psmith, foodie

Mushroom risotto - but what to make with the leftovers?

Yes it’s mushroom time again. I had some leftover from the gnocchi, plus some chicken stock, so risotto was the obvious option. There’s something nice about risotto - comforting, food writers would say, although I find all good food comforting and have no idea what comfort food is - and something quite cook-y about standing there stirring it. It’s not the kind of thing you can get from a shop.

It’s kind of pointless writing down a recipe for it. I agree with Jamie O that you should cook some onions and garlic (he says celery; I didn’t have any) for 15 minutes to reduce them down to translucent, sweet slithers - so that there’s no bite. But I have done this many times by just cooking this stage for 3 minutes, and the difference isn’t that noticeable.

Good stock makes the difference - it’s always worth roasting a chicken, even on a weekday, it’s only 50 minutes-ish - and stock cubes are always a bit too salty (even for me).

I like mushrooms chargrilled or fried to within an inch of their lives - like bacon for me they should be very slightly blackened - so with the stock pan you have a three-pan strategy going on here.

Also, I used Martini vermouth instead of wine, which apparently is what Italians do, and it does give a satisfying tang to proceedings. You cannot use sweet white wine - I speak from bitter experience, quite literally.

But what do you do with the leftovers?

So here I am with half a pan of rice that I can’t really heat up again. What can I do? Girlfriend’s answer: arancini. Little cheesy dough balls fried in breadcrumbs, made with leftover risotto. Result!

It means “little oranges” and they are little and orange, but the similarities end there, unless you’re fond of putting cheese in your oranges.

Saint J says to get the mixture very cold before firming into balls and then putting in the fridge again to set. 

In the manner of Adam West-era Batman, you’ll have to tune in another time to find out how that goes. Watch this space.

Meat-free Monday: Creamy mushroom gnocchi

I love meat, but I don’t need it every day.

Which is why I’m a fan of Sir Paul “Macca” McCartney’s scheme to stop people from eating meat on Mondays, in a bid to improve health and help the environment.

This isn’t tree-hugging lentil-chewing Guardian reader stuff - the environmental impact really is vast. Cows do a lot of farting. So much so, that their bottom antics account for 8.5 percent of the UK’s carbon emissions, according to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (via Macca). 

So with that in mind, I’m a meat-free Monday person. What to make then?

I don’t know if vegetarians like to hear this particularly, so whisper it: mushrooms are meaty. They are for me the most meaty member of the veg family - something with enough substance and texture to give a good bite to most meals.

My very food-talented girlfriend makes a superb mushroom pie - like a leek and chicken pie - which is as satisfying (and not as filling) as any meat pie. And I’m from the north-west of England, where pies are something close to a religion.

But tonight I had some gnocchi from the shop downstairs (of average but OK  quality) and I thought mushrooms were just the thing for it.

This is from Saint Jamie, in his Cook With Jamie book. Christine has blogged it here - so thanks to her for that. I might have over-done it with the stock and also, as I was using a stock cube the final meal was probably a bit salty.

Also, it doesn’t need the chilli at all. I put a whole one in because I love chillies, but it was too much for the comforting gooey fun parcels that gnocchi are.

I could add the recipe for making the gnocchi - I’ve done it before, it’s easy - but to be honest, if you live near a supermarket or deli, just buy it. It’s really not worth the hassle.

Ingredients of sauce:

• 200 gm Swiss mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 250 ml vegetable stock (or water)
• 1/2 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 15 gm butter
• 2 Tbsp thickened cream
• fresh continental parsley leaves for garnish, roughly chopped
• Parmesan cheese, grated for garnish
• Olive oil
• semolina flour
• fine grain sea salt, to taste
• freshly grated black pepper, to taste

Method of cooking gnocchi with mushroom sauce:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chopped chilli, garlic, salt and pepper and butter.
2. When the garlic is slightly golden, add stock and cook on medium heat, until liquid reduces by half, about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in 2 tablespoons of thickened cream.
3. Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 4 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Once the gnocchi is cooked, spoon them out with a slotted spoon and drain in a colander. Handle with care because you don’t want to break the delicate gnocchi into pieces or turn them back to mashed potato.
4. Add them into the mushroom mixture, just incorporated all ingredients. Carefully transfer to a plate. Sprinkle chopped parsley. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese over the top.

Goan lamb xacuti: The spice is right for Sunday night

You’ve got to hand it Delia.

Norfolk’s eccentric, cake-loving, rabble-rousing Canary botherer has a knack of tracking down useful kitchen ingredients and taking them from obscurity to scarcity, as her cookbook fans buy up every last cranberry or Aunt Bessie Yorkshire puddings.

For me, her recommendation of spice company Seasoned Pioneers is perhaps her best. For any home cook chasing exotic flavours, their mixes and pre-ground spices are must-haves - not least because of the appealing closable silver bags they come in. The mail order is very reliable but I am starting to see their wares pop up in places like Fortnum and Mason and even big Tesco stores.

I just made a lamb xacuti - a Goan speciality curry (it’s all about India at the moment around here) - for the umpteenth time and it’s something I never got bored of. Some meat, an onion, a handful of Seaoned Pioneers powder and one hour later, you’re in business. This is the recipe from How to Cheat at Cooking (2008, Ebury Press), which has some interesting Asian meal ideas, though I found the book itself a bit drab on the whole.

As with all stews it will be better the next day. It has a very tangy, bitter taste that I can’t get enough of. So much Anglo-Indian food is sweet and sugary with all that food colouring and ghee. A good deal of real Indian food has neither much fat nor any sugar at all. This is a grown up curry.

• 450g neck of lamb fillet, cut into pieces, fat trimmed
• 2 tablespoons groundnut oil (I used veg oil)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 50g dessicated coconut (you often find this in cake sections in supermarkets)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 5 tbps Seasoned Pioneers Goan Xacuti powder
• 275ml hot stock made from bullion powder (I used leftover chicken stock and it was fine)
• 1 dessert spoon tamarind extract (Seasoned Pioneers do their own very good tamarind but it’s pretty much in every Asian/Indian supermarket)

Fry the coconut and crushed garlic for 5 mins in a frying pan, don’t let it burn.

Fry the onion for a bit, add the meat - you don’t need to brown it - then the coconut mixture, curry powder and seasoning.

Give it a good stir, add the tamarind, cover and simmer on the lowest heat for one hour. And that’s it. I added a chilli because I like everything hot but it doesn’t need it.

The West African groundnut beef stew from the same Delia book is great to make too and follows pretty much the same method.

Naked Wines - part two: Montaria, Portugal, 2009

So it’s round two and the second out of the box is the Montaria (of which there are two in the crate so I’d better get used to it). It’s a Portuguese red and… that’s all I know.

The new rule for these reviews is: don’t read the winemaker/seller’s blurb before drinking, so these are my own misguided thoughts entirely.

Taste notes: To return to yesterday’s theme, it tastes like fruit. I always find this unsurprising. Isn’t is a strange thing to point out, that wine is “fruity”, seeing as wine is made from fruit. “It’s like some grapes mashed together and fermented in a French field” isn’t how successful wine writers approach their craft.

But seriously, it’s very nice: it has a pinkish colour and a redcurrant smell; an enjoyable spiciness and a large does of vanilla and cherries. It’s quite a long after-taste that for some reason reminded me of candy floss.

What does it actually taste like? Here’s some marketing bollocks:

The wine is dark and plush. Aromas of red fruits and a hint of tobacco are warm and welcoming. The mouth is full of vanilla and black cherry with a velvety finish. It wraps you up in cozy comfort…like a Snuggie!

Snuggle! I hate cute marketing words! But not bad eh? I got the vanilla and cherry bit right.

All in all, a very enjoyable and drinkable red that goes well with a good meal and doesn’t distract too much from the food and conversation. Not so much an “event” wine, more of a companion piece. But again, like yesterday’s Sauvignon, a recommended tipple.

Score: 7/10.

Naked Wines - part one: Arabella Sauvignon Blanc, 2010

Whenever I talk about a particular wine and how it tastes, I am tempted to say “it tastes like wine.”

You may have gathered I’m no wine buff. I admit I am more of a beer fan.

But in an attempt to cure my Philistine ways I have branched out, splashed out and bought a crate of 12 (oh yes) bottles from NakedWines.com. I went for the customers’ favourite box. They are wine customers, and if there’s one thing I know about wine customers: they know wine. What can go wrong?

So far, nothing. The first out of the box is Arabella Sauvignon Blanc 2010, a very fruity South African tipple. Here’s the winemaker’s blurb:

Yellow green in colour. Complex green grassy nose with passion fruit, guava and pear aromas. Gooseberry, capsicum and tropical flavours on a full, rich palate with a long sweet-fruited finish.

So, any good? It is: pear is about right for the smell and, yes, Gooseberry isn’t such a wanky word to describe it either. Taste-wise, it’s sweet and rich but ever so slightly sour at the same time, in the way that decent Sauvignon seems to be (to me anyway).

It’s a summer drink and certainly imagine this going down well at barbecues. Perhaps not that well suited to the rainy weather outside but an enjoyable, slightly powerful white that I’d recommend. I’m very much looking forward to some full bodied reds to take some winter blues away

Rating: 7/10