Recipe Box: Butternut Squash Risotto

It has been so long! Things have been mad here. The kitten has been a little ill and my boyfriend has been setting up a new business all of his own so I've been kept busy even outside of work.

But at last, I finally got to do a little cooking yesterday. I felt like something hearty and comforting after the weather took a cold turn so I cooked up a little risotto! Bonus: it's fairly healthy!

This recipe is about enough for two people.

Ingredients:

• 200g butternut squash cut into small cubes.
• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 50g broccoli, sliced lengthways.
• Half an onion, finely chopped.
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
• 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped.
• 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes.
• 150g risotto rice.
• 65ml white wine.
• 500ml vegetable stock.
• Pepper for seasoning.
• 30g soft cheese.

To the kitchen!

• Preheat the oven to 200oC.
• Put the butternut squash into the roasting tin and mix in half of the olive oil.
• Cook for 10 minutes and then add the broccoli and cook for another 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, heat the rest of the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes or until it becomes soft. 
• Add the garlic, sage and chilli flakes and cook for another minute.
• Stir in the risotto rice, pour in the wine and simmer until the wine is all absorbed.
• Stir in the vegetable stock a little at a time and cook for around 25 minutes or until the stock is absorbed and the rice is tender. 
• Season with pepper.
• Stir through the cream cheese and the vegetables and serve.
• Enjoy!

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Super Easy Soft Cheese

 Cheese! I have to admit I'm not the most adventurous of cheese eaters (I generally only eat chedder, ha!) but I've always fancied having a go myself. I stumbled across a simple recipe for homemade cheese and with a little bit of tweaking, it became so easy that even a cooking amateur like me could handle it ;)

For this recipe, you'll need to gather a few simple household items. Just make sure you have a large pan which can hold over two litres of liquid, said liquid being two litres of good quality organic whole milk.    You'll also need a wooden spoon, 3 large lemons and some sort of juicing device (I just used a little lemon squeezer), a colander, a large bowl, a large piece of muslin and... string.

So if you want to make a generous 400g-ish portion of soft cheese, just follow the steps below :)

• Slow boil the two litres of milk in the large pan, stirring regularly to stop the milk from sticking to  the pan. In the meantime, juice the lemons and aim to collect 4 tablespoons of juice. 
• Once the milk is boiling, remove it from the heat and slowly add the lemon juice while stirring the milk in one direction. 
• You should see the milk forming little lumps of curd (aka your future cheese!) which separate from the liquid whey. 

• Cover the pan and leave to one side for two hours or so. By this time, your curds should have settled nicely. 
• Line the colander with the muslin and place it in the large bowl. Slowly pour the former milk mixture into the colander.
• Once the liquid has finished draining, gather the corners of the material together to form a tight little pocket which you should then use the string to tie together. 
• Hang your contraption over a sink or bath so any further liquid will be safely collected and then leave it hanging for around 3 hours.

• Enjoy your cheese! :) It should last for at least three days if kept in the fridge!

Hannah xo