Substitutions: 1 Cal spray for oil and butter (tragic, I know)
Weight Watchers creme fraiche for the proper stuff: actually very effective! Pleased.
Rating: 9
There are some things about "eating a plant-based diet" that I struggle with, and chief among them is the number of meals I make that make me earnestly wish for a Hazmat suit. I fucking hate chopping onions. Onions are out to get me. Every meal I make starts by slicing up the little twats and they get their revenge by napalming me so that I spend the rest of my kitchen time facially puffed and crying into the saucepan. I'll wipe a tear from my eye, and my eye will catch FIRE because in addition to chopping an onion I've also just minced a stupid chilli. Vegetables aren't as helpless as they pretend to be.
Enter Mushroom Risoniotto, a totally onion, chilli and even garlic-free recipe. Not even the mind-numbing repetition of making a standard risotto: all that interminable stirring that continues until you develop tennis elbow? Not here. This was so quick: fry some shrooms, boil up some pasta, mix together with some creme fraiche. In your FACE, rice! I don't need you any more.
There is no stock in this at all so I half expected it to be dry, and also a bit boring, due to having so few ingredients but it totally wasn't. It was delicious. And quick, and fairly cheap. And not hazardous to my face!
Man, this works on so many levels. I might end up making this once a week.
In fairness to the onions (and garlic and to a lesser degree, chilli), they do form the basis of almost all proper meals, so you can't blame Hugh for that. You need to be prepared: swimming goggles and rubber gloves!
ReplyDeleteHow mushroomy would you say this meal was, on a scale of one to stoup? You are an excellent saleswoman but I am still somewhat fearful of mushrooms...
Yeah, I'm not blaming Hugh: this is just the way of things. Fumey ingredients are the basis for a lot of meals but I think, if I could chuck some meat under the grill a few times a week and serve it with a side order of random veg or potato, I would be exposed to them less.
ReplyDeleteIf the stoup was a 10 on the mushroom scale, I'd give this a 6. Those porcini mushrooms were hardcore. There were LOTS of mushrooms in this too, of course, but normal and less potent ones. You could probably substitute them with a different veg though. I reckon beetroot would be good but then I always think beetroot would be good.
This sounds great. I'm going to hunt down some orzo if it kills me.
ReplyDeleteSurely one of the poncey Summertown delis sell orzo! For about a fiver.
ReplyDelete