Starter: butternut salad

You will need:
500 g butternut, neatly cubed
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 ml (½ tsp) chilli flakes
125 g bacon, cut into pieces
1 packet () mixed herbed salad leaves
Sesame seeds
Mild blue cheese and walnuts
Dressing
80 ml (⅓ cup) olive oil
50 ml (10tsp) balsamic vinegar
15 ml (1 tbsp) soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 ml (1 tsp) honey
Dash of Tabaco sauce

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and lightly grease a baking tray with oil. Place the butternut in the tray with the onion, garlic and mix. Sprinkle some chilli flakes and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake for about 30 minutes until done.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients together and set aside. Mix the butternut with the bacon, nuts, blue cheese, sesame seeds and salad leaves and drizzle with the dressing just before serving.

Main: Baked seafood risotto

You will need:
1 chorizo sausage, sliced thinly
1 onion, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, crushed
225 g risotto (Aborio) rice
250 ml (1 cup) white wine
575 ml (2 ⅓ cups) fish stock
Pinch of saffron
Large pinch of smoked paprika
30 ml (2 tbsp) butter or olive oil
10 king prawns, cleaned and shelled
150 g monkfish, trimmed and cut into cubes
8 mussels or clams
8 cubed calamari, cut into rings
Shavings of parmesan cheese, on top

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Heat a casserole dish over medium heat on top of the stove and add the chorizo slices with the onion. Sauté for a few minutes until the onions are soft and slightly golden in colour. Add half the garlic and sauté for a half a minute.
2. Add the rice and stir fry with the mixture. Pour in the wine, stock and sprinkle with some saffron and paprika. Close with a lid and bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the rice absorbed most of the liquid but still a bit soupy.
3. Heat the butter or olive oil in a frying and sauté the garlic for a few seconds over very high heat. Add the prawns, fish, mussels or clams and calamari rings – stir-frying for 3 minutes or until the prawns turn pink, calamari is no longer translucent and the clams or muscles open up and slightly golden.
4. Stir the seafood mix into the baked rise mixture. The heat form the risotto will continue cooking the seafood. Serve on individual plates and top with parmesan shavings and garnish with parsley.

Mienke can you please also supply info on cheese and seafood in Italian cooking – I know it’s not permitted so we are kinda breaking the rules – but then again – so is the baked risotto…just so I have enough to talk about.