Bron's Wild Food event has been announced and its wild weeds. There was a time in my hippy past where I would have had an ounce or two of weed laying around just waiting to be made into Alice B Toklas brownies. Those days are long gone and a good glass of wine is now my drug of choice . And really wine isn't a drug, it's a food.
I remembered a chapter called Edible Weeds in the Patience Gray book Honey From A Weed. Which gave me some ideas, if I could go foraging through a field in Tuscany. Or if my mother in law was still alive and I could forage in her garden. She grew all sorts of wild and wonderful herbs that I could have picked and tossed in olive oil and lemon juice for a wild weed salad.
Then I remembered I'd seen an Antonio Carluccio television show where he had collected some sorrel in the fields to add to a risotto. I live in the city so with a lack of a field in which to collect sorrel I thought maybe I'd find some in my local fruit and veggie shop. Not a leaf anywhere and I came home with a bunch of wild thyme. Actually I'm sure it isn't wild thyme but we will pretend it is for this event.
Risotto is one of those recipes you can just make it up as you go with whatever you have on hand. Although there are a couple of important ingredients - the correct rice and stock. I use arborio or carnaroli.
Here's how I made this one. For a recipe with exact measurements go here.
In a heavy based pan on the top of the stove warm a little olive oil and a knob of butter.
Soften a diced onion and a minced clove of garlic.
Add 2 cups rice and stir until all grains are coated.
Toss in a bunch of well washed thyme tips.
Add a dash of white wine or brandy and allow rice to absorb.
Add hot stock a cupful at a time and allow rice to absorb the liquid, adding more stock as the rice becomes dry.
When risotto is cooked toss a handful of grated Parmesan over the top and put lid on. Rest for about 10 minutes.
Serve.
Last week I had a wonderful pumpkin risotto when I visited Marina's home for lunch. Marina's risotto was much drier than mine. At the time I said to Marina "I've been making it incorrectly all these years". However on the TV show Antonio mentioned the Milanese prefer a drier risotto and Marina is from Milan which explains the difference.
