Italian Classic: Raffa's Focaccia al Pomodoro

Springweather is the perfect weather and timing to go to the park.
Sun, grass, good company, wine - preferably including an opener and glasses - and some food = equal to a perfect afternoon or evening. :)

But the park has some limits in what kind of food you can bring and you could consult books, magazines, sites etc that are dedicated to what you can bring, but you can also slowly start consulting this blog, or the cooking club members for some tips.
Chef Raffaela brought a really yum homemade focaccia last time we went to the park. She claims it's easy to make, I still have to experience this (which I will soon) - but most of all it's easy to take to the park and eat it there, with your hands. No forks, knives or plates needed! Genious. Especially if you have plans afterwards: you eat the whole thing, and throw out whatever you wrapped it in and basta, you're good to go wherever you want... me like! Because usually after a pic nic, the night has just begun!

Ingredients:

• 500gr white flour
• 1 pack of dried yeast - a cube is fine too
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 225ml semi-warm water - circa 40 degrees Celcius
• 200gr tomato passata
• 150gr mozzarella 
• 70gr green olives
• 70gr black olives
• salt

How to make it:

Heat the oven at 200 degrees Celcius.

Put the flour in a big bowl and mix it with the yeast. Make a little hole in the middle of the flour and put the sugar, salt and olio in it. Mix it all with the help of a fork, adding the water bits by bits at a time.

Work the dough on a slightly floured work basis for at least 10 minutes with your fists.

Once you are done, put the dough in a floured container, cover it with a humid kitchen towel, on a cool and humid place for the dough to rise twice its size. This needs at least 2 hours! 

Take the dough out and separate it in two equal pieces and start making two pizza shapes. 

Use a round pizza plate - grease it with some oil to avoid sticking - and add on of the pizza shapes.

Now you are ready for the topping: spread the passata on top of the dough, then put on equally the mozzarella, olives and salt. You can also add some herbs if you like. 

Put the focaccia in the middle of the oven for circa 15-20 minutes.

Outcome: Impressive home made focaccia.... because really it seems easier than it is! Enjoy the park!!!

A tip from Chef Raffaella: to make the dough rise better, you can also place the dough in the oven that has been heated until 50 degrees Celcius. Turn it off and add the dough covered with a kitchen towel. 

Focaccia al Pomodoro

Baci 

Chef Raffaella

Fusion: Chickpea puree with grilled asparagus & tuna

Bonjour from rainy Milan!!

Must be honest that the rain is bringing a breath of fresh air, so it's not too bad...Because it has been quiet hot & steamy around here the last couple of days!

Don't have a lot of time because I am crazy busy with a million things but wanted to give you a treat of my cuisine happenings lately. I got the inspiration for this one, out of May's issue of the dutch delicious! Instead of combining the vegetables with meat, I went for tuna.

Ingredients: serves 2

• can of chickpeas 
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon kurkuma
• 250 gr asperges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tuna steaks

How to make it:

boil the chickpeas for 5-10 minutes in a bit of salted water. Drain them and puree 3/4 of them with a blender or whatever you have at hand. Add the spices and mix some more. At the end you add the whole chickpeas you kept aside, to give the puree an extra bite.

In the meanwhile you cut the asperges in 5cm pieces and grill/ bake them in a heated skillet. It takes around 7 minutes to cook. But it depends on your taste, I like them crunchy.

Last but not least, grill the tuna that you salted and peppered, for a couple of minutes. Again, this depends on your taste. I like my tuna pink on the inside!

Outcome: easy fast, midweek or busy weekend dinner. But good and special enough to make your day end well! 

Chickpea Puree with grilled Asperges & Tuna

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Happy Birthday Chef Robert: Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

Bonjour Y'all....

It is another beautiful day because it is my papa's B-day! I don't think he will be very thrilled with my announcing this tiny fact on the world wide web, but what he doesn't know- yet - is that this post is my birthday present to him!!!!

My papa is cool! I am proud that he is my dad, because he is a succesful, inspiring and wise man with patience and advice at any time of the day. He is my 'go to' in a million different situations and talking to him makes me think twice about whatever is bothering me - saves the € on a shrink eh?! Lucky me! Anyways, he has made his life his own, doesn't mind what others think, all the while remaining the most respectful man I know. I don't think I have ever seen him being rude or angry to anyone (outside of the house), and that makes him an inspiration.

Most importantly, I can share my love and passion for food and wine with him. I will never forget one of the best summers of my life where I spent a month at my parents house in Brussels because of several non- important-to-mention reasons. Many would ask me: 'seriously?? and you enjoyed this?', and I would honestly answer 'YES!' My daily tasks consisted of: sleeping in, breakfasting, choosing recipes to cook, do groceries, tan, walk the dog, sleep some more, read and start cooking.... and drinking once my dad came home and got the bottle of wine to match dinner from the wine cellar'. My idea of a SPA!

The coolest part is that I can enjoy lots of wine with my dad! How many peeps can say that? Priceless are the moments I spent in the garden, on a terrace, in a restaurant getting tipsy with my paps and talking about literally everything in life.

Dad, you're cool and I love you and I am proud to be your daughter!
Happy happy happy birthday!

A birthday deserves a birthday cake:

Ingredients:

• 200gr softened butter
• 200gr bio sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200gr whole weat flour
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 12gr baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 250gr strawberries chopped in little pieces
• 200gr chocolate chips

How to make it:
Start by heating up the oven at 170-180 degrees Celcius.
Grease a circular cake form of circa 24 cm diameter, with some extra butter.
Mix the butter and sugar into a light creamy mixture - make sure you use a big bowl because you need to mix in many ingredients.
After which you add the eggs one by one mixing while you add them.
At this point you add the flower and baking powders into the bowl. Mix well but not too long, as you don't want the cake to become too tall by rising too much.
At the very end, you mix in the strawberries and chocolate chips. Do this manually because if you use an electric mixer you will squash the fresh strawberries and that would be a shame.
Pour the mixture into you cake shape and place it in the preheated oven
Usually it takes around 30-40 minutes to bake a cake, but this one needed an hour because of the wet ingredients. Use pin to check when it's ready - if it comes out clean, it's done!

Outcome: MMMMMMMMMM.... one of the best inventions I have ever created. And many people, whom I made eat the cake can testify! The only thing that bothered me was that the strawberries en choc chips sank to the bottom instead of spread out in the cake --> any suggestions on what I can do to prevent this from happening?????

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Lemon Muffins

It's sunny, life is good and that deserves some happy cooking.
What makes you happy?? 

Yellow makes me happy and well answer me this: what is a happier color than yellow????
Yellow stands for creative and intellectual energy, it symbolizes wisdom, means joy and happiness. People of high intellect appearently favour yellow, maybe because it is linked to gold and smart people want the money money money.... lalala... money money money! Yeah yeah money might not be the only thing that makes you happy - cos food already does - but it is an important factor to happiness - how else are you going to buy that food that will really make you happy?
Back to yellow....  Yellow brings clarity and awareness. It helps you make decisions and gives relief to those who suffer from burnouts, panic, nervousness and exhaustion. Furthermore it stimulates your concentration skills and therefore sharpens up your memory.
Makes me think of why, unconsciously I have been wearing lots of yellow lately, and reading the above, I realise it has actually helped a lot. My mind IS clearer, decisions have been made and I am smiling and bubbeling again. It might have been the clothes, but it might also have been the LEMON MUFFINS!!!!! My god were those babies good. I will no longer withhold you with my psycho-babble and just give you the recipe alright.

I got these from the BBC Food site made by James Martin. Tweaked it here and there with my own healthy freakness - but didn't change the taste a bit.

Ingredients: for 9-10 muffins

• 2 eggs beaten 
• 85gr brown bio sugar
• 240ml half full fat milk
• 100ml vegetable oil - sunflower oil
• 300gr wholeweat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 4 biological lemons, zest only

How to make it:

Heat the oven up to 200 degrees Celcius, grease up the muffin cups or use paper cases. 

As all muffins, the trick is to prepare the wet ingredients seperately from the dry ones and then once you are done, you mix them all together.

Wet ingredients: mix the egg, sugar, milk and oil in a large bowl.

Dry ingredients: mix the flour, baking powder, salt and add the lemon zest.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix roughly. Don't mix too much as you don't want too much air to get into the mixture as that will stop them from rise the way they should.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and put them in the heated oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes until well risen and golden.

Take them out and cool them on a wire rack - if you can resist.

Outcome: Happy happy happy happiness!!! 

Lemon Muffins

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Birthday Present: Gizzi's Kitchen Magic

For my 26th Birthday, Chef Kimberley gave me a great present: a cooking book - as if I don't have enough.... but I don't because I didn't have this one yet! Gizzi's Kitchen Magic is THE new book to have. Without it, you are not a true foodie!

Gizzi is the new Jamie Oliver but then with boobies of course. She is a gorgeous and talented cook and knows how to mix talent and style like no other. Her cute and feminine look reminds us of a true housewife back in the fifties but her cooking is definitely not like in the fifties! In the book you can find for example; Keralan Egg Curry, Pavlova with Cream and Rubarb, Stilton Risotto with sausage, spring greens and crispy sage etc.... One by one mouthwatering recipes. But the book does not only contain recipes to cook from, she also describes everything from what a beginner needs to know in and around the kitchen, to little details a foodie like me didn't know yet. Furthermore she writes in a delicate and witty way that keeps you hooked to the book for a while!

In a nutshell: a delicious book! Thank you Chef Kimberley!

Get ready to see some of her recipes soon....

source: http://www.gizzierskine.co.uk/

First entry of a 26 year old: Spring Chicken

Hi everyone, I am back!
I was away for a while because I spent a long weekend in Holland with my friends and family to celebrate my 26th birthday (ssshhhhh don't spread the word!). Hence the absent note: partying! It was fantabulous! I went to this 80's party on saturday night where EVERYBODY was dressed up in crazy panther printed leggings and fluerescent colours and hair of like 5m tall, hilarious. Only the Dutch can do that and enjoy themselves while doing it. Wellll... maybe the brits or germans could too but...
Sunday was a family day: went horseriding with my sis after years and years of not having ridden - it felt great! In the evening I had dinner with my parents, sis, bro and gf at a cute little 'french bistrot'. Had a smoked duckbreast salad and a steak tartar, aka raw meat!!!! But let me tell you, it was divine. But most of all, the company made into a super birthday dinner.
Monday evening I spent it with friends and it made my birthday complete. Time to go back home....

I have literally 2 minutes to post this recipe but as it has been a little while that I haven't posted anything, I wanted to treat you with my spring chicken creation I made last week. Simply because it is such a nice midweek dinner, and who knows it might inspire you this week.

Ingredients: for 2 servings

• 2 chicken legs, or 4 drumsticks
• 0.5 kg carrots - peeled
• 1 red onion cut in rings
• 1 garlic smashed
• extra vergine olive oil
• splash of lemon juice
• herbs provencal
• salt and pepper

How to make it:

Peel the carrots, cut the onion, clean the garlic and place them all in an oven tray.

Salt and pepper the chicken. Place in the oven tray in between the veggies.

Sprinkle the lemon juice, olive oil and herbs on top.

Place in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for about 40-45 minutes.

Outcome: Easy peasy springy light chicken meal. Add bread or potatoes for your male friends! :)

Spring Chicken

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Absent Note: Partying

See ya soon....

Italian Classic: Bucatini all'Amatriciana

When I was in Florence graduating, I brought back some good Fiorentine produce such as ham, wine, balsamic vinegar and some... guancia di maiale! Which means pig cheek! I see you thinking... EEEWWWWW.... but let me try to convince you otherwise: it is definitely not EW, it is YUM!

Bucatini all'Amatriciana is a pasta dish that was made originally by the poor, using leftovers of the pig, old ripened tomatoes and some pasta. Back in the days when people only had resources over one whole pig, and not a plastically wrapped part of it, people used up the whole animal before buying another one. Now that's a different story these days eh?! I mean, if a piece of meat goes bad in your fridge just because you didn't have time to eat it, you throw it away, learn your lesson and next time place it in the freezer until you can eat it...
Anyways, back then, first up were all the good and juicy filets, then the ribs etc etc... until you get to the intestins and other nasty parts of it, which are used in this stew soup that will probably never come up on this blog as I am already repelled by the idea of it *shivers*.

But a pig's cheek is still ok. Combined with big bucatini pasta (big spaghetti's with a hole in it - you could also call them huge macaroni's). MMMM.... Viva Italia and their pasta!

Ingredients: serves 4

• 500gr bucatini pasta
• 200gr guanciale or pancetta if you don't have guanciale - chopped in little cubes
• a glass of cooking white wine
• 2 cans of good quality tomato cubes
• peperoncino
• pecorino

How to make it:

Boil a big pan of water with a fist of salt. Once it's boiling, cook the pasta according to the pack.

Heat up a skillet and bake the guanciale or pancetta until it has released all of its fat, add the white wine and cook until it has slightly evaporated. At this point you add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and peperoncino and simmer until the sauce has reduced a bit. 

Once the pasta is cooked, sieve it and add it to the sauce while the sauce pan is still on the flame. Add the pecorino at this point and toss it all nicely together for a minute.

Outcome: Delicious and tasty pasta that seems to walk right out of a restaurant.... :)

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Back to my roots: Dutch Stamppotje & Honey Mustard Chicken

A club by dictionary means: A group of persons organized for a social, literary, athletic, political or other purpose. So our club would be a group of persons for a culinary purpose, that cook together and share their secrets, doubts and love for cooking and extraordinary foods.
Furthermore my goal of this club is to gain experience and knowledge about different cultures and their customs about food. So I have thought to go looking for information about different cultures and their foods and post them one by one accompanying the respective recipes.

So I live in Italy, but I am Dutch.

Dutch cuisine; what is Dutch cuisine really? Many of my friends ask me what a typical Dutch dish is, and my usual answer is 'stamppot', which is a mash of potatoes and vegetables. Traditionally it is made with 'boerenkool' or in English: kale! Actually kale has become a very fashionable ingredient these days in the states, everyone is cooking with and frying kale! However for the Dutch it has become so old school that Dutch foodies desperately look for new ways to make their easy and traditionally heavy and wintery dish. And it is doable: imagine a mash of potatoes with sundried tomatoes, or with chicory and goat's cheese... or even with broccoli like I did, turns out a good combination.

The mash is then traditionally combined with 'rookworst', a smoked sausage, and trust me when I say it is gooooood! Really good! But again, very wintery and quite fat. So I looked for a lighter alternative and found a honey mustard chicken recipe over at Jessica's blog 'How Sweet it is'. Mustard is another Dutch traditional spice, because all the way back, when spices were super expensive, the Dutch would spice up their solid foods such as potatoes and different plain cabbages with mustard. It was so famous that each region had, and still has their own type of mustard. I used 'Zaanse Mosterd' and a french mustard 'Dijon' for this recipe. (I live in Italy, not all Dutch mustards are available here).

Ingredients: serves 4

• 250gr peeled potatoes chopped in small cubes.
• 250gr broccoli chopped
• 200gr cauliflower chopped
• stock
• 20 dl milk
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 600 gr of chicken breast
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil extra vergine
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons of spicy mustard 
• 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard

How to make it:

Boil a big pan of water and add a cube of broth - boil the potatoes. 5 minutes before the end, add the vegetables. They have to be all soft and mashable when they're done. Rinse the vegetables and start mashing the vegetables while adding the milk to make it a bit more creamy. At the end add salt and pepper to taste.

While the vegetables are cooking, pat the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel. The trick to really nice and crispy golden brown chicken is to make them really really dry (I had no idea of this fact, did you?!). Heat a bit of oil in a pan and fry the chickens 6-8 minutes - depending on the thickness of the breast filets. 

In a bowl combine, the oil, mustards, honey, salt and pepper and mix it well. When the chicken is done and still hot, brush the honey mustard mix on the chicken and serve with the mashed potatoes and vegetables.

Outcome: a traditional Dutch AVG'tje in a new jacket... AVG=  Aardappels (=potatoes), Vlees (=meat) and Groenten (=vegetables) in a new jacket, yet still with old school flavours.

Stamppotje & Honey Mustard Chicken

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Cook to impress: Raffa's Tiramisu

Hey foodies! Sorry for my absence once again but I have been out and about for work with a van called the FIGHTVAN! And what happens in the Fightvan, stays in the Fightvan!!! So no can say, nor reveal any other information on where, how and what we did :) But it was FUUUUNNNN, and... I got a tan.

In the meantime, I gave Chef Cathinka the assignment to post her one person pizza on the blog, yet she has been too busy as well I guess to do so which means we all left you hanging for a couple of days without any recipes. I am truely sorry for that. Thank god we have a new Chef that has sent in something highly postable to make up for it....

I present to you: Chef Raffaela!!! She will get the colour bright pink as she and her sister Sabrina (they come as a unit :) ) are the most pretty, fashionable and amazing ladies out there! So whenever you want to find one of her recipes, just look for the pinkness.
She is introducing herself with a good Italian classic: TIRAMISU!!! Yeah baby... prepare your running shoes for after; you'll need to be working off the whole tray of the yumminess, as you won't be able to stop after one serving!

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 60gr Sugar
• 1 pack of vanilla sugar - vanillina
• 200gr of Mascarpone
• 6 espresso cups of coffee
• 28 savoiardi (finger cookies... the long light cookies)
• pure dark cacao

How to make it:

Prepare the coffee and cool it down in a big cup.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. To the egg whites you add the sugar and the vanilla sugar, and then you start beating it up until you get a nice fluffly foam. At this point, you add the mascarpone to the foam and continue beating it in order to get a silky and thick cream (hmm sounds like a poem...).

Now you are ready to start the layering process of the Tiramisu into a rectangular tray.

Spread a first layer of the cream into a rectangular tray, on top of which you gently place the cookies that have been soaked one by one into the coffee. Don't soak them too much or they will crumble into the coffee. On top of the cookies you spread another layer of cream and you finish the layer off by dusting it generously with the dark cacao. 

Create another layer like this and finish it off with lots of cacao again.

Cool in the fridge until you serve.

Chef's tip: the number of cookies depends on the tray you are using, but seen the fact the tray shouldn't be too big, you would need a pack of cookies more or less.

Outcome: HEAVEN

Tiramisu

Baci 

Chef Raffaela

Cook to Impress: old school English Poached Eggs; the real deal

As mentioned before, I do not tend to give up easily. 
As seen on this very blog, my muffins went from scrunchy misshaped little things (yet always tasty) to beautiful american style fluffy popping on the top little cakes...  and to confirm that I did really learn from my mistakes, this weekend I made Lemon Muffins and I have witnesses that they turned out yum! Keep tuned for recipes...

OK enough with the cakes and back to the eggs. So poached eggs in the Hamilton family used to be done using the magic pan right? Well, as it isn't really what they serve in England, we decided to change our way of cooking it, and try to make the real deal. Quite a bit of a challenge.... but....
So on the famous easter-skype-date night when my family had the salmon, asparagus and eggs recipe, they tried (with me live on skype) to make real poached eggs. And it worked!!!!!!!
So I followed the tips my sis gathered this weekend, and guess what: it worked again. So on sunday I had breakfast in bed with freshly poached eggs, strawberry crackers and home made cappuccino. A smile appears on my face when thinking of it again, and I am secretly wishing of the days to fast forward to the weekend....

Ingredients:

• super fresh room temperature biological eggs
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar (white wine)
• pinch of salt to taste

How to make it:

The true secret is to use super fresh eggs - preferably biological, and to take them out of the fridge 15 minutes or so before cooking them in order for them to get to room temperature.

Heat up a pan of water until boiling and when it boils, turn off the heat so that the the water returns to 90 degrees Celcius circa --> how the hell do you know when it's 90 degrees? When all the bubbles have disappeared!

Add the vinegar to the water and stir firmly with a spoon so that the water keeps turning.

Break the egg into a big soup spoon and then let it slip into the water gently. Make sure it falls into the water from a couple of cm's and not more. Because the water is turning, the egg white should twist and remain around the egg yolk. 

Let it stay/cook for 4-5 minutes.

If you like your egg slightly more well done than the usual runny poached egg: turn on the heat again at minute nr 2, but make sure it doesn't start boiling again.

Once it's done, take the egg out with a sieve spoon thing.

Outcome: your own real old school english poached egg!!! I still can't believe it!!!!! Next step is to serve it on fresh toasted scones with bacon and sauce hollandaise - just to keep you teased until next time... 

Poached Eggs

Cheers

The Hamilton Chefs

Summer is Magic.... with a Greek Salad

After a hangover... it's time for recovery with a touch of health for the body and mind, and especially a touch of freshness, and what better to do that than with a good old Greek Salad.

A greek salad for me = sun, beach & fun!
Where before I would only have it on the beach on holidays, nowadays I have to admit it has become a weekly meal during the summer months. That tradition came into my life by a certain someone who didn't like many many many things except for this salad... so yeah, there wasn't a lot of choice there! But I have grown to love the routine a little touch of greece during my boring weekdays, I guess it's all about give & take.... ;)

The main trick of a good Greek Salad is to use fresh produce! Pop by the market and get firm plum dark red tomatoes, some cucumbers and fresh black olives and you're good to go.

Ingredients: serves 2

• 2 big firm tomatoes
• 1 big cucumber - peeled
• 1 red onion
• 150 gr feta cheese
• 50gr black olives (or green ones)
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil extra vergine
• 2 teaspoons Origano

How to make it:

It's a salad, so there's ZERO cooking involved - how convenient.

Slice up the tomatoes, cucumber and red onion in thin slices or cubes - depending on your taste.

Chop the feta in cubes of 1cm.

Toss all together in a bowl with the olives.

Sprinkle the olive oil and Origano on top.

Outcome: 2 minutes and you're done! Even a person with 2 left hands can make this one work. Serve with dark brown bread or a nice and tasty focaccia works well as wel - but makes it less healthy   

You can also add a drop of good quality Balsamic Vinegar if you like it. 

Greek Salad

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

THE HANGOVER CURE nr1 : Risotto Primavera

What do you eat when you have a massive hangover?!
written for and inspired by my amazing blogging friend Andie over at Can you Stay for Dinner!!!


When I was young - ok ok I still am - but I mean, out-of-school young, I was ready to fly out of my homey nest and discover the world. And that brand new world was mighty interesting, especially when the sun went down, the music turned up and the alcohol started flowing....

It's a bit like a music video in my head: a group of girls getting ready for a night out, trying out a million outfits, putting on make-up, gossiping, speculating about how the evening is going to end up, all the while with loud music, dancing and sipping a glass of wine to get into the mood. They go to a cool club where they meet up with all of their friends, they drink some more, get loose, dance all night long, make new friends, meet new boys.......................... lights on.... and lights off!

Until... the next morning! When I wished the lights were still off! From headaches to bad breaths and an occasional visit to the loo, we all know to what disease these symptoms belong to
: a classic hangover! Why does fun always have to go hand in hand with pain?! Not fair!

The cure: WATER, H2O, liquid (non alcoholic - even though they say one drink might actually help you as your body is in rehab from the night before, but don't think it will help in the long run) and foods. Your brain is dehydrated so your body gives you signs to eat greasy and unhealthy foods. It's definitely not yearning for tea and raw vegetables. So in order to give both, the mind and body, what they needed and wanted, I came up with two magic recipes, one of which is RISOTTO! Creamy, thick, full of carbs, tasteful yet healthy compared to the burger you might have craved. The other will remain a tiny secret till the next hangover....(next weekend.... :) )

Ingredients: serves 4

• 1l of chicken broth
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 1 zucchini cut in little cubes
• 5 espresso cups of risotto rice (one for each and one for the 'guest')
• 2,5 dl white cooking wine
• 2 handfuls of frozen peas
• 100 gr of feta cheese
• a hand of fresh cut parsley

How to make it:

Prepare the broth beforehand as you will need it ready once the rice goes into the pan.

Crush the garlic with a knife to peel it easily. Once peeled, keep it like that and don't chop it up.

Heat the olive oil in a large anti-sticky pan and fry the garlic until they release their perfume. Take the garlic out and fry the zucchini for a couple of minutes.

At this point you add the rice. Stir so that the rice and zucchini mix and fry together. Once the rice get's a 'trasparent' look you add the wine. Stir slowly until the rice has absorbed the wine and releases a creamy white trace when stirring.

Here you start adding the chickenbroth bit by bit. Each time after having added the broth, you stir until the rice has absorbed the broth. This process takes 15-20 minutes - don't worry, it might sound boring but it actually works quite hypnotising!

After 15 minutes, start tasting the rice. It has to be soft while maintaining a bite to it - at least that's how the Italians like their risotto, if you don't, then continue cooking it for a bit.

Add the peas and feta and stir until both are heated up nicely and the cheese has melted into the risotto.

Last but not least, you add the parsley for a fresh herby taste.

Outcome: A happy hangover body filled with carbs, vitamins, calcium and a bit of healthy fats! WIN WIN WIN WIN situation!

Risotto Primavera

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph