Beetroot Risotto

The long Easter weekend of indulgence has now ended, leaving me with a small bulge in my tummy to work off. I planned to do some girly shopping that I had been putting off for ages over the Easter holiday, but that didn’t happen unfortunately. Ever since I got into cooking, shopping for clothes doesn’t excite me enough to make me bother to go through the course of endless taking off and putting on clothes. Not a good sign, is it? I don’t even remember the last time I bought anything to put on my body rather than either to put in my mouth or stock up my kitchen. BUT, BUT, BUT!!!! I’m definitely going to clean out my wardrobe soon… maybe after trimming my body a bit so that I won’t get depressed when the clothes I try on don’t fit.

<Beetroot Risotto>

I think this gorgeous looking dish will help to take toxins out of my body and reset my diet. I love beetroot in almost everything, especially grated raw beetroot in my sandwiches, and I also love beetroot dip made with yoghurt. Still, the best way to enjoy everything it can offer, the earthiness and sweetness, is warm beetroot salad because you can eat a lot of it at one go. But risotto, not only the most versatile but also the easiest and the most satisfying of all cooking methods, seems to be  simply the best way to get all the goodness out of the healthy vegetable.

Risotto is one of the foods that are longed for by many on a cold winter night as comfort food along with pasta, stew, curry and roasted vegetables. I didn’t roast the beetroot this time, though, if I had had more time I would probably have because I like roasted flavour. I think it is the best to keep the recipe as simple as possible so that you don’t spoil the delicate flavour and elegant perfume  of the beetroot. The herb used here is parsley, but you can use rosemary, thyme or dill. You could also play around with different type of cheese, from feta cheese to goat cheese. To top it off I made cucumber rocket salad, whose peppery flavour seemed to bring out more of the creaminess and sweetness of risotto.

Seductive purple…. Nice to look at…Just eat with eyes….

I could have added wilted beetroot leaves on top, but I had already used them up for something else. It is quite recent that I started eating the leaves and I quite like the spinach-like taste, besides, I feel much better about not having to waste any parts.

To create this purple art for 2-3 people

You need:

1 bunch of beetroot, leaves and all
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion, chopped
30g butter
olive oil
1 ltr vegetable stock
200g arborio rice
1 glass of red wine
1/2 c grated parmesan
1/3 c heavy cream or sour cream(optional)
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice

Cook the beetroots,  either roast or boil with skin on, and cool, then peel off the skin and cut into pieces. Set aside.

In a large pan, heat butter and a splash of olive oil. Sauté the chopped onion and garlic until it is soft. Add the rice, and toast for two mins. Tip in the red wine, and stir till it is absorbed. Add a ladle of hot stock, stir until it is completely absorbed, then add the next ladle, and continue in this fashion for about 15-20 mins, until the rice gets to the desired texture and consistency. Lower the heat and add cream and grated parmesan stir for 2 mins. Taste for seasoning.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the beetroot and herb, and gently fold in,  then put the lid on the pan and leave it to rest for 1 – 2 minutes, then squeeze some lemon juice and serve.

NB: I would add more stock and butter to make it creamier on a colder night.

Serves 2 generously.

Happy Easter!

Hello, Wheatbix!

They are such good eaters, just like me who would eat anything and almost EVERYTHING!

Of all the animals I grew up with, cats, chicks, dogs, rabbits, gold fish and turtles, rabbits were the ones I was the most attached to. I loved feeding them and watching leaves disappearing into their mouth so quickly that it always gave me giggles. They are such good eaters, just like me who would eat anything and almost EVERYTHING! No wonder why they are such good breeders, too. I learned that female bunnies can conceive a second litter of babies while still pregnant with the first. Duh! That makes me wonder whether that has something to do with a bunny being a sexual symbol. Here is extra information for those who has wondered about Easter symbols and never got around to looking them up.

So CUTE!!!

Wiki: The Western name for the festival of Easter derives from the Germanic word Eostre. The pre-Christian Saxons had a spring goddess called Eostre, whose feast was held around 21 March. Some believe that Ēostre was associated with eggs and hares, and the rebirth of the land in spring was symbolised by the egg.  The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was ideally suited to be merged with the Pagan feast of Eostre, and many of the traditions were adopted into the Christian festivities.

The Easter Bunny is a mythical character depicted as an anthropomorphic rabbit. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with coloured eggs, candy and toys to the homes of children on the night before Easter.

The Easter Bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have its origins in Alsace and southwestern Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1600s. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s and were made of pastry and sugar.

Feel like you’ve got smarter? Then, let’s move on to a dumb foodie chat.

<Quick n Easy Hot Cross Buns>

On Good friday morning the first thing I realised was that I forgot to get hot cross buns yesterday, though I had already had some. So I thought, ‘Why not bake my own?’ Of course, I wasn’t going to go through the leavening process with yeast, so I decided to make cheaters’ hot cross bun.

You wouldn’t have been able to tell they were yeast free quick hot cross buns by the look, hadn’t I told you they were, would you?

But the texture, which was more like scones, would give away the truth, although they had the same taste as the real ones. I thought I could make them more often to have with afternoon tea, without the cross on them.

They must be enjoyed with a good dollop of butter. Love butter! We’ve got to love butter, the real food. I love xxxxxxxx after eating butter

Since it’s an Easter theme, I’ll add another goodies I made for Easter, the Easter Biscuits, which most people are not aware of. According to my research, they are a Greek tradition, and in most western countries they are known as shortbread or vanilla biscuits. I think when it comes to the Easter theme shapes and decorations carry more importance than other aspects.

These are quite basic biscuits with butter and fruit flavour, but I found them really nice and addictive. If I had known they would turn out this nice I could have double the batch. The biscuits were gone in the blink of an eye. Definitely a do-it-again.

< Happy Easter Biscuits>

I cut the amount of sugar by half and added more currents for sweetness. I, being playful, made a little effort to have a cross on each biscuit to be more suitable for the occasion. But the paper that I cut out was too thin to hold the shape before it got all soggy, and my hand was a bit shaky and sugar flew all over the place, destroying the already set crosses on the adjacent biscuits.

But still, you can make out a cross on some of the biscuits, and the rest if you look hard enough.

Easy Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 50g cold butter, chopped into small cubes
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/3 cup sultanas * I used currents and a bit of citron peel
• 3/4 cup milkFor the cross
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tbsp apricot jam

Here’s how

1 Preheat the oven to 220C. Line an oven tray with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and ground cinnamon into a large bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and sultanas. Make a well in the centre. Stir in the milk using a knife and mix until the dough starts to form beads.

2 Gather the dough together with floured hands and transfer to a lightly floured benchtop. Gently press the dough out to 2cm thickness, then use a 7cm cutter or the rim of a glass to press out rounds of the dough. Gather together any off-cuts and press out again to 2cm thickness for more rounds. Place the rounds close together in neat lines on the tray.

3 Mix the flour and water in a small bowl until it forms a smooth paste. Carefully spoon the paste into a small plastic bag, then snip off the corner to form a small nozzle for a piping bag. Pipe crosses over each bun.

4 Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the buns are risen and golden on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

5 Heat the apricot jam with 2 teaspoons of water until smooth. Brush the glaze over the buns, then set aside to dry. Serve the warm buns with lashings of butter and a cup of tea.

Easter Biscuits

Makes approximately 24.

110g unsalted butter, softened
110g caster sugar * 60g for my biscuits
zest of one lemon
1 large egg, separated
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
225g plain flour
55g currants * 70g
3 tbsp milk, approximately
extra caster sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 3. Grease a large baking sheet.

Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest together until pale, light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk.

Mix the cinnamon and flour together; sieve directly onto the creamed mixture. Fold the flour into the mixture, adding the currants half-way through. Add as much milk as is necessary to make a stiff dough. Knead lightly in the bowl until it all comes together nicely and is smooth.

Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thickness. Cut out rounds with a 7.5m diameter fluted cutter. Transfer to baking sheet. Leave a few centimeters between the rounds; they won’t spread much. Bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime, whisk the egg white until frothy. Remove sheet from the oven and brush the top of each biscuit with the egg white and sprinkle each with some caster sugar. Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Watercress Chickpea Soup

April already…time flies…. *sigh* To look at the bright side,  my overseas holiday is coming closer. *smile*

It has been quite dull and wet lately as the weather cools down. Getting into and out of bed to the chill certainly is the alarm bell telling us the season of colds and flue has arrived. I felt quite light-headed the other day and thought I was coming down with the flue. So,  instead of making lemon honey tea, which I usually do when I get a cold, this time I ate two whole raw lemon with half a dozen of crystallised ginger. Oh YEAH~ *I can see your forehead being knitted into a puzzled and then disgusted frown.* But I’ll tell you that what I had done was worthwhile, because I felt fine the next day and lucky my symptoms didn’t develop into a cold.

Although I had got through the first warning to my health, I thought it would be nice to revitalise my body going into cold and flue season. That is how this healthy tasty soup has made its appearance here.

<Watercress Chick pea Soup>

Initially I was going to put potatoes in to be on the safe side, but I didn’t have any potatoes at that time or at all times; I’m not a huge fan of them, then I saw a bag of cooked chickpeas in the freezer; as a way of trying not to use tinned products I started to cook a pot of dried chickpeas or beans and freeze them. It saves a lot of time and money, what’s the best is that it’s much fresher and healthier.

Before I got started, I searched the net to see if anyone had tried the combination of watercress and chick peas, and I was glad to find a recipe on a healthy food site, which had a mixture of three main ingredients: watercress, carrots, chickpeas.

I really liked the nuttiness and heartiness of the soup. I usually make soup quite thick, not too watery. I had the leftover cold straight out of the fridge for lunch the next day, and it also tasted good as cold soup, though, I’d eat it hot. It is certainly one of the nicest comfort soups that can be  enjoyed throughout the cold months.

<Watercress Chickpea Soup>

Ingredients

a bunch of watercress, washed&chopped, stalk and all
2 cups chickpeas
1 carrot, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 pint vegetable stock
olive oil
salt&pepper
Heat  olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion and garlic. Add the chopped carrot and cook for 5 mins.
Add the watercress and stir well until the watercress is mixed in and starting to wilt. Add the drained chick-peas, stock and cumin and simmer gently for 20 mins or until the carrot is cooked.

Blend the soup in a processor until smooth. Put it back into a pot and simmer further before serving.
Serve with thick Greek style yoghurt with mint. (I think mint complemented the soup flavour very well.)

Black Forest+Tiramisu

Finally I’ve got round to posting this grand project of birthday cake. I clearly remember a lot of ‘um’s  and the doubting looks on people’s faces when I first broke my bold attempt to combine the two of my, probably everyone’s favourite desserts. It’s a perfect dessert choice for those who can’t decide what they want to eat. *two for the price of one*

Raspberries were used instead of cherries in the black forest part, still with layers of chocolate cake, and a layer of lady fingers soaked in coffee syrup and special mascarpone mixture, which is tiramisu part,  snuck into the middle layer as you see here.

It was finished off with fresh cream frosting and fresh raspberries. Lining the sides with half of lady fingers, rather than covering it with frosting, is a good idea, since that makes it easier to keep the cake from getting messy when it gets knocked about.

This luscious cake is also a sad reminder of my old camera, which just gave up its life while I was taking these pictures, though, I am still glad that I got to score some photos before my camera suddenly went blank. What I was told about the cause of my camera’s death is that it had reached the end of its life after having been abused by the food-a-holic owner for 3 years without a day’s break.

This cake is by far the best cake I’ve ever made, and also the example of making the impossible possible. I must call this ‘The Cake Ultimatum’, but still should think of a better name that it truly deserves. Any suggestions? This will be definitely put on the top dessert menu if I ever get the chance to have my own little cafe in the future.

Although I didn’t like that photo, I felt obliged to show what it looked like inside. I couldn’t take any more shots after that one for the reason I had already mentioned before; that is basically the last work of my old camera. So it is in a way memorable to have it seen, I think. Thanks My Old Cam for getting me into the world of photography! And thank you for putting up with my abuse and obsession.  I had a wonderful time with you for many years until you had decided to have a rest. I won’t forget you.*V*