Is it just me, or is the human race going to hell in a handcart? There are a couple of bits of insanity at the moment involving the serving size of over sugared sodas.
In America one of the fast food chains has come up with what they must have thought was a good idea in the face of public concern over childhood diabetes. Simply put, if you supersize your over sugared concoction of chemicals, mysteriously called a soda, they will donate a dollar to the childhood diabetes charity. I just can’t believe that an idea as stupid as this one ever made it out of the marketing meeting, what were they thinking? Is the search for profits so great that they can absolve themselves of any blame in the proliferation in diabetes and obesity? Again to put it simply, if you make a habit of drinking more than your recommended daily sugar intake in one drink then you are going to need the services of the diabetes research people sooner rather than later.
Now I know it’s a personal choice, but on the basis that if we can prevent just one person from developing Type Two Diabetes we will save our local economy half a million dollars…and that’s just the financial cost, the personal cost for each sufferer is immeasurable. What bites me with this is the cynical approach of a so called food retailer to look for a genuine concern of their clients and potential clients, then instead of actually helping they use it as a sales tool. Don’t get me wrong KFC the diabetes charities need your money, mainly to fight the very practices that you survive on. Perhaps it would be a more socially acceptable thing to actually try to cut the sugar level or am I just being picky.
Now speaking of cynical approaches who do you think is organising the protests against Mayor Bloomberg in New York? Is it really hundreds of thousands of hard-bitten New Yorkers – or perhaps the very lobby groups that work for the fast food industry? Banning drinks that contain more than your daily recommended sugar intake sounds perfectly reasonable to me, because drinking an extra 16 oz of sugary crap on top of the 16 oz you’ve already consumed is just what you need. Give me a break this is not a personal freedom issue, if you drink 32oz of sugar and chemicals you’re a dumbass and probably don’t deserve any personal choice.
Always a problem, what do you cook on a busy night? Well tonight is that night with Anne running late with a meeting and Alex at rugby training. Nothing else for it, Fraser and I are on dog walking and diner.
Its so easy to let good cooking slip when time is short, the trick is to have a few things up your sleeve or in this case in the freezer. Risotto isn’t ideal in the freezer as it tends to dry out but needs must and you just need to add some fun stuff to keep it moist.
In this case a bit of panfried Bok Choy with soy and some prawns with coriander and garlic, all topped off with a perfectly poached egg fresh from the neighbors. Finally a bit of seasoning ad a drizzle of good olive oil
Easy Risotto
The main point to remember when making risotto is that any liquid which you use, whether it is stock, wine or cream, should be boiling hot before you add it to the rice. This will stop your risotto from “clumping”.
For 2 – 3 main servings:
1 cup Ferron risotto rice
2½ cups stock, boiling
½ onion or 2 shallots, chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
100 ml white wine
Salt and pepper
Parmesan, grated
Extra hot stock, olive oil or butter
Method
Heat the wine gently (and saffron, if using.) In another large pan, heat a little olive oil and sweat the “soffrito” slowly – garlic, onion and any other root vegetable being used (e.g. carrot, leek). Add the rice and heat through for 1 – 2 minutes (called toasting). Add wine and allow to reduce. Add the boiling stock all at once, bring back to the boil and add seasoning. Cover and simmer for 15 – 18 minutes.
Add flavourings, rest for a few minutes and then stir through parmesan, a little extra stock, gently heated cream, extra virgin olive oil or butter – the amount depends on how ‘allonde,’ or creamy, you like your risotto.
Suggested additions:
➢ Porcini: Soak 15g Gigante porcini in 250ml warm water for at least 20 minutes. Strain and use some of the stock in risotto. Add sliced porcini at half way point. Add heated cream at the end, along with parmigiano and chopped Italian parsley. Drizzle with Ceruti Truffle oil.
➢ Smoked Mushrooms: As above, but use Aromatics Smoked Mushrooms instead of porcini.
➢ Smoked Salmon : Add chopped leek to the initial ‘soffrito’. Before adding parmesan, add chopped, cooked Aoraki Smoked Salmon.
➢ Chorizo & Saffron : Add a pinch of crushed saffron to the wine/stock and, before you add the parmesan at the end, fold through 2 cooked, chopped chorizo sausages.
➢ Pumpkin: Cook cubed pumpkin slowly in EVO with garlic and some red wine and add with the parmesan.
➢ Lamb, Feta & Capers: Add 1 – 2 seared lamb fillets, marinated in Giusti Balsamic Vinegar and Olivo Infused Olive Oil (Lemon or Porcini) plus 2 tablespoon salted capers, soaked and rinsed and 100g cubed Zany Zeus Creamy Feta.