Yes, you read that right. Best SUMMER food and barbecues. And yes, it IS mid-November, but it was next in the list and rules is rules! However I feared not, as I knew this book well and I knew that there were several dishes in here that weren't dependent on us standing out in the cold freezing our (insert body parts of your choice) off. I am not sure if there is a tradition here in the US, but in the UK there are book sellers that come round to offices and places of work and leave sample books with an order form. These books are usually sold for an unbelievably cheap price. I bought this book for probably a couple of Quid when I worked at Wolsey Hall (so we're talking probably 1994 or 1995). This is the second book I bought using this method. The first being another Good Housekeeping cook book which Ben I think wanted to throw in the bin (along with the results of the recipe from that book). Anyway - I've used and liked this book over the years so was looking forward to trying a recipe that I had never made before. I really liked the look of this dish and best of all, it could be done INDOORS. It could either make a good side dish or starter. We went for side dish.
It was called Risotto Castles and basically you take risotto, add some egg, form in ramekins and then add some stinky cheese with more risotto on top. Bake in the oven and tip out the "parcel" (as seen above). Doesn't it look pretty?
So to get started first you need one cook:
Check.
Next butter your ramekins and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Then you add the risotto, leaving room in the middle for the cheese.
N.B. Bottles with left over formula to left, you will be pleased to hear, have nothing to do with recipe. Add your cheese (here we used Pont l'Eveque) and then top with more risotto...
Ok. This is when things started to go downhill a bit. The recipe says cover with foil. What the whole thing or each ramekin? I covered all of them. That was just vague on the part of the recipe. The next mistake was mine. The directions said to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, but after 20 minutes I checked and it looked as if it had just come out of the fridge. It certainly wasn't looking anything like the beautiful picture (above). So we left it in (without the foil) for another 5 or 10 minutes so it could get that nice golden brown on top, and then Ben remembered that of course that browning up was happening on the bottom of the risotto, not on top because once finished you are supposed to flip them out. Which would put them upside down. Doh! So because of having them in longer and waiting for them to brown on top they were overcooked. Oh and I didn't put enough cheese in so there was no melting goo when opened up. And we couldn't get the 'castles' out so we had to eat them out of the ramekin.
While those were cooking we griddled some steaks and then also some asparagus. That was the best bit of the meal. Also there is a quick red sauce that is supposed to go with the risotto cakes. As I am writing this a couple of weeks after we made them I can't remember what was in the red sauce exactly, but I do remember we forgot to buy fresh basil, but it (the sauce) was still tasty. So here is the end result. It doesn't look THAT bad in the end but really they (the risotto castles) didn't taste very good at all. Ben wasn't keen on the cheese in the end either. I would NOT repeat the recipe even knowing the mistakes that were made. I just don't think even with doing it correctly it would be tasty.
But even though this particular recipe was a bit of a disaster, in general I really rate this cook book. Perhaps one should just stick to the grilling and barbecue recipes.
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