Vodka and lemon.

Life's really busy this week but in between school performances, special assemblies and my 1 year old continually emptying my kitchen cupboards I managed to make this really interesting risotto. My husband loved it and has been pestering me to post it so he can share the recipe with his friends.

I must say I've come a long way with making risotto. I was quite scared of it when I first started to make it. I would just buy a pre-mixed simmer sauce but there really is no need for that. It's so simple as long as you have good, fresh ingredients.
I often don't have time to make my own stock but I'm hoping to make a large batch to freeze very soon. I use stock at least 5 times a week now so I'm sure we would all benefit from home-made. Just on the subject of stock, as we've recently become vegetarian many gravies and sauces are no longer edible for us so I tried making a gravy this week, basically like a bechamel sauce but with stock and it was awsome. Now the good old Chips 'n' gravy can be back on our sometimes menue.
Here's what I used- 1 Tablespoon butter, 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 cup vegetable stock. Just melt butter, add flour, cook for one minute then slowly add stock while stirring until thick. So simple but wonderful.

So here's the risotto-
( I didn't take a photo so you'll have to use your imagination)

LEMON, THYME AND VODKA RISOTTO
125g butter
6 shallots or spring onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
150ml dry white wine
grated zest of 1 large lemon and juice of 1 lemon
500g aborio rice
1.5Liters hot vegetable stock (you can use chicken if you're not veggo)
2 Tablespoons vodka
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
75g grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

I also added 1 cup baby spinach and 1 can chickpeas, rinsed. You don't have to add these but I like to use any opportunity to get extra nutrition.

Melt half the butter in a large heavy based saucepan, add garlic and spring onions, saute for 5 mins.Add wine and half lemon zest, bring to boil, stirring and cook until almost all liquid has evapourated.
Add rice and stir well to coat grains with butter. Add hot stock, one ladel at a time stirring until each addition is absorbed. This can take a while, about 20minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in spinach and chick peas. Stand for 2 mins. Stir in remaining butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, parmesan, vodka and thyme.
Cover and stand for another few minutes.
I generally add a little more parmesan to serve but you don't have to.
Believe it or not my husband doesn't like parmesan.

Must run now. Enjoy!

Happy birthday to me.

Does anyone remember that really bad eighties movie called "Happy birthday to me"? Totally unrelated to my day but I always think of it when I use that phrase. I should do a search for it and see what I find.

Anyway, it was my birthday on the 23rd August and it's taken me several weeks ti find the time to write about it. The day was ok. Not what I had hoped but it often never is. I guess I should just learn not to have high hopes.
The things I really wanted for my birthday this year were not material things but more experiences and time. I asked for time to spend quietly making dolls which I did get but only half the amount I had hoped for. I guess I should be grateful.
I asked for a clean car and yes it was a rainy day but it still hasn't been done. It might happen by Christmas.
Of course, I asked for a day where my children didn't fight and my daughter didn't have a tantrum but as I'm sure lots of you can understand, how this was like asking for the impossible.
My son wanted to make pancakes for breakfast as a present for me and had planned it several weeks ahead. I found him a recipe for ricotta pancakes which is what I wanted and made sure that we had all the ingredients the day before.
He didn't end up making them as they weren't what he wanted. He wanted plain pancakes so he thought he would make both types but hadn't really planned things and didn't have enough time to do both so he did the ones he liked. His dad had a chat with him about this.
The plain pancakes were good but due to the incredibly high GI I can only ever eat one or two. I don't have diebetes now but have had gestational diebetes with my last two pregnancies so it's something I have to watch. It's made the whole family much more aware of food and what it does though so it's been a good thing.
The best thing about this day though was that my husband gave me one of the best presents that he has ever given me. It was from this place www.flowersbyfruit.com . It was a huge bunch of chocolate dipped strawberries sitting in a cute little ceramic vase. Some were dipped in white chocolate, some milk or dark. The arrangement was fantastic and the taste was divine. There were a lot of strawberries and we had trouble getting through them all but it allowed me to end my day with a candle lit bath and a glass of wine which I guess makes up for the rest of the day.
I did have a fabulous birthday cake from www.officecakes.com.au . It was called the "vanilla mud". Very simple but soooooo good. Basically just a soft chocolate mud cake covered with white chocolate ganache.
I'm usually the one to make all the cakes so it was nice to not have to do it this time. I am going to make one like this for father's day. I hope it's just as good.