Ilse's Kitchen - culinary adventures of a girl who loves to eat

Risotto time! As usual I let my fridge dictate my dinner. I had some leftover spinach, so I opted for a spinach risotto. Rich and creamy, but also green and healthy :) Ingredients (serves 2): 100g spinach small bunch of parsley 750mL vegetable stock 150g arborio rice 4 slices of prosciutto 4 slices of prosciutto the white of 1 leek, chopped 1/2 lemon, zested and then juiced 1 shallot, chopped 1 large clove garlic, minced 20g parmesan cheese, plus some to garnish 10g butter 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons cream (optional dash of white wine (optional) 1 whole nutmeg seed, for grating (fresh nutmeg is tastier than the pre-grated versions) Instructions: 1. Pour the vegetable stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the spinach and parsley for 30 seconds until wilted, then remove using a slotted spoon. Set aside and let cool, while you turn down the heat of the stock. Take the cooled spinach/parsley mixture, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon water...

I adore risotto but sometimes, I shy away from making it because it can be so hands-on. Easy, yes - but you do have to stand there and stir. Risotto’s not a dish you can afford to leave alone for long. But risotto is also an ultimate comfort food for me, and I decided I wanted to try a pumpkin version so I went looking around for recipes. Then I came across this one - a creamy baked pumpkin risotto. Could it really be - a practically stir-free risotto that makes itself while sitting in the oven? Turns out that it can - and I’m grateful to RecipeTinEats for putting this recipe out there. Ingredients (serves 4): 1 1/2 cups arborio rice 600g pumpkin, peeled and deseeded 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 60mL dry white wine 800mL chicken or vegetable stock 50g unsalted butter 2 tablespoons sage leaves, chopped salt and freshly ground black pepper dash of olive oil Crispy Sage and Brown Butter: 15-20 sage leaves 50g butter pinch of salt grated parmesan to ga...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE risotto. And I love it creamy, so creamy that it feels like it melts in my mouth -  with lots of veggies, with meat, with fish; you can go practically every which way. I was planning to make a simple cherry tomato and mozzarella risotto but then I saw the bratwurst in my fridge and thought why not, so I tossed it in. And you know what? It works. But it works fine without it too, so if you’re vegetarian skip the bratwurst, replace the chicken stock with veggie stock, and you’re good to go. Ingredients: 250g cherry tomatoes or small Roma tomatoes, halved 1 medium-sized yellow onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 bratwurst (optional), chopped in small squares 125g mozzarella, chopped 100g arborio rice 10 basil leaves 1L chicken bouillon 15g gratedparmesan cheese 15g butter Olive oil Instructions: 1. In a large skillet, heat some olive oil and add the onion. Fruit for a few minutes until slightly glazed. 2. Add the bratwurst and sauté f...

For a while, I ordered vegetable delivery crates filled with seasonal veggies. By way of the crate I discovered cavolo nero... if it hadn't been chosen for me, I might never have given it a second look. And that would have been too bad, because then I would never have learned about all the wonderful things you can do with it. Cavolo nero (black kale, Tuscan cabbage, or palmkool in Dutch) is an Italian cabbage with dark soft leaves. Instead of growing in heads like some other cabbage types, its leaves grow straight up like fronds... and it is, it turns out, a beloved ingredient in minestrone soups, Tuscan risotto, pasta, and even lentil dishes. I put it to the test with the first best thing I had in the pantry: some carnaroli rice. The cavolo nero passed the test with flying colours.