Gourmet on a Shoestring

Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Serves 6

Adapted from a basic risotto recipe from Jamie Oliver.

“I think this is the best basic risotto recipe you will come across – you will find it really easy. I assure you that once you’ve got the knack you’ll carry on making it all the time and it won’t let you down. You can so easily enhance it by adding different seasonal ingredients. So here’s the basic risotto, which will give you an amazingly creamy base, followed by some simple recipes to take the dish in completely different directions.”

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken Breast, sliced in thin bite-sized strips
• 1 bag of Button Mushrooms, chopped
• Approx. 1 litre Stock (chicken, fish or vegetable as appropriate)
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 medium Onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 head Celery, finely chopped
• 400g Arborio Rice
• Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
• 2 glasses dry White Wine
• 70g Butter
• 100g freshly grated Parmesan, omit for the prawn recipe
• Basil for garnish

Method

1. Heat stock. Cook chicken and mushrooms in a frypan whilst cooking the risotto and leave aside until Stage 3. In a separate large frypan heat the olive oil, add the onion, garlic and celery and slowly fry for about 3 minutes. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice, season with salt and pepper and turn up the heat.
2. The rice will now begin to fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent having absorbed all the flavors from the vegetables. Add the wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic as it sizzles around the rice.
3. Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt, but be careful not too make it too salty. Turn down the heat to a highish simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladles of stock, stirring and allowing each ladle of liquid to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Add chicken and mushrooms when the rice is half cooked.
4. Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan, if using. Stir gently. Place lid on pan and allow to sit for 2 to 3 minutes. This is the most important part of making the risotto as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat as soon as possible while the risotto retains its perfect texture.

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Prep Time: 5 mins Cooking Time: 6 mins Serves 2

This is an easy, beautifully creamy dish. Great for boosting the immune system! A glass (or bottle) of white wine like Riesling goes really well with this meal - essential.

Ingredients

10 Large Green Peeled Tiger Prawns
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Butter
3 tablespoons crushed Garlic
1 tablespoons chopped parsley
3/4 cup of thickened cream
1 cup rice

Alternative: You can also use frozen raw peeled prawns from the supermarket.

Method

1. Rinse the rice and allow to cook while completing the remaining steps.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the prawns in the oil until they’re just cooked.
3. Add the butter, garlic, parsley and the cream (you may only need 1/2 cup of cream).
4. Simmer, reducing the garlic cream sauce just a little.
5. Serve on spooned over a bed of rice.

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Prep and Cooking time: 6o min Serves 6

This Thai soup recipe, from my neighbor Irene, is AMAZING! It’s beautiful Thai flavours make a party in your mouth. Although there are a lot of ingredients, it’s very easy to make – once the prep is done, you can sit back and relax while it cooks. Serve it at dinner parties!

Ingredients

• 400ml Coconut Cream (CC Milk for those on a diet)
• 3 tablespoons yellow (or red) Thai Curry Paste
• 350ml Fish Stock (Fish Stock Cubes are cheaper)
• 3 tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Caster Sugar
• 3 Lemongrass stalks, cut into thirds and bruised
• ½ teaspoon Turmeric
• 1kg Pumpkin, peeled and cut into large bite sized chunks
• 500g Fish (any type)
• 400g peeled raw Prawns (cheap bags in the frozen section at Coles)
• 3-4 small bunches of Bok Choy, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch Coriander, chopped
• Juice of ½-1 lime, to taste
• 2 cups Basmati Rice

Method

1. Begin cooking the rice (it doesn’t need to still be hot at serving time).
2. In a large pot, combine curry paste and small amount of coconut cream and fry to release aroma, whisk with wooden spoon until frothy.
3. Add rest of CC cream, fish stock, fish sauce, lemongrass, sugar, and turmeric. Bring to boil.
4. Add pumpkin to pot and cook at a fast simmer with the lid on, until tender.
5. Add seafood to pot and boil for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add bok choy and lime juice, and boil until bok choy is wilted. Pumpkin should now have made the soup thick and creamy.
7. To serve, place a ladel full of rice in the bottom of each deep bowl, then add a generous amount of soup and sprinkle coriander on top.

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