Black trumpet mushroom and fennel risotto

I remember making risotto when I lived in Sweden and Jakob moved to Barcelona before me. It was     my Friday treat. I served it to myself with loads of parmesan cheese and a glass of wine. It made me feel happy. 

On Friday I also made risotto here in Cambridge. I missed it. This risotto is clearly autumn inspired.

RECIPE for two

1 cup risotto rice or medium-grain rice

3 cups vegetable broth

1/4 kg assorted wild mushrooms (in this case black trumpet)

1 fennel bulb

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Fresh thyme

As you know, risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish and involves stirring small amounts of broth into the rice a little time at a time. So, you have to be patient.

Fry the chopped fennel in olive oil with and add some salt. When the the fennel is soft, take some away for the final presentation. Add the mushrooms. After five minutes you can add the rice and in two minutes it will look slightly translucent. Now the risotto method starts: keep adding the broth bit by bit and stirring until the rice is soft but with a slight bite.

Remove from the heat, add the butter and leave it rest 2 minutes with a lid. Then serve with the parmesan, the thyme and the rest of the fennel and some more mushrooms if you want to.

An Autumn refreshment

     Simple like that. A toast with some cottage cheese, figs, pears, nuts and honey. Don't forget a cup of tea.

Rainbow coloured carrots

I saw them and I couldn't resist. I just took them home, rainbow colored carrots. The multicolored carrots (white, orange and yellow in this case) have been grown from old varieties and they are slightly sweeter. Today I roasted them together with some fennel and beetroot. Delicious.

Cashew corn soup

It's getting colder and it's nice to have some warm soup around. I do like corn especially fresh and I made a soup with it. It's a recipe from My News Roots which I highly recommend. It s a rich and very tasty soup which has been a success.

Here you have the News Roots recipe.

Avocado cream

This is a summer recipe which comes a bit late but...who cares...we're having a glorious weather right now in September.

It has influence from the smoothie that Ruth describes in Food and me, this from My News Roots and the last and no less important, the one that my father in law made when I was in Sweden. Mine is creamier rather than a smoothie.

I will try different combinations but so far I'm happy with this recipe:

2 avocados
Mint (lots)
1 lime
Half cup of apple juice
1 spoon of honey

Mix all in a blender until smooth. Taste and adjust. Cool before serving!

Deep fried zucchini flowers

Zucchini flowers. My first time. I had seen them before in the gorgeous blogs which I follow but in Spain wasn't so easy to find them.

They are just beautiful, sweet and herbal. I ate them in Sweden and they were from my father in laws garden. I can't complain!!

Pesto, yes, always

  A dinner. Pesto. Pasta with pesto. I think it is one of my absolute favorites.