Jottage from Cambridge: Tomato and Mozzarella Risotto

I gave Tristan some of last night's dinner for lunch today. Although I probably can't claim to be 'weaning' him any more (he's been on solids for over 6 months now) some meals still leave me on the verge of tears. I am never sure how much he's going to eat and sometimes all he wants are bananas and yogurt. He'll always eat cheese and apple on toast (River Cottage Baby & Toddler) but I can't really guarantee that he'll be tempted by a spoonful of something which Theo and I have found appetising the previous evening. It was with some trepidation that I gave him some of the tomato and mozzarella risotto. I blended it up a bit and made sure the yogurt container and fruit bowl were well out of sight. I'm happy to say that he did quite like it, though perhaps not as much as me and Theo.

I adore making risotto as it only takes half an hour on the stove and you can't really go wrong - as long as your saucepans are non-stick. However this recipe from River Cottage Veg really beat every other risotto I've ever made. I was all ready to make the roast tomato sauce but didn't realise that the tomatoes needed to be in the oven for an hour, and all of us were famished. So I used passata instead and cut up a couple of really delicious tomatoes and plonked them in the pot. I added a bit of marjoram and thyme that I had in the cupboard and cut up some Basics mozzarella. The end result was deliciously creamy, and I am not going to bother making any other kind of risotto for a while.

Jottage from Lancaster - Leek Risotto with Chestnuts

I love leeks, and I love chestnuts, so this was bound to be a recipe to catch my attention. Firstly I had to cook the leeks until they were 'silky'. I wasn't sure what silky leeks were but guessed that maybe it was when they were cooked down until they were at their meltingly, buttery best.

Silky or not???

One of the nice things about vegetarian cookery is that you don't have to bother with defrosting meat. And things seem to come in nice packets all ready measured out. I needed 200g of vacuum packed chestnuts and it was simplicity in itself to find the right packet on the shelf of the right size. No need to find you have 343g of mince when you need 500g, or a chicken breast from the butcher (enough to easily feed 3) instead of the packs of 8 that you buy where an individual one can be minute. 


I had to fry the chestnuts and add salt - which sounded rather good. Meanwhile the risotto was cooking down nicely and I added to chestnuts at the end and it looked vaguely like the one in the book.

But on eating it, it wasn't such an amazing combination. The leek risotto was wonderful - just what you wanted it to be with a delicate flavour and soft texture. The chestnuts simply didn't go with that at all. John (who doesn't like chestnuts as much as I do), kept wanting them to be nice bits of sausage. And indeed the leek risotto with maybe sausage or a few chunky pieces of ham would make a great meal. For myself, I think that cashew nuts may be a better bet than the chestnuts. So it was a qualified success. If you weren't bothered with that extra bit of protein, the leek risotto makes a great (and cheap) meal. And I would save the chestnuts for soup or to tart up brussel sprouts.