Mushroom and Sausage Risotto

This is an oddball kind of a recipe which came about when I was trying to think how to make risotto acceptable to Ms B, aka Ms Feed-Me-MEAT! Sausages were the only thing I had in the freezer (boiling them first makes them easier to cut up).

1 onion
1 cup diced mushrooms*
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
boiling water
2 sausages, lightly boiled and sliced
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tsp basil
1 cup grated cheese**
black pepper and salt to taste

For onion-phobic people like B, whizz up the onion in a blender with 1/2 cup of warm water. Otherwise, just dice it, and saute until translucent. Saute mushrooms until soft, then add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add Arborio rice, and about 1/2 cup boiling water (or onion water), adding more as rice absorbs the moisture. Add sausage, tomato and basil after the rice has cooked for a while. Keep adding water until rice has a nutty texture. Stir in cheese, adding more water if necessary, and then season and serve as soon as cheese is melted through. Give the Eldest Daughter twice as much as she originally asked for because she likes it That Much.

* I would have put in more but I ran out; I'd love to use dried mushrooms to increase the flavour as well.
** I usually use 1.3 cup Parmesan but didn't have any in the fridge.

Mango Chutney

It's the wrong time of year for mangoes, but next summer I will definitely have to come back to this recipe when big trays of bruised mangoes start turning up at the Markets for ridiculously low prices!

Menu Plan - in progress

Thursday 10 May

• Tuna Pasta Sauce

Friday 11 May

• Chicken Chowder
  

Saturday 12 May

• Amanda's Partay - bring grub of some description
  

Sunday 13 May

• Kangaroo Bolognaise
  

Monday 14 May

• Crockpot Chicken and Apricot Tagine
  

Tuesday 15 May

• Vegan
  

Wednesday 16 May

• Red meat
  

Thursday 17 May

• Fish Cakes

Friday 18 May

• Chicken

Saturday 19 May

• Eggs Florentine or Baked Eggs in Spinach Cases
  

Sunday 20 May

• Kangaroo Roast

A Success!

The Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese I linked to a couple of posts ago was a big hit last night. The EDOD finished her entire plateful, which means that this dish has now made it to high rotation in what passes for my menu planning these days (she ate it again for lunch today as well). Since I made a few changes to the recipe, I'll put my modified version here.

Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese

• 300g vegeroni pasta
• 200g short-cut rindless bacon, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp cornflour
  
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
  
• ~1-2 cups grated low-fat cheddar cheese or tasty cheese
• 30g parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 5 portions of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• black pepper and basil to taste
• 2 eggs, beaten

Cook the pasta until just al dente. Fry the bacon, then leave to drain. Blend the cornflour with 1 cup of water, then stir over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Gradually add the rest of the milk and the water, then mix in the cheeses and simmer gently until melted. Season to taste, then stir spinach, bacon and pasta into the sauce. Quickly fold in beaten eggs, pour into casserole dish and cook at 200C until top is golden.

This made about five adult servings.

Cake and Kangaroo

Not in the same dish, obviously!

This afternoon I engaged grumpy munchkins in cooking the Banana and Blueberry Loaf from my last post, and in the process turned them into happy and, an hour later, well-fed munchkins.
Cooking with my babies is fun!

Dinner was stroganoff, but I substituted kangaroo steak for beef, and the result was gorgeous!

Kangaroo Stroganoff

Ingredients:
500g kangaroo steak, thinly sliced
600g mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 onions, sliced
1 dessert spoon crushed garlic
~2-3 c water
1 chicken stock cube (optional)
3/4c extra lite sour cream
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp basil
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Suate onions til translucent. Remove from pan, and sear kangaroo strips over a very high heat for a minute or less, until sealed. Deglaze pan with 1-2 tbsp water. Add garlic, mushrooms, onions, and stock cube dissolved in a little boiling water. Fill pan with water to about 3/4 the height of the ingredients, cover and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 45 minutes or until kangaroo is tender. Take out a couple of ladlefuls of broth and whisk into the sour cream, until smooth. Add cornflour to sour cream mixture and stir until smooth, then add to pan. Turn heat up and stir until thickened.

Serve over mashed potatoes, with steamed vegetables on the side. Drool.

This would probably make about 4 generous adult serves, or 5 if you add lots of extra veges.

Edited for clarity.