Smoked Haddock Risotto

I think I have been cooking up a storm because I am kind a sad to leave Pete. Here we go starting the long distance again- that is the feeling I had when I woke up this morning knowing that tomorrow I will boarding a plane out of the crazy Heathrow. Urgg all this packing to do - my stuff is all over his house - and all the organizing to do when I get back to NY. For now I am reading Molly's new book like some one was going to test me on it and avoiding a bit of reality. Speaking of avoiding reality, here is the cook-to-not-deal risotto I made for Pete the other night, its proper name: Smoked Haddock Risotto.

Like I mentioned before our families went on a wee (translates to small in English) trip together and the Cullen Skink (an amazing Scottish soup) we had at most places we could find never dissappointed. I think if it was on the menu we ordered it. It is made with smoked haddock which I love, and if you get it from a certain region of Scotland it is called Arbroath Smokie. IF, and if, the haddock is not smoked in Arbroath you can never call it Arbroath Smokie- I just love that. Scotland is a small country and I love how the Scottish protect what is theirs through legal measures ;) So I bought the haddock in mind to use it for some Skink, but then I remembered one night on the trip when my pops ordered smoked haddock risotto (I guess not Arbroath). So I put the soup on hold and made the risotto. NB: It is really important when you make this recipe to buy un-dyed smoked haddock.

p.s pictures of risotto never do the risotto justice, plus my camera is broken so I am borrowing my moms. Trust me the risotto was goooood.

* Also this is one of those recipes that IS really important to read through all the way before you start. I am teaching you the foundations of risotto here, so listen up ;)

Smoked Haddock Risotto

Serves 4 (depending on who is eating ;)

Cooking time 45-50 minutes

300 grams of Arborio (Italian Risotto Rice)

350 grams of un-dyed smoked haddock, or two filets.

1 white onion

medium sized pot of broth (always homemade or gourmet, never cubes, this time I threw in a carrot, 3 dried bay leaves, the fish skins, celery and salt)

2 -4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 knobs of butter

around 1 cup of dry white wine

freshly ground pepper and sea salt

a generous handful of Parmesan

The funny part is I love making risotto and make it a lot. It was the first thing my mother taught me how to make properly and in our family there are two classics - saffron and spinach - so I am surprised this is the first one I am putting up. Hey at least now you will know I will be coming back to blog about more risotto- did I mention I love risotto, oh who doesn't? The trick to good risotto is it takes time and attention and....drum roll please....the ultimate trick: you always stir in one direction (clockwise) from the onions to the raw rice, to the finished product- never switch directions.

Heat a frying pan or risotto pan with generous glugs of oil (at least 2-4 tablespoons). When the oil is hot (not boiling) add the diced onion and saute for ten minutes until translucent. Then add the first knob of butter, turn up the heat and throw in the rice. You are braising the rice at this point, so the next couple minutes the high heat will brown the rice and lock in that butter-onion flavor. Make sure not to burn the rice just make it a bit golden around the edges. When you feel like it is done then pour in the wine (keeping the temperature up) this will make everything sizzle a bit. Stir clockwise. Allow the wine to burn off and then bring the temperature back down to medium low flame, start to add in some of the broth.

I think it is important to note a couple things here. One, I am not sure a fish broth would be good for thise risotto because smoked haddock has a strong enough flavor, two I mean it when I say don't buy cheap broth. It you have a gourmet store around you I'm sure their broth would be good, but taste it first! And gauge how much salt you had in relation to the salti-ness of the broth. Thirdly, I had grilled my haddock in the oven and then realized I probably should have poached it in the broth water to make the broth stronger. Nevertheless, grilling worked fine and then I removed the skins and added that to the broth.

More important things about the broth: the broth should always be on low heat on another burner, you need to have the broth hot when adding it to the risotto. Start the broth before the risotto so the flavors have had time to merge and mingle. Also when adding the broth to the rice add only around 1/2 cup at a time and make sure you do not add more until the 1/2 cup before has been almost burned off. Don't let the risotto get dry enough that the rice could burn, but do NOT saturate the rice either. If you saturate it even for part of the time it could ruin the rice and make it soggy.

Another trick my Italian nona taught my mom is that if you have any rinds of the Parmesan cheese lying arond then throw them in at the beginning to flavor the rice even more. You of course take them out at the end before serving. Actually my brother and I love them so much sometimes we make our mom keep them in so we can chew on the melty cheese rind that has been coated in rice.

When the rice if half way cooked (around 15-20 minutes) add the torn up pieces of the haddock. You should have cooked the haddock before you started the rice (by either poaching or oven grilling). After it has cooled, you can remove the skins and gently rip the haddock into small pieces. Yet, not too small, you still want pieces you can really taste when you bite into the risotto.Also watch out for bones!

Keep adding the broth slowly for about another 15-20 minutes. The rice, like pasta should be soft yet hard. It should NOT be crunchy but it should have substances, i.e not feel like rice pudding in your mouth. When you suspect it is about 5 minutes away from being done add the handful of Parmesan. When it is ready turn the heat off, add the last knob of butter and give it one last stir. Plate, garnish with parsley you if wish, and enjoy what is probably one of the plates of food I would request if I had one dying wish- Riiisottto (said like my father).

Bon Appetit,

Jacqueline

Leon's Biyaldi & Minty Raisin Barley Coucous

Leon is the newest addition to my every growing book collection. Yesterday, before I made myself swear I would stop buying anymore books until I had read and cooked through the ones I already have, I sneaked on Amazon and bought Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life....so one more book review will probably be coming up soon! Anyway this pact is suppose to last till the end of the summer! AHH - I really cannot promise that will happen, but I am going to try and go for at least a month. Don't get me wrong I am not some shop-O-holic here. I just have a book problem. I should be able to admit it - IT is starring me right in the face- big UPS packages being shipped from Scotland...weighing a lot....filled with books...and books....and well some more books.

Anyway lucky for you I acquired this amazing book, which is one part food dictionary one part recipes. With pull out maps of European cheese production and country origin of every fruit, veg and nut on earth I will be reading this book for a good long while, and YES I definitely recommend Leon Ingredients and Recipes.

I was in a very Levantine mood and cooking up a storm for Pete and his roomie Jordan, so I browsed through my new best friend (originally looking for babaganoush) and found this biyaldi/babaganoush combo. It was really absolutely fabulous. I had made enough for the boys to take it to work the next day, but NO Pete (and yes mostly Pete) ate it all that night. The cool and minty couscous I whipped up really complemented it, and for the first time I made couscous correctly!!! Ill tell you the trick....ready..... I followed the directions on the box- go figure ;)

The story behind biyaldi is that the Turkish Imam Biyaldi was (to quote Leon here) "so overcome by the deliciousness of it (due largely to the generous amounts of olive oil) that he fainted, or biyaldi'd." Yet as Leon states the original recipe involved cooking the aubergine/eggplant, extracting its flesh and then rebaking the flesh in its own skin. So technically this recipe is no biyaldi and even though it is cooked more like a babaganoush, without tahini it isn't babaganoush either. However, it is very good and healthy...and both Pete and Jordan forgot that they had not eaten meat that night.

I have altered mine a bit from Leon's and the original, because I definitely don't think I used as much olive oil as other's have - no one fainted when I served it.




Hybrid Biyaldi/Babaganoush
(Adapted from Leon)

Ingredients

1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
2 large aubergines/eggplants
olive oil to taste (3-6 tablespoons)
touch of balsamic vinegar
1 red onion
1 head of garlic (for roasting) + a couple more for frying
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
around 200 gms of organic tinned tomatoes
2-3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon raw sugar
large handful of flat leaf parsley
small handful of basil
salt and pepper

Grill your peppers and aubergines. I did it under the grill (in the oven) some people like doing it on an open flame. My peppers took about 25 minutes, the aubergines took an hour. I did it nice and slowly but you could always speed the process up. I peeled my peppers but decided to leave the skins of the aubergines\eggplants on because they were not blackened. About half way through grilling the aubergine I added some balsamic vinegar. Also while I was grilling the veg I cut the top of a head of garlic off (just enough to expose the garlic) and I turned it upside down and put it in the tray with the veg.

After the veg is grilled mush it together in a bowl, then extract the roasted garlic from its skin and blend it into the grilled veg. In a sauce pan add the olive oil and saute a red onion and some raw garlic. When they are golden add in the tomato puree, the 200 gms of tomatoes, a tablespoon of raw sugar, the basil leaves, the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cover the pan and let the ingredients come to a simmer. Allow 10-15 minutes for this. Then add the grilled and mashed peppers, aubergines and garlic to the tomato base. If it looks a bit dry add a couple tablespoons of water to the pan.

At this point I put the top on the pan and allowed the mixture to simmer gentle for another 15 minutes. I am sure the longer you allow it to simmer the richer it would taste but I had hungry boys to feed. What I realized about this dish is that if you prepare the grilled veg ahead of time, this recipe becomes a quick dinner meal.

For the couscous I went with what I had around and it came out so brilliantly.

Minty Raisin Couscous

couscous ( I used barley)
half a lemon
salt and pepper
handful of nice sized raisins
handful of chopped mint
30-60 gms of feta
a couple tablespoons of olive oil

Cook the couscous according to the directions (really trust me). Then add in the salt and pepper, juice from half a lemon and olive oil (I assume you know I mean extra virgin always). Soak the raisins in boiled water for a couple minutes, drain them and then toss them in. Add the crumbled feta (crumble finely) and the chopped mint leaves. Toss all together and serve with the biyaldi-babaganoush.

p.s this biyaldi reminds me of my Turkish delight, i.e my Sweet Melissa - I'm missing you girl xoxo

Enjoy!

J xXx

Where the h*ll we have been...and some teatime thumb print cookies

Well we graduated...

then we got all dressed up...



...then we partied!!!

...and then partied some more...




... then after we all said our 'see you laters' not 'goodbyes' Pete's family gave my family a lovely tour of the eastern Highlands ...

visiting castles...

... and learning how to make fire and flour like the first Scots (then called Picts) had



...then Pete and I had some great visitors down in Brighton...

the lovely, super London and San Fran init' Huw and Rach

and then the awesome EU backpacking couple of Leila and Tim


After the boys became addicted to Fifa (Xbox) Leila and I decided to bake up a healthy treat which is versatile enough to be served as an after dinner dessert as well as a mid-day teatime teaser. Check out our spelt and agave based oaty thumbprint cookies, filled with either dark chocolate or jam (we used St. Dalfour No Sugar Added Thick Apricot jam because that is my fav).

Spelt Agave Thumb Print Cookies

Prep time 10-15 minutes

Cook time 15-20 minutes

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter

1/2 banana

1/4 cup agave syrup (or honey) or alternatively 1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or almond if you like)

1 cup whole grain spelt four (whole wheat would probably work as well)

1/2 cup of ground almonds/ almond meal (lightly toasted)

1/4 cup of roughly chopped whole rolled oats

Chocolate or Jam

Cream the butter and the agave together and then add in the vanilla extract and the mushed banana. In another bowl mix all dry ingredients together. After the wet and dry are mixed together refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes. Then take a small amount of batter in your hands and roll a small ball out of the batter. Place that on the greased baking tray and carefully make a thumbprint indent in the middle. Touch up the cookies so that all the sides of the cookies are even in measurement. This recipe makes about 15 cookies. Bake the cookies for 15minutes ( at 350 F /180 C) or longer if needed, so that they are slightly golden brown. If you are putting chocolate in the middle then break off a piece and put in the thumbprint whole as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, the chocolate will melt perfectly itself from th heat of the cooling cookies.

Peace, J

xXx

newTunes: Phoenix

[borrowed from google images]


1901

best among their songs ...




You can get the MP3 free by checking them out from Nicky Digital- a cool new blog I found that monitors the NY party scene

{blog} Nicky Digital: FREE MP3: Phoenix - “1901” (RAC Maury Remix)

Posted using ShareThis

here are some other good ones worth checking out...

If I ever feel better

Armistice

Lisztomania

Run, run, run

Also I stumbled upon The Bell House and BLYN YARD for all you New Yorkers looking for cool venues this summer playing good tunes and hosting cool events! Enjoy

out NY style - J

Lemon Watermelon Refresher

;)

Yes there is a wink in this post because this amazing lemon watermelon juice has a twist...if you so fancy!

Firstly, Charlotte and I are officially long distance as you might be able to tell and boy does it feel weird. Moving back to New York has been quite an adjustment... Man you forget how fast these New Yorkers do things...and all of sudden I realize just how much that village in Scotland (which I had lived in for four years) had slowed me down. While I have been digesting all this I have also been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This book is not only super cute (and will be reviewed soon) but also serves as a wonderful reminder that there is nothing wrong with slowing down. What are we in such a rush for? And I am proud to say that EVEN New Yorkers slow down in the summer...and boy did I slow my parents down when I transformed this this innocent lemon watermelon juice into a gin cocktail for them!

So my mom bought a massive watermelon for my brother but somehow we could not eat it all, so out come our juicer and into went some huge watermelon junks. Man-o-man is watermelon juice unbelievably refreshing on a hot summer day. I thought to squeeze some lemons into the juice because one I love love love lemons and two sumer feels like the time to eat/drink/mix/squeeze them into everything. I shook up this mixture with some mint over ice and poured into a chilled martini class! I drank mine virgin but the rents sipped theirs with gin. I test-tasted and both were wonderful!

Lemon Watermelon (Gin) Summer refresher

1-2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons of gin (depending on how strong you like your drinks, or leave out all together) 1 martini glass full of fresh squeezed watermelon juice
some fresh mint leaves
ice and a shaker

Drink responsible and have FUN ;)

Jacqueline xx

Sun vs. Shade - whose side are you on?!

I can't quite believe I am in the sunshine in Algiers - only last week we were finishing exams! I am having a whistle stop tour of Algeria with Kirsty this week. I thought we would give you a glimpse of what we have been up to and I promise to put some recipes up in the next few days. We have been to Tipaza and Cherchell, eaten cakes and made canapés, ridden camels and escorted by three-wheeled motorbikes, walked and talked, sunning (or shade in my case!) and swimming…

At the airport...

In Cherchell...

All things yummy...

We are off to put lemon juice in our hair. Goldilocks eat your heart out!

Wishing everyone a lovely holiday and can’t wait to see you all at graduation!

Missing you J! Hope you are having a fantastic time in New York and are loving being back.

HUGE hugs & love

Charlotte Xx

Pier Pressure!

Airborne Anna and Jumping Jacqueline!

A week ago today we all finished our exams! Jacqueline and Anna had already planned to jump off the St Andrew's pier in style...but the rest of us were going for moral support and as towel holders.

Needless to say, the pressure of the pier got to the rest of us!

It was a fantastic way to end the year...any one up for a graduation jump?!

C & J

xXx