Asparagus Risotto

I haven't found anymore time recently to bake or not enough time to bake anything thats blogworthy at least so this is what i made at the weekend. Either the colour of this puts you off or it really makes you want to eat it. Green risotto- i love strange coloured food!



I found this recipe in The Times magazine and I love the bright green asparagus puree you make to put in this, it makes the risotto a lovely colour and it tastes so fresh and summery!

I can't wait for the next few (incredibly busy) weeks to be over then i can catch up on all the great posts i've missed! I hope you enjoy my recipes in the mean time <3

Recipe: serves 4

500g asparagus
75g butter
1 litre vegetable stock
1small onion, finely chopped
1/2 glass dry white wine
250g risotto rice
5tbsp grated parmesan

Start by snapping off the woody ends of the asparagus. Snap the tips of the asparagus off and cut the remaining stalks into 5cm lengths.
Bring the stock to boil in a pan and add the asparagus tips and boil for 1 minute. Remove the tips and put them to one side. Then boil the stalks in the stock for a few minutes until they are soft and remove and put them in a blender/food processor with a large knob of butter, then blend to make a smooth puree.
Sautee your onion in half of the remaining butter making sure it's softened but not brown
Add the risotto rice and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously. Then add the white wine.
Add the stock a ladelful at a time, making sure the rice absorbs all the liquid before adding the next ladelful.
Stir untilcooked, it should take around twenty minutes.
Once your rice is cooked through add the bright green puree, the remaining butter, the parmesan and the asparagus tips. Cook for a couple of minutes then serve with parmesan shavings on top.



Cherry Clafoutis

I feel almost guilty i haven't posted in so long! And then i could hardly decide what to post out of all the things i've had time to bake (but not post) in the last few weeks. I've never tried cherry clafoutis before so i was a little unsure what i should expect and what i should eat with it. It turned out that it was so good that me and my mum (who normally loves anything you can pour custard on) ate it straight from the dish.

Ingredients

Recipe from Nigel Slater. Serves 4

400g cherries
70g butter (melted and cooled slightly)
80g caster sugar
2 free range eggs
90g plain flour
150ml milk
teaspoon vanilla extract


Start by stoning the cherries (arrgh, i am not patient at all but i managed to persevere!), then butter a 20cm baking dish and dust with some sugar and tip in your cherries. In a bowl beat the sugar with the eggs (one by one) then beat in the flour, milk, vanilla then finally the melted butter. Pour all over the cherries and bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.