Chicken, Fennel, and White Wine Risotto

There is something about making and eating risotto that feels rather luxurious and indulgent. Once you have chopped a few ingredients, you can stand with a glass of something in one hand, chatting to friends, or flicking through a fancy magazine. Once it gets going all you really have to do is add stock and stir; it couldn't be simpler. And, for what turns out to be such a gorgeous dinner, it can be extremely good value for money.

Here I use boned and skinned chicken leg pieces from the butchers, which are much cheaper than the breast meat, and stay much moister I think. However buying chicken thighs and then skinning and boning them yourself would be cheaper still if you have the time.

Fennel has become one of my most recent loves. I hadn't eaten it before a couple of years ago. It has a slight aniseed flavour which shouldn't put you off (I still hate liquorice and sambucca). When it is cooked, particularly in this recipe, the flavour becomes mellow, fresh and slightly lemony. Fennel seeds are something that can be used a lot in other dishes so it is worth having as a kitchen basic.

Ingredients Serve 2
2- 3 CHICKEN THIGHS: skinned and boned, chopped into bitesize, but not too small, pieces
1 SMALL FENNEL BULB: sliced with feathery green tops kept aside for garnishing
2 SHALLOTS: finely chopped
1 GARLIC CLOVE: finely chopped/crushed
1 TEASPOON FENNEL SEEDS: crushed in a pestle and mortar to release the flavour
1 LARGE GLASS OF DRY WHITE WINE
OLIVE OIL/SALT/PEPPER
PARMESAN: a great store cupboard ingredient that really lasts, don't be put off by the expense!
1 LADLE FULL OF RISOTTO RICE
500 ML CHICKEN STOCK the real stuff heated, or add chicken stock cube to 500 ml boiling water.

1|  On a high heat, brown off your chicken pieces in a large non-stick pan. It doesn't matter if they are completely cooked through at this stage. Once white, starting to brown, set aside for later.

2| In the same pan gently cook your shallot, garlic and fennel seeds for 1-2 minutes, mixing all together.

3| Turn up the heat and add your fennel, mix together and cook for another couple of minutes before adding half the glass of wine. Let the wine cook down.

4| Add your rice, stir together, and add the remainder of the wine, continuing to stir on this high heat for a couple of minutes.

5| Turn the heat down a fraction and add one or two ladles of your heated stock. At this stage we are going to slowly add all of the stock until absorbed by the rice. With the heat too high, the rice will cook too quickly on the outside. Too low, and you'll be there all night long. So don't rush it but just keep everything at a nice simmer. Stir and add more stock after the previous ladle seems to be absorbed. This process should take about 40 minutes but will vary.

6| When it starts to appear more like it should, take a taste. When you have a lovely oozy consistency but the rice still has a slight bite to it, add your chicken pieces and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. If you have run out of stock by this point, you can always add more boiling water.

7| Once you think the rice has cooked, turn down the heat, grate a generous helping of parmesan over the top, and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Parmesan can be quite salty so taste, before adding the salt.)

8| Serve into bowls, with feathery garnish on top, some crunchy bread and a glass of your remaining wine... If you haven't drunk it all whilst cooking that is.

Other ideas/variations:

Chorizo:
Buying from a butcher or deli, you can buy inch thick slices of this gorgeous Spanish sausage and have chopped into bitesize pieces. Add in at same time as garlic and shallot. Flavour and colour your stock with a few strands of saffron. Add a handful of frozen peas at the end for more colour and use delicious Spanish cheese Manchego instead of Parmesan. Basically a very stripped back Paella, but still delicious and indulgent.

Fillet of Beef and Mushroom:
If you're really looking to impress and show off, a mushroom risotto served with fillet of beef is heavenly. Use a spoon of dried porcini mushrooms at the garlic/shallot stage, before adding chopped chestnut mushrooms, or wild mushrooms if you are feeling more adventurous. For this recipe, I would definitely pinch a glass of my mother's Vermouth, Noilly Prat, for a more intense flavour. Lashings of parmesan and a knob of butter at the end are essential. I would serve the finest fillet steaks on the side, cooked pink; slicing and cooking in the risotto just isn't going to work.

Ben's Beef Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my favourite meals but when it comes to cooking it, I have to admit I am pretty awful. My brother, however, is a dab hand so I thought I would take a few lessons from the man himself before we went back to uni. This meal is such perfect comfort food come summer or winter, and is a dish that is still delicious heated up the next day if you have any leftover... A perfect meal for my blog in my opinion!

Ingredients 

600g beef mince (for your own sake please buy fresh from a good butchers, anything else will leave your lasagne full of water and/or fat) | 1 pack of fresh lasagne sheets | 2 jars of tomato and basil pasta sauce | good handful of frozen sweetcorn (optional) | 1 garlic clove finely chopped | one pot of cheese sauce | cheddar to grate on top (try Andrew's Black Bomber or Mature Farmhouse Cheddar | 

Preheat the oven to 190C | Brown off the mince and chopped garlic in a large shallow frying pan on a high heat. 

If using add the sweetcorn and continue to cook at high heat, until any excess liquid is cooked off and mince is brown not grey. | Add your chosen tomato sauce, heat through and mix thoroughly.

Add a layer of mince to a large ovenproof dish. Cover with a thin layer of cheese sauce.  

Add enough sheets of lasagne to cover the mince and cheese sauce.

Repeat these last few steps... A layer of mince, layer of cheese sauce, pasta sheets... until you have used up all ingredients. On top of the final sheets of lasagne add the last bit of cheese sauce and grate cheddar over the top to cover.

Bake in the oven for 30- 35 minutes until golden brown on top. Serve with bread and oils and a salad.

Customer Collaborations: Gill's Beef Wellington

This week one of our good customers, Gill, sent me pictures of this delicious Beef Wellington she made for a dinner party using Andrew's beef fillet and prosciutto ham. All Andrew's beef comes from local farms in Suffolk and Norfolk that adhere to high welfare practices to produce the best quality beef; once it is at the shop, our team hangs it for a minimum of 21 todays until it is deliciously tender. So while buying fillet beef is expensive, buying it from a good butcher assures you won't be let down on the night and makes the meal just as special as if you were in a high class restaurant...

This meal seems simple and easy to cook but looks incredible; it is definitely one I want to try! The original recipe, shown below, comes from Gordon Ramsay for BBC GoodFood.

Beef Wellington
Ready in 1hr50min-2hrs. (inc. aprx. 50 mins chilling)
Serves 6

3 tbsp olive oil

250 g chestnut mushrooms

50 g butter

1 large sprig of fresh thyme

100 ml dry white wine

12 slices prosciutto

500g pack puff pastry, thawed if frozen

a little flour for dusting

2 egg yolks beaten with 1 tsp water 

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Sit the 1kg beef fillet on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 mins for medium-rare or 20 mins for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 mins.
2. While the beef is cooling, chop 250g chestnut (and wild, if you like) mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to do this, but make sure you pulse-chop the mushrooms so they don't become a slurry.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and 50g butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with 1 large sprig fresh thyme, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture, pour over 100ml dry white wineand cook for about 10 mins until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.
4. Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay 12 slices prosciutto on the cling film, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread half the duxelles over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over. Use the cling film's edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.
5. Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out a third of the 500g pack of puff pastry to a 18 x 30cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remainder of the 500g pack of puff pastry to about 28 x 36cm. Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry. Beat the 2 egg yolks with 1 tsp water and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides. Trim the joins to about a 4cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs.
6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp - 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.

It is fantastic to see the delicious meals our customers are cooking with the meat we sell. If you have a recipe that you think other customers would like to cook (no matter how simple or extravagant), send it to me along with some photos at lauren_rose1992@hotmail.co.uk and I'll do my best to share it in another post! 

Valentines: Gordon's Fillet Steak with Mushroom Gratin

For some reason fillet steak is always a popular choice on Valentine's day. I don't know whether it's a case of impressive expense or red-blooded primal mythology, but if you both appreciate good meat this deliciously indulgent, easy-to-make recipe from Gordon Ramsay is the perfect choice. I have made this before on other special occasions and while it is expensive, in my opinion the satisfaction of this recipe is fully worth it. Not only will it be a lot cheaper than dining out where you may look to pay anything from £30 for a fillet steak dish, whoever is special enough to be cooked for will be extremely impressed with your culinary skills! All of it can be prepared a couple of hours ahead of cooking, ready for you to quickly cook in the oven when wanted. This is a quick video of the passionate man himself making the dish, from which you should be able to work out approximate amounts and times.