Cauliflower and Mascarpone Risotto with Spicy Chorizo

I have spent the weekend travelling the length of the country... It was a packed trip full of friends and family, parties and trips round the beautiful countryside. We drove round the grounds of Woburn Abbey on Saturday, it was very pretty, even in the rain, with huge herds of deer roaming all over the place. Unfortunately they huddled under the trees and we huddled in the car, as the torrential rain began to batter us with some force... Woburn is a beautiful little Georgian village in Bedfordshire, where we made a run for cover to a cosy little country pub, and ate and drank until the sun came out...

On Saturday night we danced around a cricket club to old Whitney hits at a lovely little birthday party. Add in constant eating, different cakes every day, quite a bit of wine, many different friends to visit and it all adds up to a bit of a tired Monday... It's a comfort food situation I think. There's been a few of them recently. After researching my article for Appetite magazine I have been cooking a lot of pies, slow stews and risottos. This one is a creamy mascarpone laced risotto with soft cauliflower and spicy hot chorizo scattered over the top.

To begin finely chop one medium onion and soften in some olive oil on a low heat until soft and translucent. Then add the risotto rice, I used 200g of arborio rice which served two people and a little for left overs. Add the rice to the onion, turn the heat up a little and cook for a few minutes until it starts to turn translucent at the edges. Then add a glass of white wine, anything old or new will do.

The wine will bubble and hiss as soon as you add it to the hot pan, so just stir until it's absorbed. Then begin to add the stock, a ladle at a time, stirring each until it is absorbed. I used chicken stock about 500ml, but just use water if it runs out. After the first ladle of stock chop half a small cauliflower into little pieces like peas and add to the rice.

Continue to add stock until the rice is creamy and cooked, but still has a little bite to it. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to suit. Finally add 2 tablespoons of mascarpone and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese and stir everything together. Turn the heat off and put a lid on it, allowing it to sit for 5 minutes.

While it sits quickly dice up a handful of picante chorizo per person and fry off until hot and sizzling... Serve the creamy risotto in bowls and sprinkle over the chorizo with a little of its oil. The little spicy porky chorizo squares work perfectly with the creamy cheesy risotto and the earthy delicious cauliflower. I can't wait to grow more of my own this year...

Chorizo, Broad Bean and Mint Risotto

While I've been off gallivanting around Cornwall the allotment has really come on. The cauliflowers are huge with tiny curds, the cabbages have come up, the wall of sweet peas is in full bloom. The broad beans are covered in pods, as are the peas and the runner and french beans have shot up their canes. The courgettes and squashes are coming along well, still small but surviving. It looks like a proper vegetable garden, I'm really quite pleased. There are still hundreds of weeds but I just keep on pulling them up over and over in the hope that one day I will be in control of them...

This is my first dish with my own broad beans, and you can really tell the difference, they are soft and sweet, compared to the big sometimes bitter supermarket ones. Broad beans love chorizo and vice versa, the mild sweet creamy beans go so well with the spicy salty sausage. So I decided on a simple risotto for the beans first outing. With shredded mint to finish, another great friend of the broad bean.

We listened to quite a lot of radio on our 15 hour round trip to Cornwall and back, part of which was Angela Hartnett on Radio 4 cooking red wine and chorizo risotto, I took her advice and made the simple risotto first and then topped it with the ingredients instead of cooking them through it.

Heat a pan of chicken stock through, I used about 600ml of stock reserved from poaching a chicken. I keep it in the freezer in old soup pots labelled with the type of stock and when I froze it. It makes me feel incredibly organised... my freezer is probably the most organised aspect of my life actually!

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add a finely chopped onion and a pinch of salt, cook until the onion is soft and sweet, add a finely chopped clove of garlic half way through. You don't want them to brown so keep them on a low heat. When the onions are ready turn the heat up a bit and add 200g of arborio rice, this is enough for a modest sized serving for two people, add a bit more if you're really hungry. Allow the rice to heat through with the onions, this starts its cooking process, after a few minutes add a glass of white wine or a small glass of vermouth. Allow the alcohol to bubble off for a few minutes before you start adding your stock. You then need to continue adding the stock a ladle at a time, stirring slowly as you go until all of the liquid has been absorbed. You want the rice to be creamy, but still have a slight bite to it. It will take about 20 minutes.

When it is almost ready blanch a couple of large handfuls of broad beans in boiling water. I only left mine for about 2 minutes as they were small and very fresh, some of the larger supermarket ones may take 4 or 5 minutes. Fry off about 150g of diced chorizo in a frying pan at the same time until it begins to crisp up.

Finally stir a handful of grated parmesan and a knob of butter through the risotto and ladle it into bowls. Divide the chorizo and broad beans over the rice, drizzling over a little of the cooking oil too. Then add a handful of shredded mint over the top of everything. It really is delicious, especially knowing they were my own broad beans planted from a few little seeds all those weeks ago.

Leek and Goats' Cheese Risotto

After a week relaxing in the Lake District the allotment had resumed its 'jungle' status. I spent quite a few hours tidying and weeding last night. Most of the grass is now cut, as it was beginning to take over. I've planted the sunflowers out, so hopefully they will survive. I can imagine my allotment neighbours talking about me in disgust when I'm not there, so it is embarrassment that drives me to be better, neater and more efficient in the world of allotmenting...

We made some interesting things in the Lakes that I still need to tell you about, a French Apple cake, an Orange, Lemon and Olive oil cake, a delicious Terrine and the Chicken, Bacon and Caper pie again, but this time with home grown leeks in it... I think it was the best one yet...

Last night I picked a few more of my leeks and made a little Leek and Goats' Cheese Risotto. The leeks smell amazing as soon as they come out of the ground. They are much more colourful and tasty than any I have had from a supermarket.

To start I chopped the leek into small rounds and cooked it slowly in some butter, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Leave it until all the leeks are soft and buttery, about 10 minutes I think. At the same time finely chop 3 or 4 baby onions, or one medium one and soften this in some olive oil on a low heat. Add a finely chopped clove of garlic when the onion is soft and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the risotto rice, I used 250g of arborio rice for two people, it was a bit much perhaps if you're not hugely hungry... Next time I'll go for 200g.

Add the rice to the onion and garlic, turn the heat up a little and cook for a minute or two. Then add a glass of white wine, anything old will do, you should save the ends of bottles or leftovers as it doesn’t really matter how old it is for these purposes. Or... open one and drink the rest with your lovely risotto?

The wine will bubble and hiss as soon as you add it to the hot pan, so just stir until it's absorbed. Then begin to add stock, a ladle at a time, stirring each until it is absorbed. I used chicken stock, you can use vegetable also. Keep adding until the rice is creamy and cooked, but still has a little bite to it. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to suit.

A minute before the end, stir through the leeks. I then added some hard goats' cheese, some soft goats' cheese and a handful of parmesan. About 60g of the goats' cheese, but you could easily add more if you wanted it quite cheesy. The buttery leeks go really well with the tangy, salty, hard goats' cheese.

Aubergine, lemon and basil risotto

My blossom is out and it's been really warm and lovely for the past week or so, a bit cold again this week but no complaints. I'm having a bit of trouble at the allotment... Someone has been pecking at the broad beans and the lupins, so I have had to construct emergency netted structures and bean houses, otherwise known as plastic bottles. I didn't have the allotment this time last year so am still learning as I go, but have broad beans, peas, sweet peas, poppies, rhubarb and sunflowers in so far. Fingers crossed that I will beat the invaders...

This is a really springy risotto that I came across, I wouldn’t usually think to put lemon and basil and aubergine together with creamy rice but it was lovely. I free styled a bit with the amounts of things and didn’t get it quite right, I think it needed more cheese and more aubergine... and perhaps less lemon. That will teach me to start changing things the first time I make them. I will tell you what I should have done and I think you will end up fine.

You need two aubergines, each prepared in a different way. These amounts make enough for four people. I made it for two so just cut the aubergine in half. Char the first aubergine on your hob. Place it directly on the flame and keep moving it and turning it for about 15 minutes until the whole thing is charred and smoky and the inside is soft. Scoop out the insides when it is cooled and chop them roughly. The smell of this smoky charred aubergine is one of my favourite things. I make a side dish for bbq's where you char it on the bbq in the same way then scoop out the middle and mix it with yoghurt and lemon juice...

Dice the other aubergine into cubes and fry it in 80ml of olive oil until golden and soft, make sure it is cooked right through. Then place it in a colander to drain and sprinkle salt over it.

Then you need to make the risotto. Dice an onion and crush 2 cloves of garlic and soften them slowly in 50ml of olive oil until translucent. Turn up the heat and add 300g of risotto rice and fry it for 2 or 3 minutes. Add 150ml of white wine, it will hiss and bubble, stir until it is absorbed into the rice. Now you need to start adding 800ml of vegetable stock a little at a time, stirring all the time, adding more as each ladle full is absorbed.

When all the stock is absorbed add the zest of half a lemon, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, the grilled aubergine flesh, 20g of butter, 50g of parmesan and a good pinch of salt. Leave it to sit for 5 minutes. Finally taste and add more salt and pepper if you need to, stir through the diced aubergine and 10g of shredded basil. Sprinkle the top with a little more parmesan and lemon zest.

This is an Ottolenghi recipe, from the book Plenty, and really delicious. The smoky aubergine with lemon and cheese and perfumed basil is lovely when you get the right balance. I need to make it again and add a bit more aubergine and cheese next time to correct my mistakes...