the concept

the concept

The idea came from some friends, Lucy Jason & George, who were back home briefly & raved about a chef in London's East End...http://fridaynightakeout.blogspot.com/
I thought it was such a good idea, the best thing to do would be to bring it to life here where I live in New Zealand.
So...I'm also a freelance chef, each week I cook a different dish, depending on what's in season, what's good now, or just how I feel. Lately I've been cooking a lot of my mother's dishes

Dish descriptions will be posted here online early in the week, recipes later over the weekend, with links to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pabloskitchen/130053437081945 & http:/twitter.com/#!/pabloskitchen

As I play with the idea through the week, the dish maybe evolves a little, but that's half the fun. Meals will be priced at $20, incl delivery & orders can be made anytime up to roughly lunchtime Thursday, which is when I go shopping. Simply get in touch, email or txt, you can order as many as you like!
Afternoon Friday I'll deliver dinnerboxes warm/cooling/cold, locally in & around my base, which admittedly does change a bit - currently I'm north of Auckland, living by the beach in Mangawhai (just let me know where you are when you get in touch).

tel: 021 676 123
email: pabloskitchen@yahoo.com

I've recently included an email subscription option at the bottom of this page &, while I have no idea how it works, the hope is that it automatically sends to subscribers email notifications each week about the dish...so, sign up!

disclaimer:
From time to time, when the wanderlust takes over, I hit the road & disappear in search of dishes, tastes & ingredients elsewhere. Then this blog takes on a different kind of persona; a travelling recipe book of notes, pics & stories, ideas to inspire & for me to return to, once I get back home.

Monday, 10 October 2011

recipe: risotto sforzesco

an exciting dish to cook for me, using some of my favourite ingredients, i also found in this dish the perfect excuse to open a bottle of aged porto calem secofino, for the sauce. i bought the bottle at an auction back in '91; this dish has been a while coming!

the recipe:

>packet of dried porcinis/2 oranges/white wine or sherry/boiling water: remove zest from oranges, set aside. squeeze juice over the mushrooms along with a good dose of something a little more, i used my white port, but a dark sweet sherry is nice & white wine is nice too. top up with a little boiling water & soak the mushrooms for a cpl of hours at least, turning them regularly. once soaked, squeeze them out, reserving the liquid stock & slicing the mushrooms down. sit aside
>olive oil/onion/garlic/streaky bacon/thyme/salt/arborio rice: sweat onions&garlic, seasoned. *this time i added my bacon at this stage, but i found it over-powered the end result. next time i'd cook the meat separately & stir it in at the very end. add the rice & stir it thru the olive oil thoroughly
>chicken stock/mushroom stock: in a separate pot heat the liquids to a simmer. add it by the ladle to the risotto, folding as it absorbs before adding the next
>mushrooms/cream: separately, warm together, fold into risotto. *at this point, next time, i'll add cooked bacon&khulen sausage
>sage/fresh herbs/orange zest: chop finely & fold thru before serving

to fininsh the dish i like to plop on top a good dollop of creme fraiche on top, a twist of the pepper grinder, perhaps a swivel or three of orange zest

a green salad should accompany this dish, crisp & fresh next to the risotto's creamy richness
to drink, for me this time it was monteith's pilsener, which went particularly well. there is, however, a bottle of lochiel estate mangawhai 2007 merlot malbec which was very nearly opened for the occasion.

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