Chorizo & Rosemary Pearl Barley Risotto

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 / Frankie Mouche / 4 Comments

I love risotto and I love chorizo, but I’d honestly not thought of combining them until recently. I’m so glad I did because the flavour and texture of this dish is unrivalled.

Ingredients

1 pack of VBites chorizo style pieces
1 large onion
2 large cloves of garlic
Approx 300g of dry pearl barley
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 stalk of fresh rosemary
1 can of higher end chopped tomatoes

First up get a nice big pan on the hob, warming up. Soy based chorizo isn’t as fatty as it’s pig’s flesh alternative, but it still produces a small amount of oil when heated up. Pour the entire contents of your chorizo pack into the pan and allow to frazzle for about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place to one side in a bowl.

Now the pan should have a thin coating of oily, spicy, paprika goodness. Chuck in your chopped onion and minced garlic. Allow them to brown a little before adding in the pearl barley. Stir well ensuring that the barley is well coated. Add in your chopped tomatoes. ( Look I don’t normally go in for high end products, but I would recommend a higher end tinned chopped tomatoes in this recipe, because they tend to use vine tomatoes and they give a more intense flavour.) Mix and then add all of the vegetable stock. Unlike arborio rice risotto you can chuck it all in at once, but you need to sir it often.

You may have to add extra water as the sauce thickens because the pearl barley takes about 30 minutes to cook.

When you’re happy that the barley is cooked and the sauce has thickened to your liking, add the chopped rosemary and chorizo. Turn off the heat and serve.

Full of punchy flavours for you to enjoy. X

Spiced Squash Pasta: A Thai-Italian Fusion

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

This is entertaining made easy and it’s extra tasty.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Red curry paste to taste (I used roughly 100g)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 can of coconut milk

Fresh coriander

1 tbsp lemon grass paste

500g tagliatelle pasta

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok.
Add the curry paste, squash and lemongrass. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat.
Pour in the coconut milk, stir well and bring to the boil.
Allow to simmer for about 25 minutes. Add extra paste and coconut milk if sauce becomes too thick.
When the squash is almost done, cook the pasta according to packet instructions, then drain well.
Pour half the sauce from the pan into a big bowl and mix with the pasta.
Plate up and place remaining squash and fresh coriander on top.
Add siracha if you fancy some extra spice, which I always do.

Vegan Camp Risotto

August 21, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

This post is inspired by the lack of vegan camping friendly recipes throughout the online world. It’s really easy to make tasty meals on a camping stove if you are able to get hold of fresh ingredients. Let’s face it, unless you are wild camping you are most likely at a festival or a camp site which will have a shop. You can always bring fresh ingredients with you too.

This is an old recipe of mine that I’ve never written down. The particular measurements for this are larger than normal because I made it for a communal meal with lots of other people. (This is something we often do at Vegan Camp.)

Let’s start with ingredients:

3 organic vegetable stock cubes
A whole tub of garlic paste
4 red onions
Watercress and spinach salad bag
2 bags of Arborio rice
1 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc white wine
½ a bottle of crisp cider
A whole pack of button mushrooms
A whole bunch of fresh parsley
A big dollop of vegan butter (Also not shown. Perhaps I had, had too much Cornish cider already?)
Some rapeseed oil

Now here comes the method in my madness:

Place a dash of oil into the pan and heat on full for about a minute, then turn the heat right down.

In the meantime, chop up the four onions and place in the hot oil. Mix well with a wooden spoon.

Get your little sister to stir the onions whilst you chop up the mushrooms and add them to the pan.

Then in goes the big dollop of vegan butter. Make sure you stir well and then turn up the heat for about a minute whilst you chop the parsley.

Add the parsley, stir and then turn the heat right down again.

Now add the two bags of rice and mix through so they are totally covered in all the flavours you’ve been busy creating.

Now add the stock cubes and pour about a glass of wine into the pan, constantly stirring. When it seems that the liquid has been absorbed, add some more wine. Rinse and repeat until the whole bottle has vanished into the void of rice.