Black Rice with Roasted Pears, Thyme & Soft Blue Cheese

I was given some really lovely and thoughtful presents for Christmas. Unsurprisingly, there are always a few foodie things and one exciting one was a box of Seggiano’s black rice. This was given to me by my daughter’s in-laws, Janet and Colin. This organic black Nerone rice was developed from an ancient Chinese variety (it […]

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Fennel Risotto with Roasted Tomato

Regular readers will know I have a bit of an addiction to risottos. Well, there are worse addictions! I love risottos for their taste of Italy and for their versatility, for you can make them with pretty much anything – vegetables, fish, meat – and they can be comforting winter dishes, like my Mushroom and […]

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Prawn & Courgette Risotto

Almost two months into Lockdown, I’m finding I have more food than normal in the house rather than less. Because food comes via deliveries, I order more than if I was just wandering into and around shops in my normal way, buying on almost a day-by-day basis with just a bigger shop once a week. […]

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Brussels Sprout, Chestnut & Black Garlic Risotto

There’s a lot of negativity around when it comes to using up Christmas leftovers. Of course, a simple solution is to cook less and not over cater; there were even reports in the media before Christmas of people being more careful not to buy and cook too much this year – a combination of frugality […]

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Tomato & Spinach Risotto (RIP Gary Rhodes)

If you’re superstitious and think that bad news (or perhaps sometimes good news?) comes in threes, then 27 November 2019 was a day to convince you of your belief. I was sat at my desk working on a publishing job for most of the day and first came the news – popping up on my […]

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A Winter Risotto

I love risotto, as will be evident to any regular reader of these pages. I make a risotto at least once a week, ingredients to a large extent depending on the season. One of the great things about risotto is that it doesn’t have a season – you can make it with pretty much anything […]

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Radicchio, Pancetta & Red Wine Risotto

I don’t usually buy flavoured rice, or indeed many flavoured anythings. I generally prefer to do my own flavouring. However, when I saw a pack of risotto rice flavoured with dried radicchio in the wonderful Corto Italian Deli, it seemed too tempting to resist. I just love radicchio and it’s proved impossible to buy in […]

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Asparagus, Broad Bean & Pea Risotto

Given the amount of time I spend in my local Revital health food store, you’d think I was seriously into ‘health foods’. But I go there to buy all kinds of things from organic granola, to coconut oil, Pukka herbal teas, Green People suncream, apple cider vinegar and a variety of supplements that I sometimes […]

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Risotto Primavera

I’m generally a fan of the minimalist approach to risottos: just one or two main ingredients that are allowed to shine with the rice. And, of course, the rice must be a good risotto rice that will give that essential creaminess, such as arborio or vialone nano. However, when I was in Venice recently, I […]

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