Bacon and butternut squash risotto

This is a delicious, seasonal recipe using only a few ingredients, many of which will be in your store cupboard. Not really one for a dinner party since it needs constant stirring. The result is well worth it though! I have adapted the recipe below from one found on the BBC's food website.

Bacon and butternut squash risotto - serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 125g bacon or pancetta
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 large butternut squash - buy it a few days in advance and store it on the counter, not in the fridge, so it can ripen
• 2 glasses white wine
• 400g arborio risotto rice
• Olive oil
• Sage - fresh (15 leaves) or dried (2 tbsp)
• Butter
• 1 litre hot vegetable stock - keep it simmering gently in a pan as you make the risotto
• About 125g grated parmesan cheese
• Handful of pinenuts (optional)

Method

1. At least 1.5 hours before you want to serve: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Peel the squash. Cut it into four chunks (one cut width-wise and one length-wise). Remove the seeds using a spoon - don't be afraid to give it a good scrape to get the stringy flesh out. Cut the squash into 2-inch chunks. Roughly chop the garlic cloves. Put the garlic and squash into a roasting dish, drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle over about 1 tbsp of dried sage (or about 7 chopped fresh sage leaves), and season with sea salt and ground pepper. Toss the whole lot together with your hands. Roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until the squash is softened.
2. Once the squash is cooked, lightly mash it with a fork and set aside.
3. Chop the onion and the bacon. Heat 2 tbsps olive oil plus a generous knob of butter in a heavy-based large saucepan. Gently fry the onion and bacon until the onion is soft and the bacon browned.
4. Add the rice and stir for about a minute until the grains are coated with the oil.
5. Pour in the wine. Stir continuously until it has all been absorbed into the rice.
6. Add a ladle of hot stock and a tbsp dried sage and stir continuously until the stock has been absorbed. This should be done over a low to medium heat.
7. Keep adding ladles of stock until it has all been used up. Keep stirring! After about 15-20 minutes the stock will all be used and the rice will be soft. The texture should be thick and creamy.
8. Remove the pan from the heat. Gently stir in the butternut squash and parmesan. Season to taste.
9. Cover with a lid and leave to stand for two minutes.
10. If you like, serve with some toasted pinenuts. While the risotto is standing, place a handful of pinenuts in a fairly hot frying pan. Move them around until they are golden.
11. Serve the risotto with extra grated parmesan.

Galette des rois

Happy New Year!

This is a recipe for a French dessert made with pastry and almond paste (or frangipane) eaten to celebrate Epiphany and throughout the month of January. I learnt about this one from the French part of my family. Traditionally a small ceramic toy is hidden in the cake. The youngest person at the table hides underneath the table and as the cake is cut calls out the names of who the slice should belong to. Whoever finds the toy hidden in their slice is crowned king or queen for the evening and wears a gold crown.

You don't have to do all that, though. The galette is delicious in any case!

Galette des rois - serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 500g packet puff pastry
• Three eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 125g unsalted butter
• A tablespoon of dark rum
• A tablespoon of milk
• One egg yolk

Method

1. Get the butter out of the fridge well in advance (about an hour is ideal) - you will need it to be soft so that it can be mixed in easily. Get the puff pastry out at least 10 minutes before you need to use it as well - probably about the same time as you start making the almond paste.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Mix the caster sugar and ground almonds in a bowl.
4. Then cream in the butter using an electric hand whisk, until its smooth in texture.
5. Mix in the three eggs, one by one, mixing each one in well with the hand whisk.
6. Mix in the rum.
7. Cut the slab of puff pastry in half. Roll out each half until it's about 0.5 cm thick and you can cut out a circle using a plate as a guide.
8. Make an egg wash: mix the egg yolk with the tablespoon of milk using a fork.
9. Place one of the circles of pastry on a baking sheet. Spoon the almond mixture onto the pastry, leaving a 5 cm border around the edge.
10. Brush the border with the egg wash. Then place the other pastry circle on top of the almond paste (don't worry, the paste is quite thick and won't squidge out if you don't press too hard on it). Pinch the two pastry sheets together - you can do this quite roughly as when it all rises it won't show, but do make sure it's well pinched together or turned in on itself as otherwise the filling will seep out when it's cooking.
11. Chill the galette for between 30 and 60 minutes.
12. Score the top of the pastry with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern (diagonally one way, then the other). Brush it with the remainder of the egg wash.
13. Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden.
14. Some recipes tell you to then brush the pastry with a sugar syrup, but I think it's nice just as it is - sweet but not too sweet.
15. You could serve it with cream but beware: it's pretty heavy as it is!