52 Cookbooks #32: Grilled mushroom risotto

 52 Cookbooks: the challenge is to cook a new recipe from one of my (many) cookbooks each week for a year...

This week it's not only another Jamie recipe but it's also MOH's second appearance in the 52 Cookbooks guest slot, which is more than fine by me!

The recipe this week is Jamie's Grilled Mushroom Risotto from his Jamie at home book.  I like this book as the recipes are split into sections by season and by vegetables which form the main ingredients for many of the recipes;  there's also tips for how to grow that veg too. 

This one was in the autumn & mushrooms section but I have to admit the only place I really want to get my mushrooms from is the green grocers, farmers market or supermarket. 

I admire foragers and anyone who knows their mushrooms but really think I should leave it to those who know.  It's probably safest that way!

MOH likes a mushroom risotto and has been known to choose it when we're eating out; I like risottos and will happily eat one but they're not usually my first choice when we're out, I'm not sure why.  I say to MOH that they make me snore, but he says he hasn't noticed it to be any different after eating risotto... as I always snore!  Hmmnn...

Jamie's risotto has the mushrooms grilled and served on top of the risotto - the recipe suggests shiitake, girolle, chestnut or oyster mushrooms and definitely no button mushrooms!  We had a mixture of chestnut and oyster mushrooms - so phew! and after much debate MOH chose to stir them into the rice as because of a pan shortage the mushrooms had been fried early on...

I don't think it was any worse for it, many mushroom risottos are like this and it meant there were mushrooms all the way through the meal.

As usual I was called in for onion chopping duties and these were fried along with the celery before adding the rice and vermouth and soaked porcini. 

Then it was the many ladlefuls of stock which Jamie's recipe says "keep adding ladelfuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next" - that's quite flowery language there.  And this is where risottos and I don't get on - I'm way too impatient to wait for the stock to reduce before adding the next one, perhaps if I thought about massaging each piece of rice it might be different?

Then again, probably not.  I'll leave the risotto making to MOH as he does it so well!

As well as the usual seasoning there was also lemon juice and some fresh herbs and it was served with a good shaving of Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.  Yum.

The verdict:

• I'm very happy to eat any mushroom risotto made for me, I'm less fussed about cooking them though

• We stirred the mushrooms through the risotto rather than serving the grilled mushrooms on top, however if you had some more unusual mushrooms they would be good to have a few on top.

• I always think we could make arancini balls with the leftover risotto, but then again what leftover risotto - we never have any!

Tree following August: The still-a-mystery tree

In the middle of July I stumbled across this tree - see The mystery tree with humongous leaves - and following an online chat with Lucy from Loose and Leafy about what it might me (it's still a mystery tree right now, so if you know I'd love to know) I concluded that it would be interesting and hopefully enlightening to follow this tree more closely.

Lucy hosts a monthly link-up for fellow tree followers, that's people who have chosen a tree to follow for a year.  I'm late to this party, though had been reading with interest on how, what and why people chose their trees.  But even so, I didn't choose a tree for myself, despite having quite a few in our garden that could have been ideal and easy accessible candidates. 

But it seems, this humongous mystery tree chose me!

So let me introduce you to the humongous-leaved mystery tree.  It's in Blackheath, South East London  and is behind railings on Sir John Morden Walk - which is a well-used local thoroughfare which winds its way through the grounds of Morden College (for more about the college see my July post) and leads me towards Blackheath Village. 

I'm still not clear if the railings are for its protection or for innocent passers-by!

Here's my view as I approach "my tree":

It's still behind the railings and hasn't escaped yet, though it has grown and filled out since my last visit.  It's handy that it has that lamppost close by as that will give a good indicator of how much it's grown. 

Unfortunately in July I managed to avoid photographing the lamppost though but looking back at the July photo it has grown easily a couple of foot upwards and at outwards - I'll get better at this for next time I promise!

The leaves remain large though look slightly droopier than previously - however we've had a prolonged spell of 25 degrees plus here in London so I think we're all feeling (if not looking) a little droopier.

This month I have got a better shot of the trunk - is it me but even the branches look as if they've filled out - the tree had been pollarded, imagine how beast-like it would be if not!

It seems the ivy is losing the battle too as at the base of the tree there's very little light for it to flourish.  This photo also gives some indication as to how much the tree has put on in this short space of time - last month the soil at the base of the tree was clearly visible in my photos, this month it's not.

I've also photographed the tree from the other side of the path (so if you were approaching it from Blackheath Village) and have managed to get the lamppost into two shots this month -  these I think will be the staple photos for each monthly post.

Next month though I'll try to get the whole tree in!

So after a brief reacquaintance with "my tree" and with my photos shot I headed on my way towards Blackheath Village for the slightly more mundane task of collecting a missed parcel from the Post Office!

I'll be back for another look at my mystery tree with the humongous leaves next month...

In the meantime if you know what it might be then please leave a comment below - thanks!

52 Cookbooks #31: Summer chickpea salad

It's back to Jamie this week for a summer salad from his jamie's dinners book from 2004. It was around this time that he was involved in improving school dinners and the ethos behind the book is not about creating restaurant food but giving good quality options for families.

52 Cookbooks: the challenge is to cook a 

new recipe from one of my (many) 

cookbooks each week for a year...

He worked with Kidbrooke School in Greenwich which is just up the road from us. The changes made to the school dinners went some way to improve the school exam results, which just goes to show you really are what you eat.

Jamie's views on this are well known, and in his own words:

"When I signed up as a dinner lady to make school dinners at Kidbrooke school in Greenwich, I wanted to show people what rubbish their kids were getting fed at school and how little government was spending. Basically, I wanted to get rid of the junk. I had to prove that, for the same price as a bag of crisps, just 37p, I could produce a properly cooked, nutritious meal at lunchtime."

You can read more about how the feed me better campaign happened here.

The recipe suggests using chickpeas in jars rather than tins, as they're plumper. As chickpeas are one of my store-cupboard staples, it was tinned chickpeas for me.

You start by slicing the red onion thinly along with the red chillies.  Then roughly chop the tomatoes and leave them to marinate in olive oil and lemon juice.  Next warm the chickpeas and add 90% of them to the tomatoes and onions.

Mash the remaining 10% of the chickpeas and then add them too - mashing them gives the juices a creamier consistency - and it's definitely worth doing this, even though it sounds a bit odd.

Jamie says to leave this to marinate for a while, how long depends on how long you have I guess!  It does mean that you can ahead if you were having this as part of a larger feast.

Finally when you're ready to serve add crumbled feta, chopped mint and torn basil and adjust the seasoning with some more lemon juice as well as salt and pepper.

I served this as a side dish with some cold roast chicken and a green salad.  We had some left too which made for a good packed lunch the next day.

The verdict:

• Jamie's right, we don't use chickpeas in enough ways in the UK and this salad was a great way to use them.
• I'd add more chilli next time - or at least check to see how hot my chilli was, the one I used was quite mild.
• It would also be good with different types (and coloured) tomatoes
• I didn't add all the feta as it seemed a lot to have in a side dish - but I did add the feta I'd saved to lunch the next day.
• It would be good to do as part of a picnic or cold buffet lunch.

Jamie's summer chickpea salad