What's Cooking?

What about a quick look at some simple dishes I've cooked recently. Things I cook pretty often, to be honest. Firstly, fish risotto. These are the few ingredients I use as I don't want to overpower the flavour of the fish. Yes, that's cucumber I'm adding. I prefer cucumber cooked rather than the way it comes naturally! The Tala measure is an original and belonged to my mother. I'm not sure how old it is but it must be on the go well over 50 years.

 

 

 Give the vegetables and fish a little bit of a fry.

 



Add the arborio (risotto) rice and fry for a couple of minutes.

Then add about half the liquid and simmer; I use vegetable stock. When that has been almost absorbed, add the remainder of the liquid and continue simmering until it has all been just about absorbed but not quite.

The finished risotto should still be moist.

There was a special offer on salmon sides so I bought one to bake. I wrap it in tin foil with lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper. Then baked in the Aga's roasting oven for an hour.

This was it after about 30 minutes - still not fully cooked.

And now it's ready. When cold, I cut in into four sections and froze it. It will be used for sandwiches or salads.

This is a beef curry ready to go in the simmering over for about 3 hours. I use round steak which is very tender when cooked slowly like this. I added some pineapple on this occasion just because I had some. It was very tasty so I think I'll do it like that again.

And this was the finished curry. Eaten with naan bread and boiled basmati rice. Plain and simple but very tasty.

 

I like to make my own beefburgers so I know what's in them! I only use lean minced steak; no other ingredients are added. There's a wax disc under there in the burger press.

 

  Stick another wax disc on top, turn over and press.

 And out comes a perfectly formed quarter pounder.

After any dinner it's always nice to have something sweet. Mind you, it's not very often that we indulge in any 'afters'. Here's something that satisfies the sweet cravings but is very healthy. I often serve small helpings in a big cup. It looks like more than it is rather than having what looks like a very small amount hiding in the bottom of a bowl.

 

That's all made me feel very hungry! Now what can I have? Tea and Grasmere Gingerbread should do the trick.