increase the heat and add the wine, and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the Arborio rice and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Drain the wild mushrooms, reserving all of the soaking liquid, and add the mushrooms, parsley and bay leaves to the rice. Start to gradually add the stock, stirring and letting the risotto to gradually absorb the liquid.
4. Once it has soaked up all the stock, start using the mushroom soaking liquid, and continue gradually adding liquid whilst the rice soaks it up, for around 10-15 minutes (you probably won’t use all of the mushroom liquid). Check the texture of the rice every so often- when the risotto is ready, the rice should be “al dente” (still with a slight bite to it).
5. Whilst the risotto is cooking, heat a griddle pan onto high. Season the asparagus spears with salt and pepper, and a little oil, and chuck onto the griddle pan. Griddle for about 2 minutes each side.
6. Add parmesan to the risotto, stirring until it has melted, season to taste, and it should be ready! Serve the risotto, topped with the griddled asparagus spears, a few shavings of parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Recipe: Leek and Bacon Risotto

Once again combining the perfectly paired flavours of leek and bacon, this time in risotto form. This is a sneaky supper for myself. It is perhaps rather a big portion for one but I am a greedy girl, and when it's so cold outside for me life is all about comfort eating! If i was serving this for a dinner party, i would also top the risotto with a bit of crumbled really crispy bacon- so you get a mix of textures.

Leek and Bacon Risotto (serves 1, or 2 as a dinner party starter)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 rasher smoky bacon, diced finely
1 leek, sliced finely
100ml white wine
80g Arborio rice
350ml chicken or vegetable stock
10g parmesan, finely grated
1 tbsp finely chopped chives
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

1. Cook the bacon on a high heat for about three minutes, until beginning to brown. Add the leeks, stir quickly to mix, and add the white wine, for 2 minutes, until most of the wine has evaporated.
2. Add the rice, stir in, and cook for one minute. Begin to gradually add the stock, for 15 minutes, or until the rice is “al-dente”.
3. Stir in the parmesan and season to taste. Garnish with the chopped chives and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.