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

The first time I had gorgonzola and spinach together was when Paulijn, a former housemate, made me gorgonzola spinach pasta - about a hundred years ago. At the time I wasn’t very experimental when it came to food, and I was not a fan of gorgonzola. Too blue, too strong, too smelly. I was decidedly sceptical, but tried to be well mannered and keep my mouth shut about it. And glad I did, for what she made wasn’t strong or smelly at all. What I learned that day was not too judged too quickly - ingredients change when you combine them with others, and things you never thought you’d like may surprise you in all kinds of wonderful ways. I also learned that spinach and gorgonzola make a lovely pairing. Here’s a lovely gorgonzola spinach gnocchi recipe, adapted from Brandy at Nutmeg Nanny.  Ingredients (serves 2): 250g gnocchi 1 shallot, thinly sliced 120ml cup heavy cream 120g crumbled gorgonzola cheese, plus some for topping 85g fresh spinach 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, minc...

I had a box of shiitake sitting in the fridge. I like shiitake - they hold less water than other mushroom types and have a meatier texture and lovely, smokey flavour. So when I was brainstorming what to do with them and came across a mixed mushroom gnocchi recipe from Sydney Markets, I decided to swap the mixed mushrooms for shiitake and to make shiitake gnocchi instead. What a lovely dish it turned out to be.  Ingredients (serves 2): 300g gnocchi 300g shiitake mushrooms, halved 1 medium size onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped Sprinkle of chili flakes 20 sage leaves 100mL white wine (*substitute chicken stock if you don’t use alcohol) grated parmesan 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 1 tsp lemon juice freshly ground black pepper Instructions: 1. Prepare the gnocchi according to the instructions on the package and set aside. 2. Heat one tablespoon olive oil and one tablespoon butter in a large skillet and add the sage leaves. Fry until crispy...

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...