The Dolce Vita Diaries

I get a kick out of coming up with new recipes and testing them out on Cathy. Those that pass the discerning Cathy taste test are then, sometimes, released to the wider public – friends, blogs and even the odd book. It’s great to hear feedback from people who’ve tried these recipes themselves. (I’ve yet to hear horrible things. Don’t see that as a challenge!).

For the first time this week I experienced a new, more direct form of feedback: we went round to Mike and Gavanndra’s for lunch and found they’d cooked one of my risotto recipes. I was flattered and a bit nervous. It was a bit like hearing your own voice on an answer machine for the first time. The less self conscious younger members (Rosie and Sorrel) yomped down the lot without looking back. That’s proper feedback.

Pear, parmesan and rocket risotto

Ingredients for 4 people

Risotto rice – 350g

Onion – 1

Olive oil – 2 tablespoons

Butter – 25g

White wine – ¾ of a cup of white wine

Vegetable stock – 1.5l

Parmesan – 50g

Rocket – 100g

Pears – 2 ripe ones, cut into small cubes with the skin on.

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the rice and the chopped onion and coat in the mixture and stir for a couple of minutes over a lower heat until the rice becomes translucent. Add the wine and continue cooking until most of the wine has reduced and been absorbed. Add a ladle full of stock at a time, adding more as it’s absorbed. Cook until the rice is tender, but still has some bite, then add a couple of pinches of salt and lots of pepper, stir in the parmesan, then the rocket and then at the last minute the pear. Serve immediately.

**Jason’s Recipe was featured by Anne-Laure Ropars on http://www.TastyDiaries.com