Roasted Winter Squash Risotto

Roasted Winter Squash Risotto with a crunchy bread and anchovy topping makes this a fantastic tasting risotto.


Recipe for four:

1 cup good quality  organic arborio rice
1 pint chicken or veggie stock, heated
1 cup white vermouth or white wine
1 white onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 butternut squash, roasted & skin removed
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
2 handfulls sourdough bread
4 anchovy fillets
salt & pepper
pinch of chili flakes
2 T butter
parmesan cheese, grated

Quarter the squash and remove the seeds, place in a roasted pan with a little olive oil and salt & pepper. Place in a hot oven at 350* and cook until soft and golden brown.

Put the stock in a saucepan and place on a back burner on medium heat until nice and hot.

Whiz the bread and anchovies in a blender until you have bread crumbs.  Fry these in a little olive oil until brown and toasted.  Set aside when done.

In a heavy saute pan over medium high heat, put a little olive oil and butter in and cook the onions and celery until soft, (no color).  When done add the garlic and cook for another minute.  Season with salt and pepper and add the chili flakes.  When ready add the rice and allow it to start to fry, keep stirring, after a minute or two it will start to look slightly translucent.  Now add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring.  When the wine evaporates away turn the heat down to low and start adding the very hot stock a ladle a time, don't rush it, just keep stirring to massage the creamy starch out of the rice.

When done add the squash and butter, cook a little more until the butter has melted and the squash is warm.  Now test the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Plate onto warm plates with loads of good quality extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese and spinkle some of the toasted breadcrumbs on top.  Awesome!

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Roasted Vegetable Pasta - A wonderful way to see the summer out by using up all of those lovely veggies that took us months to grow, and it's so simple to make...  Roasting the tomatoes slowly for a long time makes this dish the best.

 Recipe for four:

3/4's of a pack of pasta
4 medium size tomatoes, quartered
1 cauliflower, cored and cut up
1 large red onion, halfed and sliced
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 sweet peppers red & green, cubed
olive oil for roasting
extra virgin olive oil for serving
1 Tbs butter
salt & pepper
parmesan cheese

Set the oven to 325* and roast the tomatoes in a large roasting pan with some olive oil for about one and half hours or until caremelized.

When done take the pan out and remove the tomatoes and set them aside.  Add the cauliflower and cook for 45 minutes at 350*, then add the onions and peppers, season with salt and pepper.  Cook until browned then add the garlic and butter, return the tomatoes to the pan and cook for a few more minutes.  Mix the veggies with cooked pasta and serve onto warm plates and grate on parmesan cheese and a little extra virgin olive oil.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

    

Minced Meat Pie

Minced Meat Pie - In England what's known in the US as hamburger is called minced meat or ground beef.  I grew up a poor Cockney boy in Hackney, London's roughest part of the East End known as the "smoke."  It was not unusual to see London's most notorious crooks and killers like the Kray Brothers, and a couple of the Great Train Robbers walking the streets.  My Grand Dad and Uncle were prize fighters (bare nuckle fighters) so it seemed like they were in the same circles, but I'm not sure.  My Grand Dad even traveled to the US to fight fights that the mafia arranged, they didn't last long with him, about three punches and it was all over, he was a real tough nut.  I remember when he was traveling from France to somewhere and he got into a verbal fight with my grandmother and he jumped off the ferry and swam home, roughly five or so miles!  Needless to say he was a very strong swimmer, he had arms like telephone poles and hands like hams.

My Mum made this meal when things were a bit tight money wise, it's cheap to make, and oh so good.

Recipe for one 9" pie:

1 carrot, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 piece of bacon, cut into strips
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves picked & chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves picked & chopped
1/3 stick of butter
salt & pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
splash of red wine
1 c beef stock
1 T flour

Add your favorite pie crust recipe.

Using a heavy saute pan, place the butter into the pan over medium high heat. When the butter starts to foam add the veggies and cook, don't get too much color on them, they just need, to be soft.  Set aside in a bowl when done, and then brown the bacon, set aside when done along with any of the fat.  Now brown the beef.  Transfer the meat to a bowl when done.  Return the pan to the heat and add the wine, reduce until it's almost all gone, then add back the bacon fat and stir in the flour, using a whisk, toast the flour to get some color on it, the longer you cook the flour the darker it will get, then slowly stir in the the stock and whisk.  Cook the stock down a little, then add all the ingredients together - the meat, bacon, herbs and mix well.

What you need to end up with is a somewhat wet mixture that has a little body to it.  Sounds complicated but it's not really.  Place the mixture into a 9" oven pie dish, and cover with your favorite  pastry, making sure to seal the edges and cut a hole in the pastry to allow the steam out.  Place on a baking sheet and cook in a 350* oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

Padron Peppers with Garlic Tarragon Aioli

I was inspired to make this dish after Deb and I went to happy hour at the Cask & Schooner last week and had some of these little guys.  Padron peppers are wonderful mild tasting peppers, enjoy with a lovely aioli which is simple to make.

Recipe:

2 big handfuls of padron peppers from the farmers market Sweet Earth Farms
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 sprig fresh tarragon, leaves picked & chopped
1 egg
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 t sea salt
2 turns of fresh ground black pepper (a pinch)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

This makes enough to fill two ramekins.

Toss the peppers with a little bit of olive oil, and lay them out on a baking sheet in one layer, then pop them into a hot 400* oven for about 20 minutes or until soft and starting to burn.

You can make the aioli in a food processor if you like, I prefer to make it by hand.  Place all the ingredients in a stainless steel bowl except the olive oil and whisk.  When everything is mixed up start drizzling in the olive oil very very slowly whisking as you go, if you go to fast the sauce will break.

Keep doing this until all the oil is gone, taking your time don't rush it you can always stop pouring in the oil and just whisk for a bit.

It's great if you have a helper to pour the olive oil, but if you don't just roll up a towel and make a little nest for the bowl so you can both hands free and the bowl won't be flying all over the place.

Use just like you would mayonnaise, it's wonderful on sandwiches.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

Wonderful Fall Vegetable Saute

Here's one for my veggie friends.  Just look at the color of these wonderful and tasty fall vegetables.


Try this combination of onion, carrot, beetroot, celeriac and garlic.

Chop all the veggies up in roughly the same size except for garlic, chop the garlic up finely.

In a heavy saute pan over medium high heat add the 1 tablespoon of butter depending on how many veggies you are cooking.  When the butter starts to foam add the onion, carrot, beet and celeriac.  Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne.  Cook shaking the pan once in a while, until almost done then add the garlic.

At the last minute you throw in a big handful of spinach if you would like.  I like this dish for breakfast with an over-easy egg on top.  This is a perfect mix of fiber, protein and fat.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken

Marcella Hazan 1924-2013... The great Chef Marcella Hazan died last week at the age of 89-  Marcella changed the way American's cooked Italian food.  She's known for her cookbooks and for her famous recipes like roast chicken, and tomato sauce with onion and butter.

Chicken recipe:

Wash a whole chicken under cold water inside and out and allow to drain in the sink for 15 minutes.  Pat dry with towels.  Take two lemons and prick them all the way through with a skewer or tooth pick at least 20 times.  Salt and pepper the inside of the bird and place a whole sprig of fresh rosemary into the large cavity a long with the lemons.  Now truss the bird leaving a small opening so the steam can escape and the lemons don't explode.

Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken and place breast side down in a roasting pan.  Place in a hot 350* oven for half an hour, then turn the chicken breast side up and sprinkle on a few fresh rosemary leaves.  Cook for another half an hour.  Without opening the oven door turn the heat up to 400* for another half hour.  Note that there's no oil or butter used in this dish, but I did add a little oil and butter later on when I added some veggies.

This will be the best roast chicken that you have ever had, with the most wonderful juices...

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

The Best Salmon-Melt Ever!

The Best Salmon-Melt Ever!

This is a brilliant way to use up left over salmon and have a nutritious killer sandwich for lunch or dinner!

Recipe for 4 sandwiches:

About a 1/2 pound cold cooked salmon
1/2 red onion very finely diced
1 stalk celery very finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper very finely diced
1/4 c Italian parsley, leaves picked and chopped
1 c Best Foods mayo
1 big pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

8 slices sourdough bread from Bakery San Juan
butter and a little olive oil for cooking

Mix all the ingredients together to form a stiff mixture, adding more or less mayo.  Spread the mixture out evenly onto the bread and grate on a little fresh parmesan cheese.  Place a little oil and butter in a heavy saute pan and put it on medium low heat, you want to warm all the ingredients up together and not brown the bread too quickly.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes