The Scran page !

I am not a pro chef by any means. But I do manage to turn out some jolly good plates of food, often in a hurry without any planning, using whatever I can find in the fridge or cupboards. As you can imagine one of the great things about running a shop like ours is that we get to use up all the little bits of cheese and cured meats that we don't think are good enough for our customers.

I thought it may be a bit of fun to create a recipe page. I'll post sporadically some creations that I reckon are worthy. I'm not too bothered with fancy, flouncy dishes that take up a day in preparation. They will be simple, relatively cheap and easy recipes using ingredients from St Giles cheese of course!!

When I can work out how, I will add a recipe submission for you to post yours.

So without further waffle, here is recipe number 1...

Smoked salmon & pumpkin risotto

Ingredients:
Arborio rice (a good cupful about 200g)
Small pumpkin or squash
100 grams of Brilliant Inverawe smoked salmon
1 onion and as much English garlic as you fancy
500ml of veg stock
good olive oil
Seasoning and a little white wine.

Firstly, prep the pumpkin by cutting in half, scraping out the seeds and mush. Coat the inside with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Put into the oven for 25-30 mins at about 190 degrees.

Chop your onion and fry gently in a generous glug of olive oil. Then add garlic, taking care not to scorch it . Use Isle of Wight garlic - it has so much more flavour than supermarket stuff and is available from us :)

When the onions have become translucent, add the rice and heat through. Keep it moving round the pan all the time. When the rice is hot, start to add the stock. With risotto, you need to add a little liquid and keep stirring until it is absorbed. Some might say this is a labourious task - not me!! This is the bit when you crack open the wine and stir with one hand & drink with the other. Anyway, keep repeating this until the rice has soaked up all the stock and is swollen and plump - it should take about 30 minutes. Towards the end add half a glass of white wine and stir in as with the stock.

When the pumpkin is cooked, remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Score the flesh into little cubes then scrape it out into the rice. Cut the salmon roughly and add that too. At this point, remove the rice from the heat. Add a big knob of butter or some creme fraiche. Season with S&P and a sprinkle of chilli flakes. Leave the rice to rest for a minute or two while you serve up some salad or a bit of something else green (I put it with some nice strong tasting sprouting broccoli). Serve up and top off with some parmesan.

For brownie points, use something to shape the risotto and make it look pretty - Seconds can be served up in a big pile!! Start to finish that should take about 45 minutes.