Pea and Bacon Risotto

As author Stephanie Le says, once you have the technique down, risotto is quick and easy to make. Best of all, a good basic risotto recipe can be customized to suit your own taste. This version with crispy bacon and peas, from her recently released cookbook, Easy Gourmet, is an ideal starting point.

As a cookbook junkie, it’s hard to resist the offer of a new cookbook, especially when it’s gorgeous and written by a fellow blogger who I am half in love with. I say only half because the awe gets in the way. I mean, really! Have you met Stephanie Le of I am a Food Blog yet? Her dishes are gorgeous! The flavors, the textures, the styling, the props! It’s no wonder that she won the Editors’ Choice Award and Blog of the Year (!) from Saveur magazine this year. So I love her like some people love famous movie stars. It’s love tinged with the sad and certain knowledge that it will no doubt remain unrequited. But that’s okay, because I can still stalk her online and in the pages of her beautiful book with its easy to follow, deliciously different recipes.

Stephanie’s lovely book is called Easy Gourmet – Awesome Recipes Anyone Can Cook. < That there is an Amazon affiliate link in case you can’t wait and want to order your own, but go have a look at the book on Stephanie’s site as well right here. Isn’t it beautiful? Even more awe-inspiring is that she designed every part of it as well! I am in full on food blogger crush mode.

The hardest part about cookbook blog tours for me is making the recipe as it is written because I am not a very good recipe follower. But how can I tell you a recipe is wonderful if I haven’t actually made it properly? So I have to discipline myself and follow the instructions. In the case of this risotto, I changed only two things.

I couldn’t find thick cut bacon here so I used six slices of the normal stuff, hoping the weight would be about the same. And since I had to start by frying my bacon till crispy, and I was going to use the same saucepan to cook the risotto, I used an equal amount of bacon fat in place of the butter and oil to sauté the onions and toast the rice. That said, I’m going to leave the ingredient list and recipe exactly as it is in the book, so you can do it Stephanie’s way. I recommend you use the weights if possible as they are the most accurate way to make sure you have the right proportion of rice to peas and cheese.

Recipe printed with permission from Page Street Publishing. Any adaptations are in parentheses.

Ingredients
4 1⁄2 cups or 1L chicken stock
1 tablespoon or 15g butter
1 teaspoon or 5ml oil
1 cup or 228g Arborio rice
1⁄2 small onion, diced
1⁄2 cup or 64g frozen peas, thawed
4 slices cooked thick-cut bacon, cut in 1-inch or 2 1/2cm pieces
1⁄4 cup or 45g freshly grated Parmesan

Method
In a medium stockpot, heat the stock to a gentle simmer. (Stephanie advises that warming the stock first is essential to making great risotto.)

Melt the butter with the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook until translucent, 1-2 minutes.

Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the rice.

Toast the rice, about 3-4 minutes, until slightly translucent.

Turn the heat down to medium and add a ladle of hot stock.

Stir into the rice until the liquid is mostly absorbed.

Continue stirring and adding hot stock as the rice absorbs it.

Taste after about 15 minutes.

If the rice is soft but with a bit of bite, it’s ready. (Mine took quite a bit longer but I think I had my fire lower than medium.)

If still uncooked, continue adding stock a ladle at a time. (You might not use all the stock.)

When done, remove from the heat and stir in the peas, bacon and cheese.

Taste and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy immediately. (We added our own pepper sauce, because we love things spicy but, with the saltiness of the Parmesan, a special wedge my husband brought back from Italy, additional salt was not necessary.)

Enjoy!

If you’d like to try out a few more recipes from this amazing book, here’s a list of the links so far on the blog book tour. That cod is next on my list to try, followed closely by the hot wings. Or maybe the mushrooms. Seriously, you all, everything looks so good!

• Carrot Cake Pancakes from Wit and Vinegar 
• Chai Tea Ice Box Cake from The Faux Martha
• Hot Wings from Half Baked Harvest 
• Miso-Glazed Cod from The Pancake Princess 

*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to the book, Easy Gourmet – Awesome Recipes Anyone Can Cook.  If you buy after clicking on my link, I make some small change from the sale and you are still charged the normal price. I received a copy of this book for review purposes, with no other personal compensation. All opinions are entirely my own.

Fiona’s Wonderful Bread #BreadBakers

This classic wheat bread recipe makes two loaves of some of the best sandwich bread I’ve ever tasted. Approach it with confidence and it won’t let you down. 

Our new bread baking group
My friend, Renee and I have created a new blog group for bread bakers called, ahem, Bread Bakers. Pretty catchy, huh? As host of our inaugural month, Renee chose the theme Favorite Breads, so I want to share one with you that is special to our family, along with some memories of the dear woman who baked it, week in and week out for as long as I knew her. Make sure to scroll on down to the bottom of this post for links to the rest of the Favorite Breads and information on how to join the group.

The back story
If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you might already know the story of how I met my husband’s lovely father and his delightful wife, back in 1985. It’s a good one and this special bread is even mentioned there. Go have a quick read. I’ll wait here.

For those of you who already know the story of my first private airplane ride,
here's a photo of the happy couple on one of their visits to our home in Paris.

Okay. I almost called this Fi-Fish Bread because Fi-Fish was her nickname and that is what we called the wonderful bread that Fiona made with such ease and, I would even say, nonchalance. In a world where folks fret over baking with yeast, she made it look effortless. But, so as not to confuse you, my lovely readers, with visions of fishy bread, I decided to go with the title I put on the top of the hand scribbled notes, from when I watched and learned how to make it. Little did I know at the time, but that would be the last time I would see Fiona alive or taste her wonderful bread made by her own hands. So, let me add some advice here: Get that special family recipe! Get it now. We never know what the future holds.

As you can see, it's been used often through the years. This is the first time I've
actually quantified the amount of salt and sugar though. 

Fiona was a survivor. She’d been through the breast cancer wringer: Mastectomy, chemo and rough recovery. With her quick wit, positive outlook and indomitable spirit, we were pretty sure she could beat anything. But, in 2001, after a fabulous spring break week entertaining us all, she went in to the doctor to discuss a mass she’d felt in her abdomen, saying, “Can we get this taken care of before bikini season?” Classic Fiona. We had plans to meet again in the Channel Islands during the summer but, with the new chemo regime, she was unable to travel. We were told she was doing great. Turns out liver cancer is not so easily dislodged. We lost her in October that very same year, and my father-in-law died, one short but traumatic month later, of a broken heart.

Every time I make Fiona’s wonderful bread, I am reminded of the great times, sitting out on their balcony in Freeport, Grand Bahama, where a picnic lunch was always served in the fresh ocean breeze: An assortment of cheeses, green salad with Fiona's homemade vinaigrette, ripe tomato wedges and leftover cold beef or lamb roast, certainly some Branston Pickle, all with thin slices of Fi-Fish bread and chilled white wine. It is the perfect bread and those were perfect lunches.

I miss them. I miss it all.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups or 530ml very warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups or 410g whole wheat flour
2 cups or 250g strong bread flour
One palm full or 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
One palm full or 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 packets Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise yeast (1/2 oz or 14g total)

N.B.: The cup to gram converter I usually use at this link here, says that one cup of wheat flour is only 120g. I actually weighed mine and it was 137g so that is the measure I have used in the ingredients list. You can adjust the amount of bread flour you add to compensate. If the dough is starting to look dry, stop before you put it all in. If your dough is too sticky, add a little more than the prescribed amount.

Method
Mix two of the cups or 275g brown flour with the salt, sugar and yeast, in a large mixing bowl and add in the warm water with the oil.

Mix well.

Add in the last of the brown flour and mix again.

Now add the bread flour in gradually, mixing thoroughly as you go. (See note above.) Just let the machine turn as you drop it in by spoonfuls, scraping the bowl down occasionally as you go.

Knead for several minutes on a floured surface, adding a bit more bread flour if necessary.

Put it in a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to one hour. Fiona always put hers on top of the water heater in a little cupboard off the kitchen.

I tried to take the two photos at the same distance from the bowl so you could see how much this expanded!

Meanwhile, grease two loaf pans.

Punch the dough down and knead it again briefly.

Cut it the ball in two and roll each half into sausages. Tuck the ends under and place in the greased bread pans, tucked ends under and seam side down.

Before rising

Sprinkle flour on top and cover with a damp tea cloth. Let rise for 40 minutes in a warm place.

After rising

When the time is almost up, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Bake the loaves in your preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Just out of the oven!

Tip the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

First some thank yous!
Since this is our first group post, let me add a plug in for - and a thank you to - the designer of our Bread Baker logo, Dai Foldes. See more of his beautiful work at DaiFoldes.com.

Many thanks to Renee from Magnolia Days for hosting this inaugural month of Bread Bakers! And thank you to our dozen bakers this month. You all jumped on board with such enthusiasm that it's been quite contagious! I hope all of your favorite breads will inspire everyone to get into the kitchen and bake!

And now THE LIST!

• Bhatura - Leavened Fried Bread by Anshie at Spiceroots
• Cinnamon Bread by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Fiona's Wonderful Bread by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Kashmiri Naan by Jenni at Pastry Chef Online
• No Knead Whole Wheat Bread by Holly at A Baker's House
• Overnight Country Sourdough by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Potato Bread with Raisins by Kathia at Basic N Delicious
• Pumpkin Challah Bread by Sophie at Sweet Cinnamon & Honey
• Raincoast Crisps Bread by Kimberly at Rhubarb & Honey
• Yogurt Almond Bread by Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Walnut Wheat Bread by Renee at Magnolia Days

About Bread Bakers
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Here's to more fresh bread in months to come!

Honey Lemon Fig Muffins #MuffinMonday

Fresh ripe figs make a lovely muffin, with no added sugar and only honey to add extra sweetness and a little lemon juice to bump up the batter flavor. Top with slices of fresh fig and a drizzle of honey before baking. 

Well, hallelujah! Let all God’s fig lovers give praise. I finally found some ripe figs I could afford in what had been an otherwise disappointingly practically figless summer! First I made preserves, which turned out more like jam as the large figs fell apart, but a few of the smaller ones were reserved for muffins. These muffins here. Oh, and I may well have eaten quite a few just as is. Aren’t ripe figs the best? I can close my eyes and I am 10 years old again, up high in the branches of my grandparents’ fig trees, enjoying the breeze and eating my fill. Sweet!

Ingredients
6-7 fresh sweet ripe, but firm, figs (about 320g)
1 lemon, for zest and juice
1/3 cup or 80ml honey, plus more for drizzling before baking, if desired
1/4 cup or 60ml lemon juice
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light vegetable oil
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin papers.

Slice the ends off of your figs and discard. Now slice 12 nice circles from the middle of the figs and set aside. Chop the rest of the figs up roughly.

Combine your flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Zest your lemon into the bowl and stir well.

Juice the lemon and measure out 1/4 cup or 60ml.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your egg, honey, milk, lemon juice and oil.

That's the last of my dark Ugandan honey. Time to go back!

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed. There should be some flour showing. Fold in the chopped figs.

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top each with a fig slice and push it in slightly. Drizzle on a little extra honey, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Have you found sweet figs at an affordable price this summer? Or perhaps you are blessed with a fig-bearing tree. I’m rather fond of dried figs as well. Here are a few more recipes that might interest you.


Gram’s Fig Preserves – Just like my grandmother used to make them

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Gram’s Fig Spice Cake – My grandmother’s special recipe, with buttermilk glaze

Figgy Jam Muffins – for when you can’t find fresh but really need to bake with figs - this was me earlier this summer!