Food

The morning after I found myself in Borough Market, which draw my attention on some seasonally imported, fresh porcini (cepes) mushrooms. My find triggered a nice saffron and cepes risotto, with plenty of butter and parmesan to make it creamier.

I also surprisingly found some fresh courgette flowers which I soaked in batter and fried for an amazing appetizer. (Too hungry to take a picture)

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Ooo nice. How much were the cepes?

You can find them for 35£/kg

Do you mean quince/membrillo jelly? If the pectins already in there, you may be doomed.

Two possibles- if you're not a vege, add gelatine. It's a cheat, but it'll set and the texture will be fine. I'm guessing the mix is pretty thick already, so start with 1/3rd of what you'd use for water. Soak gelatine- warm jelly to 50 ish degrees- add leaves. Stir and keep stirring periodically until cook.

Option B- put it back on the hob, add a shit load of sugar, and reduce it until it bloody well does as you want and sets. If the mix is already pretty sweet use glucose- won't affect the flavour so much. Though I'm not sure how this will play with the pectin- did you boil it/keep boiling it when adding the pectin?

Yeah exactly what I was thinking with option b.
Yep. Boiled when added pectin! Thx.

Did the other half of the brisket and the remainder of the beef ribs over the weekend... Covered in foil in the oven at 100°c for 9hrs then in the smoker for about 90mins... Absolutely melt in the the mouth delicious but they'd lost all their structure, I know what I'll do differently next time...

Uncovered in smoker for 2-3hrs, in foil in oven for 3hrs, take off foil and finish in oven for 2-3hrs... This will do it!

Looks great.

I do find that when I make it I have to eat all of the risotto in one go - maybe I'm doing it wrong but it just doesn't work for me when it's not hot straight off the hob. I'm unfortunately terrible with portioning and make enough for about 10 hungry people, so after I've eaten until I start crying I'm left with a vat of cold sludge.

Any tips on how to rejuvenate the excess? Add tiny amount of liquid and heat slowly over the lowest flame? But that's part of the problem, by then it's soaked up so much moisture you lose the texture. It's like soggy, oniony sugar puffs :(

If you want to re-heat risotto, then don't cook it all the way, and leave the cheese out. If you want to re-heat fully cooked risotto, speed is your friend, and balance off liquid and parmesan.

Sounds stupid, what rice are you using?

Make arancini. Problem solved.

What a delicious solution...

Has some one been watching montalbano ;)

Great thinking.

If you have half a day spare than arancini is a good idea.

The rice question isn't stupid, many people use carnaroli, but I feel like you have to overcook it to get enough amid coming out (that gives you creaminess). I usually prefer a quality that yields more amid, like Vialone Nano (impossible to find here) or Arborio (Saintsbury) that can give you conspicuous creaminess without being overcooked.

That said, if you have a risotto that is creamy but not overcooked, you can try to reaheat it. It will never be as good as freshly made. A good advice is to avoid cheese, maybe if (when) you realize you made more than you can eat, you split it in two and finish with cheese only the one you're going to eat right away.

When reheating I usually pour little amount of water/milk, and heat slowly in a pan, stirring from time to time and covering it with a lid. Basically what you said yourself.

you probably know more italian places than I do, but found this one down on Druid St, which had some lovely creamy cheese and also really nice risotto rice, probably a bit pricey, but worth a look

http://www.lemporiofinefoods.com/#!products/cfvg

My only tip relating to reheat- as you've had loads up thread, is as giofox says- when you see you've made to much, get a baking tray, spread the excess onto it, before its fully cooked, and spread it to as close to 1 grain thick as you can, then freezer whilst you eat, pull it out, and shove it I the fridge.
Freezer will stop the cooking, then you can re finish it off at a later date.
Also what's montalbano? Cooking show?

Option B- put it back on the hob, add a shit load of sugar, and reduce it until it bloody well does as you want and sets.

have globs of membrillo up on the walls, floor and practically 2nd degree burns on my cheek and hands.
I now know what it is like to come face to face with the lava of mt etna...

Set you bastard...

Best way to use leftover risotto if you don't want to go deep frying - straight from the fridge, form risotto into burger shaped patties. Dip in egg, then dust with polenta. Shallow fry in butter until crispy on both sides. It's fucking glorious.

just eat it cold out of a tupperware box on the sofa whilst watching cash in the attic like a sane person would do.

In nothing more that a off white pair of y fronts....you disgust me.

...your mums y-fronts.

#newpageprovlems

Montalbano is a detective show set in Sicily and the Inspector likes his food and there is an episode called montalbano's arancini.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cbq6b

This sounds epic! I need to try it, good shout!

Cheers mate, didn't know this one (quite far from my usuals) but it's on the map now!

There are plenty I know, just ask if you're after something specific, I usually don't care about traveling or spending when on a quest for a specific ingredient, so I got to know several, mostly central/north/east.

Also, you need to try Venus Rice (black rice) - not for risotto tho

Riso Gallo is my favourite rice, they do venus rice and aged rices too.

That looks nothing like my mum...