course-mixing

When I was very young we used to occasionally have gammon with pineapple. I always took the pineapple off immediately and ate it separately, but the gammon had already tainted it and vice versa. Or there might be sweet and sour pork with pineapple chunks loitering in the sauce like a gustatory ambush. And what on earth is the deal with ham and pineapple pizza, or that abomination, cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks? I remember having the latter inflicted on me at birthday parties in the 1980s like a punishment. As you can see, I wasn't too sure about the whole fruit and savoury thing as a child (or was it just pineapple?). Later at university, friends would turn their noses up at the occasional apple parading as a suitable partner for pork, or cranberry with turkey, stuff like that. I think we called it 'course-mixing' - I mean, what on earth is dessert doing in my main, dammit?

I have to say, though, I've grown to like fruit in savoury dishes - it adds a frisson of uncertainty. Is it going to work? Will it be horrid, or just unnecessary? I like the pineapple in sweet and sour now because I'm still not all that sure about it and it's a bit exciting eating things that are a bit weird. Like the bloke in Oldboy who eats a live octopus - or not that weird :-). Yeah, it was on TV on Saturday night but we chickened out and went to bed after that scene. We loved how the tentacles were wrapping around his nose as he ate it but I think you have to mentally prepare yourself for such wilful oddness, so we quit early.

Anyway, back to the subject. A few weeks ago at our friend's house the husband and I mentioned a recipe that we had been wanting to try out: strawberry risotto. Our friends were slightly dubious when we said with glee: 'no, this isn't a sweet rice pudding, it's a full-on savoury risotto with Parmesan cheese, no less!'

The recipe is from Twelve, a Tuscan cookbook by Tessa Kiros. Her books are wonderful. Her recipes and writing embody how I think food should be: homely, comforting, delicious. The design and styling are magnificent, especially in the child(and grown-up)-friendly Apples for Jam and Falling Cloudberries, a collection of family recipes from around the world. I could look at them for hours.

So yesterday we tried out the risotto recipe with lovely English strawberries. Here is my best picture of the result:


And here is the recipe:

Risotto alla fragola (adapted from Twelve by Tessa Kiros, serves 2):

(Tessa uses 20g butter - half to fry the onions, the rest added at the end - we leave it out for the sake of our health)
1/4 medium white onion, very finely chopped (she uses 1/2 a French shallot)
125g strawberries, hulled and halved
75ml white wine (she uses 1 1/2 tbsp brandy, which we don't have)
90g risotto rice
750ml vegetable stock (she uses chicken or meat stock)
a small handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, sweat the onions in butter (we use light olive oil instead) until soft, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put your stock in a saucepan over a low heat and keep it simmering. Add half the hulled strawberries and cook for a further two minutes. Then add the wine or brandy and simmer until the liquid has just about evaporated. Then add the rice and stir to coat all the grains. Season with pepper and salt if you wish, depending on if your stock is salted or not, then add a ladleful of stock to the pan and stir until the liquid is absorbed into the rice. Continue to add stock by the ladleful, stirring until all the liquid is absorbed before adding the next. Keep going until you have used up all or most of your stock. This should take about 20 minutes. When the rice is cooked but still has some bite, turn off the heat, stir in half of the Parmesan and the rest of the strawberries, then cover and leave the pan to sit untouched for two minutes. Serve with black pepper and the rest of the cheese sprinkled on top.

Was it good? Oh yes. The strawberries that are stirred in right at the end are quite sweet and took a little getting used to - in some ways I thought I might prefer it if I'd cooked them in a bit more. They were a bit desserty, perhaps. But the risotto itself was lovely - not at all sweet, it had a tangy note from the fruit that cut through the risotto's inherent richness. I wouldn't serve it to people who have full-blown course-mixing issues, it's probably a step too far, but if you like your food to be a bit exciting I'd certainly recommend it.

There are plenty of quite unusual risotto recipes floating around - Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy has a few wonderful recipes, in particular the cauliflower risotto and another with roasted mushrooms and lots of parsley. I'll waffle on about them another time.