Rice-filled Pumpkin | You've Got Meal!

It took for us to make our own blog in order to start cooking pumpkin, but the wait was worth. Growing up the only way we actually ate pumpkin was in (a very nice) pie, that, I have to admit, is one of the best smelling dishes I’ve ever seen. But bringing this seasonal ingredient to a salty dish was something I wanted to do for a very long time and I started with the stew posted last time. This time, the dish is a little flashier and it can certainly make you feel badass in front of your guests. Honestly, bringing a neat looking pumpkin filled with a spicy, creamy rice to the table has to score some points with the company you keep. 

Let’s start of with the ingredients that I used for filling a pumpkin about 1,3-1,5 kilo pumpkin: 
about half a cup of risotto rice, 
1 medium onion, 
3-4 cloves of garlic, 
1 medium beet, 
4 tbsp capers 
1 chilli, 
cinnamon, ground cumin and cardamom, 
salt, pepper, 
75 grams of butter, 
olive oil and 
100 grams of grated Parmesan. 

And of course the above said pumpkin and its insides. A couple of things about the ingredients: I decided to fill the pumpkin with a risotto style rice and, also, add cheese to this combination, but you can easily turn this recipe in a vegetarian star by using soy or coconut milk/cream, in which case a slightly more oriental touch of aromas could be in case. For the pumpkin, pick a healthy, sturdy one, with no visible marks or soft areas – those can give you trouble in the oven. You need to remove the insides of the “beast” before beginning, but don’t throw it away, you’ll integrate it in the rice. Also, make sure you don’t throw the top of the pumpkin, you’ll use it later.

• To start things of, cook your beet in the oven. First wash the root vegetable, pat it dry, place it on a piece of tin foil, splash a small amount of olive oil on the beet, some salt then close the foil on the vegetable, creating a wrapper that still holds enough room for the steam to build in there. The cooking time depends on the size of the beet, in this case it took 45 minutes. The vegetable is done when you can easily stick your knife through it. When the beet is done, remove the foil, let it cool down then finely cut it -  set aside. 
• Next, start making your risotto by cooking the finely diced onion and garlic for a bout 4 minutes on high heat, in some olive oil. Next add the beet,  the capers and the pumpkin insides (you won’t be able to use all of it, so keep around 1 cup of the finely diced pumpkin “entrails”). Cook the vegetables for another 3 -5 minutes. Add in the rice and all the spices and cook them for a minute before adding the liquid – use only stock or add wine, if you feel like it (1 part wine to 3 parts stock, make sure you simmer the wine down before adding the rest of the liquid).You need to cook the rice to about 90% done, so make sure you taste your rice -  it should take around 20 minutes on a medium high heat. 
• Remove the rice from the stove, add in the butter and mix things. 
• Next, start filling the pumpkin with the creamy rice – add a couple of tbs. of rice and top those with a heavy layer of cheese. Keep going until you’re almost at the top -  don’t completely fill the pumpkin up t the top, it will need some space to bubble up when the insides  start cooking. 
• Place top on the pumpkin and put in an oven tray, with some oven proof paper, on medium heat and cook for about 30 minutes. 
• You can choose to serve the pumpkin whole and cut it at the table or slice it yourself before plating, either way make sure to add some green to the dish with some chopped  parsley or oregano or basil or thyme or mint. Pick one already. And then eat, you’ll like it. 

Oh, and I can’t end this recipe without making this point: you can always use bacon in cooking the rice, just saying, no pressure……

Roasted Chicken with Spicy Brussels Sprouts | You've Got Meal!

This dish is another one that here, in the YOUVEGOTMEAL! kitchen, sooths us when the cold starts banging at our door. For me, any roasted meat does that trick and the spicy, lemony  (also adorable) cabbage goes really well with it.

For the meat use a couple of chicken pieces, upper and lower leg, a breast with bone (you can choose to cut it in half), the drums of the wings, you get the idea – the meaty parts. 

Mix some white flour with some ground pepper, smoked paprika and turmeric (about 1 tsp of each). Wash and pat dry the meat, then  coat the chicken in the flour until has a light layer all over. Heat up some olive oil and cook the floured meat on all sides until golden, shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes. 

Next, arrange the meat in an oven tray, cut around 300 grams of potatoes into cubes and place them aside the meat. Sprinkle some more olive oil, salt, pepper and put the tray in the oven on medium high heat for about 30-40 minutes.

For the sprouts: 

500 grams of cabbage, 

a thumb size of ginger, grated, 

1 handful of chopped green onions, 

2-3 garlic cloves chopped, 

the juice of 1 lemon, 

salt pepper, olive oil. 

Put everything into an oven tray that can be covered with a lid, making sure to coat the sprouts with all the flavors. The cabbage will only take around 15 minutes  to cook, so wait before putting them in the oven, next to the meat. I like the sprouts to cook whole, you can choose to cut them in half or quarters, but be warned that the cooking time will drop.

Plate the meat, spuds and sprouts and sprinkle some more green onions (or chives) on top.

Enjoy,

Autumn Stew | You've Got Meal!

There are only a few dishes that, cooked during the cold seasons, can make me feel better about the crappy weather outside, and this stew is one of them. You can always come up with another combination of vegetables or other meats for this one, but I was pleased (and warmed) by the result.

So, grab yourself 2 medium onions, an obscene amount of garlic (don’t worry about the amount, when cooked in stews garlic gives a rather sweet taste instead of, well, garlic taste), 2 carrots, 200 grams of honey fungus (during this time of the year this mushroom is available in farmer’s markets), 200 grams of pumpkin (with or without skin), 300 grams of potatoes, 150-200 grams of quince, 150 grams of smoked bacon, some nigella seeds, fresh  oregano, sage and parsley, salt, pepper, 500 ml of dark beer (I used Guiness in this recipe).

Start of by heating up a good amount of olive oil in a heavy base, tall pan, then pop in the diced onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then add in the sage, finely diced carrots and bacon -  cook them for another 3-4 minutes. Add the pumpkin, quince, both finely diced, and the honey fungus. Give everything a good mix, so that the hard vegetables get covered in the flavorful oil and bacon, cook for another  4-5 minutes. Pour in the beer, crank up the heat, add salt, crushed nigella seeds, pepper and 1 tbs. of chopped oregano leaves and reduce the liquid to about a third. Next, reduce the heat to medium low, put in the spuds, cover the pan and let it simmer for about 25-30 minutes. 

You can check to see if the vegetables are done during this time, this is especially useful if you decide to leave the skin on the pumpkin, which makes cooking the vegetable in case takes longer. Garnish the stew with some chopped parsley and, if you feel like it, pour a couple tbs. of heavy cream on top.

Serve this stew with some spicy pickled cauliflower for a more rustic feel and, if you really feel like the incoming winter is getting on your nerves, don’t forget about a nice cup of mulled wine. 

Enjoy,

Chorizo, Cauliflower and Porcini Risotto| You've Got Meal!

Cooking rice is something that doesn’t happen nearly enough in our kitchen, so, when we had to plan a meal for a couple of guests coming over, this risotto dish came to mind. Maybe I was influenced by the fact that we had all in the ingredients in our pantry or fridge, but who knows?

So, a nice piece of spicy chorizo sausage, about 200 grams, cut into slices, 

200 grams of cauliflower florets, 

300 grams of porcini , cut into big chunks (that’s the way I like them, feel free to change it), 

1 large onion diced, 

3 cloves of garlic, diced, 

about 220-250 grams of rice (use a risotto appropriate variety), 

100 grams of a good quality dry white wine, 

400 ml of vegetable or chicken stock, 

100 grams of butter and 

your heart’s desire of parmesan, salt, pepper and olive oil.

 Start of by cooking the onion and garlic on high heat for a couple of minutes, until they start softening. Add the meat and cook it for another 3-4 minutes, after which add the mushrooms and give those another 4 minutes, making sure that they are coated in the chorizo infused oil in the pan. Throw in the cauliflower and cook that for another 3-5 minutes. Add the rice, salt and pepper and cook it without liquid for 2 minutes, constantly stirring so that it mixes with the rest of the ingredients. Add the wine and reduce it on high heat down to about a third. Add the stock, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the liquid has reduced enough and the rice has a creamy rich consistency. If necessary, add more stock.

Right at the end, put in the butter and whisk it in so that it melts and mixes in uniformly. Remove from heat and add the grated parmesan, whatever quantity you feel like and some parsley (optional, our guests didn’t need it). If you feel that the chorizo doesn’t hold the spicy kick you need in this risotto, add a diced red (for visual purposes) chili with the onion and garlic.

 To serve as a salad for this risotto, I opted for a very nice lemony, crunchy blistered  broccoli. I already explained how to make that in this recipe, the difference in this instance being that I didn’t add garlic but only lemon, some more olive oil, salt, pepper, chili and some tomato tiny cubes. If you have some nice salad leaves (some lola rosa works nice for taste and it brings a nice visual upgrade) you can mix them in for a more salad-ish feel to this broccoli.

  

Enjoy,