Chouriço and Courgette Risotto

The key to a good risotto is STARCH. That´s why we want risotto, we want it because the varieties used to make risotto (the most important ones being arborio, vialone nano, and carnaroli) have a high content of starch filled of that creamymoist producing thing called amylopectin, and low on the other side of starch (of which most of the other rices are filled with): amylose. And to release this beautiful glucose polymer (Yes, I know...) you need slow cooking, gentle stirring, and slowly added stock. That´s it.

Start by roasting the courgettes. While these are being done, sautée the onions with olive oil in moderate heat until just translucent, add the tomato paste and mix well for 1 minute to take off the tartness of the paste. Add the rice (without washing it! I use the arborio variety because it´s the only one available in Madeira, but I much prefer carnaroli for meat based risottos... and it´s much easier to work...) and let it be coated in the oil and tomato paste for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. You might need to add some more olive oil during the process. Add the tomato and red wine vinegar, cook 1 minute,then start adding the stock, bit by bit, until the rice is cooked and has absorved enough liquid (arborio is tricky and very easy to overcook, so keep checking for doneness). In the middle of cooking add some ground cumin and the tiniest bit of allspice. 5 minutes before the risotto is done add the chouriço, so its spices will dilute in the rice just a little, and not overpower it. Turn off the gas, add the chopped parsley, Knob of butter and the roasted courgettes, fold and let rest for 2 minutes. Serve immediately with a drizzle of olive oil and a throw of chopped parsley to finish off.
4 2

3 Handfulls of any variety of risotto (try carnaroli for this one)
50g chouriço
1 lg tomato
1/2 md onion
chopped parsley
1/3 tsp gorund cumin
1 dusted fingerprint of allspice
olive oil
red wine vinegar

chiken stock

An Irish Brown Soda Bread

The easiest bread you´ll ever make... and one of the tastiest... Sounds good eh?
It´s pretty much what Irish brown bread is.
You mix the dry ingredients. You add all the buttermilk. You mix as gently as possible so there are no dry patches (like folding whites into a soufflé). Put in a loaf tin. Throw it in the oven at 180ºC for 45m. Have it with a knob of butter... Ouch! Beautiful...
Because buttermilk is not as easy to find as one can think, just make your own good enough substitution: mix in 1 tbsp of vinegar (I use rice vinegar, which I thinl is the most appropriated for this bread flavour) to each 200ml of milk. Let it rest for 15m.
The ratio is also the easiest. 1 part of wet to one part of dry ingredients. Really, there´s no excuse for not having fresh brown soda bread in the house. Oh, and it´s very healthy, it uses wholemeal Wheat flour... (I haven´t tried with other non wheat flour, but can´t see why it wouldn´t work - let me know!)
150g white flour
250g wholemeal flour
2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
2 tsp salt
400ml buttermilk

Lava chocolate cakes

I have tried this recipe twice now, and made some changes in the baking time to get the chocolate still melted inside! yummi!

Já experimentei esta receita duas vezes, mas tive que ajustar um bocadinho o tempo de cozedura, para o chocolate ficar derretido por dentro.

Ingredients

• 280 g cooking chocolate (70% cocoa)


• 200 g butter


• 8 eggs


• 1 ¼ cup (260 g) sugar


• 1¼ cup (160 g) all-purpose flour

Method
Preheat oven to 350 deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).
Grease 10 large muffin tins or cups; paper muffin bake cups can also be used.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.
Beat the eggs with sugar and mix with flour. Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate. Bake at 350 degrees for only 8-12 minutes; the outer part should be cooked and the inner part liquid.

Ingredientes

• 280 g chocolate de culinária (70% cacau)


• 200 g manteiga


• 8 ovos


• 260 g acucar


• 160 g farinha de trigo para bolos

Instruções
Pré aquecer o forno a 180 graus (Forno a gás 4). Untar 10-12 forminhas de queques; também podem ser usadas formas de papel.
Partir o chocolate em pedacos pequenos e derreter juntamente com a manteiga em banho maria.
Bater os ovos com o acucar e juntar a farinha.
Adicionar a este preparado o chocolate e manteiga derretidos.
Cozer a 180 graus durante 8-12 minutos; a parte de fora deve estar cozida, mas o interior líquido. Isto pode requerer várias tentativas ;)

Crumble de maçãs com nozes

Ingredientes para 4 pessoas:

4 maçãs pequenas
canela em pó
4 colheres de sopa de vinho do Porto
70 gr de manteiga sem sal à temperatura ambiente
150 gr de farinha
60 gr de açúcar mascavado escuro + um pouco para polvilhar
4 colheres de sopa de nozes partidas grosseiramente

Preparação:
Cortar as maçãs aos cubos, espalhar uma colher de sopa de açúcar amarelo , outra de canela e o vinho do porto, misturar as nozes e reservar.
O crumble : misturar a manteiga com o açúcar, a farinha e metade das nozes com a ponta dos dedos, até obter um granulado fino.
Untar um prato de ir ao forno com manteiga, colocar o preparado com as maçãs, depois espalhar a mistura da farinha adicionando por cima mais uns bocadinhos de manteiga.
Levar ao forno a 180ºC durante meia hora.
Servir morno de preferência com uma bola de gelado de nata ou baunilha.

Wonder bread! No knead

Found this bread recipe in a long search on the internet for a fool proof bread recipe to bake during the week:

in The New York Times
(...) Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees (21 celsius).

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf. (...)

I made this bread using 2 1/2 cups of wholemeal rye flour, 1/2 cup of buckwheat and wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups of water, a pinch of salt and 23g of freash yeast.
Used the same method described above, but after 20 hours "resting" the dough, I added 2 table spoons of rye flour, gave it a quick mix and put it in a rectangle baking tin to rest for another 2 hours (no flour spreaded, as this is non-stick tin). Put in the oven for 30m covered with aluminium foil, and take the foil out for another 15m (this is baked in a gas oven in mark 8).
Et voilá!
Yummy, yummy! We have eaten and shared 3 loafs, and I'm on my way to make the 4th one!

broccoli & stilton soup

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
½ white onion
2 sticks of celery
1 small-medium broccoli (300g)
1 medium potato
1 medium-large carrot
50g stilton
50ml single cream
2 black peppercorns
6 basil leaves
1 ¼ lt Vegetable stock

1 Sauté garlic, onion and celery in the oil for 2-3 minutes in medium heat.
2 Cut the potato and carrot into small chunks and add to the pan, together with the vegetable stock.
3 Add the broccoli and peppercorns after 10 minutes and simmer for another 10.
4 Switch off gas, add the basil leaves, cream and stilton. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Blend in food processor, heat and serve.

This is a delicious way to eat broccoli's goodness. It's quite healthy and the only problem here is the saturated fat. But The quantities of cheese and cream are actually very small, which makes the soup mild with only subtle warm flavours of blue cheese. The total fat amounts to 27g (cheese 17g – cream 10g) and the total saturated fat is 17g (cheese 11g – cream 6g). This means that in one serving, the amount of fat consumed is 6.75g, of which 4.25 is saturated. This amounts to 10% and 18% of the total guideline amounts respectively for a person of my size. Average guidelines would be 19% and 25% for an average person. Still, not bad for a nasty lovely soup.

(check http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00024broccoliqq0andqq0stiltonqq0soup-01c30fC-03E1003-01c308D-01c50dS-04q21sM-01c00cf-01c20c1-01c40cS-01c00eM-04q300n.html)

Smoked salmon risotto

Ingredients:
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice ("Carolino" rice will also work)
2 cups vegetable stock, simmering on stove top
2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
300gr. smoked salmon chopped into 2cm pieces
25gr. butter
For carrot cream:
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 medium carrots sliced
2 shallots, chopped
1/4 fennel, chopped
3 tbsp cider vinegar (or white wine )
½ tsp salt

1. Make the carrot cream by heating the olive oil in small pan and sauté the carrots, shallots and fennel and cook and stiring for five minutes. Add cider vinegar, salt and simmer over low heat for 12 minutes. Add 4 tbsp of water and puree ingredients in food processor returning to pan to keep warm.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a medium pan and sauté shallots and garlic for 3 minutes. Add rice stir and sauté for 3 more minutes. Add vegetable stock, ½ cup at a time, and cook stiring until liquid is absorbed. Entire cooking time is approximately 40 minutes (check if rice is cooked, but do not overcook either).
3. Add carrot cream and butter to the risotto and stir well. Add the salmon and the dill stirring well to incorporate and combine. Turn the heat off.
4. Cover the pan for 2 minutes and serve wile it's hot.

We ate this risotto with sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella seasoned with oregano, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.