Asparagus and wild garlic risotto

 

Today we are heading to a farmers’ market and I hope to find a lot of fresh veggies and other local foods there. The weather is now good after it has rained early in the morning. What are you up to this Sunday?

Before I go, I want to share this dish with you. Asparagus and wild garlic belong to spring as much as new tiny pale green leaves on trees and blossoming spring flowers after a long winter. In this risotto I have combined both asparagus and wild garlic. I steamed the green asparagus and mixed it later into the risotto. I added some wild garlic pesto and fresh wild garlic leaves on top. Otherwise it was a basic risotto with arborio rice, onion, garlic, vegan butter, dash of white wine and a nice vegetable stock. It was such a tasty meal! At the same time my new ceramic bowls are getting a lot of use.

Radishes are another spring favourite of mine. You can make plenty of fresh salads with the colourful new season radishes. What are your spring favourites?

Your VegHog

Roasted pumpkin risotto

 

Is anyone else excited for the pumpkin season? I just adore it, both for cooking and decorating. I do realise that Halloween is kind of cancelled this year, but we can still spend nice time in our homes.

So here comes another comforting autumn dish from the VegHog’s kitchen. Have a look at the easy, but tasty recipe for a roasted pumpkin risotto below.

This was an excellent risotto with roasted pumpkin, crispy sage butter and a hint of chilli. You can easily veganise this recipe by using vegan butter. I haven’t tried the sage butter with vegan butter yet, as I’m not sure if it will brown as nicely as dairy butter. Please let me know how it is, if you’ve tried.

 

Roasted pumpkin risotto

Ingredients

¼ - ½ of a medium pumpkin

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

½ small chilli

1 tbsp butter

1 cup arborio rice

1 cup white wine

1 l vegetable stock

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh sage leaves + 2tbsp butter

 

Method

Peel and cut the pumpkin to cubes. Brush them with vegetable oil and roast in the oven. You can save the pumpkin seeds and roast them. They are really healthy and tasty.

Heat the vegetable stock in a pan. In a separate pan start sauteeing the chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Once they are softened, add one tablespoon of butter and the rice. After a few moments, add the wine and let it absorb to the rice.

Add some vegetable stock to the rice, let it simmer under the lid and gradually keep adding more stock until the rice has cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Once the pumpkin cubes are roasted, take about one half of them, mash them and add to the rice. Add the rest of the pumpkin on top just before serving.

While the rice is cooking, make the crispy browned sage butter in a separate pan. When you are ready to serve, pour it over the risotto.

Enjoy!

 Your VegHog

Mushroom and pea risotto

It has been very warm over here this week, but today started a bit rainy. I’m still optimistic that it will be a beautiful day. We will soon wonder to town to see what’s happening today. We might go back to our old hoods in Østerbro to see if anything has changed in a couple of months. Otherwise I don’t have many weekend plans once again.

I think risottos are good summer food, so I made a mushroom and pea risotto. I used nice and firm brown closed cup mushrooms, fresh Danish peas and new season onions with their lovely green stalks. It was a lovely combination and just perfect midweek meal.

What is your favourite risotto?

Your VegHog

Pearled wheat risotto with portobello mushrooms

My weekend has started in a very relaxing manner after a really hectic week at work. I'm happy to just potter around at home this morning and read some lovely blogs. I'm baking carrot rolls at the same time, and later we will head for lunch at a nearby brewhouse. It will be a nice day I'm sure. How is your weekend going?

Now to this recipe. I like vegetarian risottos of all kinds, and am ready to eat one at almost anytime. I prefer to make my risottos these days with pearled spelt or barley rather than arborio rice, and now I made one with pearled wheat kernels. This was a really nice and quite basic portobello mushroom risotto. I added a little parsley oil on top for some additional flavour and colour. I also wanted to add the mushrooms pan-fried on top, but they can of course also be mixed in, if you prefer. Have a look at my recipe below.

Pearled wheat risotto with portobello mushrooms

Ingredients

1 l vegetable stock

1 large onion

2 carrots

2 garlic cloves

1+1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter

1,5 cups pearled wheat

1 cup dry white wine

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh parsley

4 portobello mushrooms

Method

Warm up the vegetable stock.

Chop the onion, carrots and garlic.

Heat oil in a separate pan, and start cooking the onion. Once the onion is softened, add the carrots and garlic and cook for a while.

Then add some butter to the pan, and stir in the pearled wheat.

Pour the white wine in and let it absorb.

Then make a vegetable stock addition, and keep adding it little by little while the risotto simmers.

Season the risotto with fresh parsley, salt and ground black pepper.

Slice the portobello mushrooms and fry them quickly in a hot frying pan. Then place them on top of the risotto and serve.

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Porcini spelt risotto

I just love this mushroom season that's still very much going on over here. We are getting the most beautiful local fresh porcini mushrooms from our vegetable market. They are only quite pricey at the moment, so I have to plan the dishes carefully. But of course it's totally worth it. Porcini mushrooms are called Karl Johan svampe here and are quite popular in cooking. Last weekend we were served a lovely dish cooked with them when we went out.

As I bought a small batch of these lovely mushrooms, I decided to make this well-liked classic in our household, spelt risotto, with them. Most of the time I add dried porcini mushrooms to my risottos, but the fresh ones were so good. I also love their quirky looks with long stems and different shapes, and they tasted absolutely gorgeous. The dish turned out really great and I'll have to make this again while the mushrooms are still available. Have a look at my recipe below.

Porcini spelt risotto

Ingredients

150 g fresh porcini

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil for frying

1 tbsp butter

2 cups pearled spelt

1/2 cup dry white wine

500 ml vegetable stock

Generous amount of fresh parsley

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Clean the mushrooms first. Don't wash them, just brush any dirt off with a moist cloth or a brush. Then slice them.

Also chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in oil. Once they are translucent, add the sliced mushrooms and fry them a little.

The add the butter, followed by the pearled spelt. Pour the white wine in the pan and let it absorb. Finally start making warm vegetable stock additions and let the spelt risotto simmer.

Cook until the pearled spelt is soft and season to taste with the fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Enjoy as a warming and cosy autumn dish!

Your VegHog

Harlequin squash risotto

Who is happy with me about the proper squash and pumpkin season starting? I can see many soups, stews and casseroles in my future and it makes me very happy indeed. I really love autumn, the colours, the food, the atmosphere. It's still warm here now, but I'm not sad that the summer will be ending soon. What are your feelings about the autumn (of course not all my readers are facing autumn at this time)?

I haven't made a proper real non-pearled-spelt risotto for ages it feels, but when I got a hold of some harlequin squashes, I thought it's time. I don't think that a vegetarian risotto ever gets boring, as there are so many possible variations. I added a little hint of chilli to this recipe.

Ingredients

1 l vegetable stock

Few dried porcini mushrooms

½ harlequin squash

1 yellow bell pepper

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 small chilli

Olive oil

15 g butter

1 cup arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated vegetarian pasta cheese

Pine nuts and tomato slices for serving

Method

Heat the vegetable stock in a separate saucepan and add the crushed porcini muchrooms to the stock.

Cut the squash into cubes and the bell pepper into slightly smaller cubes. Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely and start cooking the onion in olive oil. Once it's lightly browned and soft, add the garlic and chilli and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Add the squash and bell pepper cubes into the mix and again let cook for a few minutes. Then add the butter to the pan followed by the arborio rice. Mix for a few minutes and then add the white wine. Let it mostly absorb.

Add a few ladles of the vegetable stock and let simmer under the lid by stirring often. Also keep making more stock additions before the risotto can dry out.

Season to taste. Once you are happy with the flavours and textures, serve with some sprinkled vegetarian pasta cheese on the top and enjoy.

I would like to share the recipe with this month's Credit Crunch Munch as a frugal recipe. The challenge is hosted this month by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families and co-hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. The reason for this is mainly that I was able to use end of two risotto rice packets (no idea why both were open!) and also the vegetables had been around for a while waiting to be cooked. I didn't want them to go to waste. A risotto can be quite an economical dish, as you don't need too many things to make a very filling meal.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

White risotto with cavolo nero and heirloom tomatoes

This recipe is a white risotto with cavolo Nero and heirloom tomatoes served on the top. Cavolo Nero is basically Italian kale, it's lemony with a slight bitterness and it extended the flavours of a simple risotto very nicely. I haven't made risottos for a while, so it was a nice dish to have for a change. Here is how I made this one.

Ingredients

1 large onion

4 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

25 g butter

250 g arborio rice

150 ml dry white wine

1 l vegetable stock

100 g vegetarian pasta cheese

50 g aged havarti cheese

Salt to taste

200 g cavolo nero

15 g butter

2 large heirloom tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

125 g buffalo mozzarella

Method

Chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in olive oil. Shortly after add the butter and arborio rice. Stir and then add the white wine, let it absorb and then add a few ladles of the vegetable stock. Let simmer under lid and keep adding vegetable stock and stirring until the rice is cooked. In the end make the cheese and salt additions.

Once the risotto is almost done, quickly sauté the cavolo nero pieces in a separate pan in butter.

Quarter the tomatoes and quickly fry them in a hot pan and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the rice, tomatoes and cavolo nero and tear some mozzarella pieces on the top and then serve.

I want to share the recipe with Eat Your Greens, which Shaheen is hosting this month, and I am the co-host of the challenge.

Your VegHog

Harlequin squash spelt risotto with halloumi

I was happy to obtain some harlequin squashes again, and decided to make a spelt risotto with one of them. A spelt risotto is a wonderful weekday dish even though it takes slightly longer to make. I'm always so happy to have some of it left to take with me to work. This is a very filling and tasty dish and I can only recommend pearled spelt. However I just noticed how many spelt dishes I have posted again recently and should use some other main ingredients soon. I promise that it will be the case! First, here's today's recipe.

Ingredients

1 harlequin squash

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 bell pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

20 g butter

1 cup pearled spelt

1 glass white wine

1 l vegetable stock

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

40 g vegetarian pasta cheese

250 g halloumi + 1 tsp vegetable oil (optional)

Method

The method to this dish is my basic risotto method, nothing complicated about it, just some patience is needed.

Heat the vegetable stock in a separate pot.

Chop the harlequin squash into cubes. Also chop the onion, garlic and bell pepper.

Heat olive oil in a pan and start cooking the onion there for a few minutes. Then add the bell pepper and garlic and cook for further couple of minutes followed by the harlequin squash.

Add the butter and pearled spelt into the pan and mix for a few moments. Then add the wine and let it absorb.

Add a few ladles of the hot vegetable stock and let simmer under the lid. Stir often and keep making stock additions.

When all the components are cooked nicely and the flavours have blended, season the dish and add some grated vegetarian pasta cheese to it.

Serve with pan-fried halloumi slices like I did, if you feel like it. In that case no salt addition is needed to the risotto, or just a little bit.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Pattypan squash spelt risotto

Maybe you already saw this dish in my lunchbox on Tuesday and here is the full recipe of my pattypan squash spelt risotto. I love the look of pattypan squashes, their shape is so quirky. Unfortunately I don't often find them in my local shops, but now my local health food store had a few of them in a great condition, so of course I had to buy them. The taste of this squash is quite mild and I think that they are closer to courgettes by taste and texture. That makes them quite versatile to use. I found this pattypan squash spelt risotto quite tasty, have a look how I made it.

Ingredients

1 pattypan squash

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

25 g butter

250 ml pearled spelt

100 ml dry white wine

1 l vegetable stock

50 g vegetarian pasta cheese

Sage

Basil

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Peel and cut the pattypan squash into small cubes. Brush them with olive oil and roast in the oven until done with darker roasting marks.

Chop the onions and garlic finely and also cut the bell pepper into cubes.

Start cooking the onions, garlic and pepper in olive oil, and once they are soft, add the butter and pearled spelt into the pan.

Add the white wine and let the pearled spelt absorb it. Then add about the third of the vegetable stock and simmer under lid. Keep adding more stock whenever needed.

Towards the end, add the roasted pattypan squash and grated pasta cheese to the pan, and season with sage, basil, salt and ground black pepper.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Summer pea risotto

Risottos are so lovely, I really adore them, and so many different vegetarian ones are possible to make. Now I made a different one again, as I recently purchased organic brown risotto rice and also fresh peas. I love fresh summer peas as they are, when they come directly from the pods. Therefore I didn't cook them too much in this dish either, but you can do so, if you prefer. This is extremely easy to veganise by substituting the butter with margarine and leaving out the cheese.

Ingredients

500 ml vegetable stock

1 shallot

2 garlic cloves

2 baby peppers

1 tbsp olive oil

6 baby plum tomatoes

25 g butter

100 ml dry white wine

1 cup brown risotto rice

1 cup fresh peas

10 fresh basil leaves

Salt & pepper to taste

25 g mature cheddar

Method

Warm up the vegetable stock and chop the vegetables.

Heat olive oil in a pan and cook the shallot and garlic until soft. Add the peppers and after a while the tomatoes. Let cook for a while and then add the butter and risotto rice.

Pour in the wine and let it evaporate and absorb and then add a few ladles of vegetable stock. Let simmer under the lid, stir often and keep adding more vegetable stock whenever needed.

Season and add the peas towards the end when the rice starts to be cooked enough. Also stir in the grated cheese.

All done, enjoy!

Your VegHog

Queen squash risotto

I haven't made a normal risotto for a while, I've made more pearled spelt risottos lately. Yesterday I however made a really autumnal risotto by using queen squash as the main ingredient. Queen squash is a new acquaintance for me this autumn and I instantly liked it very much. I took a slightly different approach to how to add the squash to the risotto, as this time I first roasted the squash cubes in the oven, and then mashed half of them and stirred it into the rice. That ensured quite a creamy risotto with an intense squash taste, a bit sweet yet still savoury through the vegetable stock, sage and porcini mushrooms. Perfect for this season I would say!

Here is my queen squash risotto recipe.

Ingredients

1 queen squash

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 l vegetable stock

A few dried porcini mushrooms

200 g arborio rice

Olive oil

1 dl white wine

20 g butter

Sage

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Peel the squash, remove the seeds and cut it into about 2x2cm pieces. Save the seeds and toast them in the oven. They are really nice in salads, and can also be sprinkled on top of the risotto for serving.

Roast the squash cubes brushed with olive oil until they are soft. Mash one half of them and set the other half to side.

Prepare the vegetable stock and warm it up. Add the crushed porcini to the stock.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely. Heat olive oil in a pan and cook the shallots and garlic soft.

Add the butter to the pan and once it has melted, the arborio rice.

Once the rice is translucent after a few minutes, add the wine and let it absorb and evaporate almost fully.

Add a couple of ladles of the warm vegetable stock and let the risotto simmer under the lid. 

Stir often and keep adding vegetable stock whenever needed. The risotto must not cook dry.

Add the squash mash to the risotto once the rice is almost cooked and simmer a while together until the rice is al dente.

Season with sage, salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Serve with the roasted squash cubes on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Chanterelle and harlequin squash spelt risotto

Here comes another harlequin squash recipe of mine. I coupled it with another seasonal treat, chanterelles, and made a spelt risotto with them. I'm not fortunate enough to get fresh chanterelles at the moment, but definitely do use them instead of dried ones, if you can get some. Otherwise this is quite a basic risotto recipe, rice of course substituted by my favourite, pearled spelt.

These are the things you'll need and the instructions to make it are below.

½ harlequin squash (or a whole small one)

25 g dried chanterelles (or other wild mushrooms, for example porcini would be fine)

1 large shallot

2 garlic cloves

1 l vegetable stock

1 tsp chanterelle fond

1 tbsp olive oil

25 g butter

1 dl dry white wine

1 cup pearled spelt

Fresh savory to taste

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

30 g mature cheddar

Cut the harlequin squash into cubes and remove the seeds.

Soak the chanterelles in water for about 10 minutes. After that, drain them well.

Chop the shallot and garlic finely.

Heat the vegetable stock.

Heat olive oil in a large pan and cook the shallots and garlic until soft. Then also add the harlequin squash cubes and chanterelles to the pan. Cook for a further couple of minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and then the pearled spelt. Cook again for a couple of minutes and make the white wine addition. Let the wine mostly evaporate, and then also add a few ladles of the warm vegetable stock.

If you can get chanterelle fond somewhere, add it to the pan. Alternatively you can also use the soaking water of the mushroom for some extra mushroom taste.

Let the risotto simmer under the lid and keep stirring it and making vegetable stock additions before the pan dries out.

Cook until the spelt is soft, or I prefer al dente, and season with savory, salt and pepper. Season to taste, and add even more wine, if you think it's needed.

Mix in the cheese before serving. I also made some cheddar crisps as decorations on the top.

Enjoy warm! The taste usually gets better when heated up the next day, but I'm rarely patient enough to leave any.

Your VegHog

Lemon and courgette risotto

My courgettes are growing nicely on the balcony, which means that it's time to cook with own produce again – exciting! Now the courgettes start coming in bulk, so it's good to have many different recipe ideas for them. I love my yellow courgettes, but I also planted green ones additionally. As I haven't made a risotto for a while, I decided to make one and the courgettes should play an important part in it. Lemon is a good complimenting flavour to courgettes, so I used lemon infused olive oil and pressed lemon juice as seasoning.

Sense the taste of summer with my lemon and courgette risotto!

Ingredients

250 g arborio rice

3 small courgettes (or one medium)

100 g sweet baby peppers

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp lemon infused olive oil

1 l vegetable stock

250 ml dry white wine

25 g butter

25 g vegetarian pasta cheese

½ lemon's juice [add grated zest for more lemon flavour (optional)]

1 tbsp Herbes de Provence

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

Method

Cut the courgettes into thin slices and the baby peppers into small cubes. Also chop the shallots and garlic cloves finely. Warm the vegetable stock up.

Cook the shallots, peppers and garlic in one tablespoon of lemon infused olive oil for about 10 minutes, until they are pretty soft.

Add the butter and arborio rice and stir for a few minutes until the rice becomes translucent. Pour in the white wine and let it evaporate.

Add a few ladles of the warm vegetable stock and let simmer under lid. Stir often and add more vegetable stock when needed.

When the risotto is almost cooked, heat one tablespoon of lemon infused olive oil in a separate pan and cook the courgette slices in there for a few minutes. Don't cook them too long, as it's nice when they still have little bite to them. Add the courgettes to the risotto.

Season the risotto towards the end with grated vegetarian pasta cheese (vegetarian parmesan), lemon juice, Herbes de Provence, black pepper and salt. Add more white wine, if needed.

I served my risotto with a fruity halloumi salad (similar to the one in the previous post), which makes a great summer side dish.

What is your favourite vegetarian summer risotto combination?

Your VegHog