Chicken, asparagus and mushroom risotto

Ingredients:

550 mL chicken stock, warmed
185 mL white wine or vermouth
200 g aborio rice
2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced (or just use left over roast chicken)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of asparagus
1 onion, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1/2 handful mushrooms, sliced
2 knobs of butter
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat a knob of butter and a splash of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Fry onion, garlic and celery for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Crank the heat. Add the rice and fry for a minute, stirring frequently. Add the wine and reduce. When it's almost gone, drop the heat and add a ladle of stock and asparagus. Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock ladle by ladle--you might not need all of it, so don't add it all at once--letting each ladleful reduce considerably before adding the next. After 15 minutes, stir in the mushrooms and chicken. It'll probably be 5 minutes or so before the rice is cooked--you can tell it's done when it has just a little bit of bite left to it. Risotto is a creamy dish, but that's not to say the rice should be cooked until its goo. When the rice is cooked, add the final knob of butter, stir in, cut the heat and clamp the lid down. Steam for a couple of minutes and then serve, seasoning with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a glug of extra virgin olive oil.

Carrot, celery and leek pilaf

Pilaf is a kind of rice dish that can have, depending on the variation, vegetables, fruit (such as raisins and dates), nuts (pine nuts in particular), seafood, meat or any combination of the above mixed through it. I guess you could brand it a Middle Eastern take on risotto. The two main differences, to my mind, are as follows: firstly, pilaf has a shorter cooking time and secondly, pilaf is cooked with the lid on. This is a recipe for a very basic pilaf that could and should be expanded upon. The possibilities for variation are endless. Grilled eggplant? That'd work. Tomato? That'd be lovely, I reckon. Bacon? Fennel? Capsicum? Asparagus? Prawns? Yabbies? They'd all be good. Possibly not together, although pilafs that combine meat and seafood aren't unusual. The recipe below makes enough for two people.

Note that the truffle oil is absolutely optional. I happen to have a bottle of the stuff kicking around my cupboard. Rather than saving it for the most expensive meals, I'll often bring it out with cooking pasta and rice dishes or even pizzas (see this) as, really, if you have it, you may as well use it? After all, it's not like it has an unlimited shelf life.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup vegetable stock (ideally home made, but quality store-bought stuff will suffice)
2/3 cup long-grain rice, washed and drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves, torn into pieces
1 carrot, cubed
1 stick of celery, cubed
1 leek, sliced
1 tbs butter, salt reduced
1 tbs olive oil
a splash of dry white wine or vermouth
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
a drizzle of truffle oil (optional)



Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low flame. When butter has completely melted, add celery, garlic and leek and fry until soft, stirring occasionally. Add rice, carrot and bay leaf. Stir, then add a generous splash of white wine. Stir the contents of the saucepan as the white wine evaporates. When wine has mostly gone, stir in the vegetable stock and a pinch of salt. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Place lid on the pan, reduce heat to low and cook for 12 minutes. Remove lid and give everything a good stir, then spoon into bowls. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with truffle oil, if using.