Lamb Liver Risotto with Sage & Marsala

This was our second time cooking risotto and as the first time it was a success! It turned out delicious. I love liver and the combination with fresh sage and the Marsala wine that it is cooked with made this recipe taste wonderful. If you do not have Marsala use red wine, the taste will change but will definitely turn out as good. All you need for a perfect risotto is patience, it takes between 20-30 minutes to cook a good risotto and you have to keep stirring all the way to make sure the rice soaks up all the stock. So do have a go at the recipe. For 4 people you will need...

• 1.5 litres boiling water
• 2 vegetable stock pots (or cubes)
• 300g Arborio rice
• 250g lamb liver, cut into small pieces
• 6 fresh sage leaves
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 100ml Marsala wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 60g (½ cup/½ stick) butter
• 60g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

How to...

1. Start by preparing the stock. In a large pan dissolve the stock pots or cubes in the boiling water, bring back to the boil and turn off the heat.
2. In an other small pan put 50g of the butter and the sage leaves and heat up until the butter has melted. Add the chopped liver, season with salt & pepper, stir well and cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. 
3. Now add the Marsala to the liver and cook on high heat until all liquid has disappeared. Remove from heat, remove the sage leaves and set aside.
4. In a large heavy based frying pan or pan (I prefer a frying pan because it spreads the heat evenly during cooking), add the olive oil, carrot, onion and celery and cooked covered on low to medium heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes. 
5. Now add the rice turn the heat to medium and toast the rice for a couple of minutes stirring continuously. 
6. Add a cup of the vegetable stock whilst constantly stirring until all stock has been absorbed by the rice, this takes about 2 minutes. 
7. From now on, keep adding the remaining stock ½ cup at a time, always adding the next one when the previous one has been completely absorbed by the rice.
8. After you have used half of the stock, stir in the cooked livers and continue adding the remainder of the stock until all stock has been used. This process took me about 25-30 minutes.
9. After all the stock is absorbed, stir in the grated parmesan and the last 10g of butter. Serve immediately!!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Morello Cherries & Walnut Cake

Morello cherries in syrup are on offer at Aldi at the moment so had to buy some. These cherries are also known as sour cherries and wild cherries, they are quite tart on their own. In fact, they are mainly found sold in syrup and ready pitted. Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are the main producers of this fruit. Friday night after work I wanted to bake, as you do haha and found this recipe online, so I tweaked it a bit and this delicious cake came to be. It is sweet, sour, crunchy, moist and the Marsala really gives it that unique taste. I prepared it in less than 15 minutes. We do not like frosting and icing that much so we do not frost our cakes, that is why the picture looks the way it does, we love our cakes fresh out of the oven!! Give it a go, you will need...

• 350g Morello cherries, drained
• 120g chopped walnuts
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 60ml Marsala
• 150g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 22cm round cake tin or alternatively line with baking paper. 
2. Place sugar, eggs and Marsala in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl combine the flour, salt, walnuts and baking powder, mix well. Fold in the egg/sugar mixture until everything is combined well. Now fold in the cherries and mix well again.
4. Bake into the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until you insert a skewer and it comes out clean.
5. Cool into the tin for about 10 minutes and take out of the tin and serve. Maybe with some cream or ice cream. :)

Enjoy!!

R&A

Chicken Marsala

It was our first time doing this recipe and we loved it, actually Amanda adored it. The recipe, is presumably Southern Italian, considering it uses Marsala wine, an exceptionally wonderful aromatic fortified wine that hails from the Italian city of Marsala, Sicily. It is in the same line of Sherry, Madeira and Port and its creation as a fortified wine dates back to the late 18th century. Anyhow, this recipe is very quick and easy to prepare, quite foolproof I must say. To keep the chicken breast moist and succulent we turned the chicken breast into cutlets. This makes the chicken breast cook quicker. So give it a go and am quite sure you will love it :) You will need...

• 4 large chicken breasts or 8 drumsticks
• 400g white mushrooms, sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 120ml (1/2 cup) Marsala wine
• 100ml single cream
• Olive oil or vegetable oil
• Salt & pepper

How to...

1. Heat some oil on medium heat in a large frying pan and cook the chicken turning occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add half of the Marsala and cover with a lid. Turn twice until they are golden from both sides and meat juices are running clear. This process takes about 15-20 minutes.
2. Now take the chicken out of the pan and keep warm (we leave them in the oven on the lowest temperature possible (which usually is about 50-60°C). Add the mushrooms, spring onions and the rest of the Marsala. Cook until the mushrooms wilt down (make sure you do not over cook them as they will turn into a sloppy mush), this will take around 5 minutes. Keep stirring frequently.
3. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream. 
4. Time to plate up, put a chicken on a plate (make sure they are still warm), top up with a large spoonful of mushrooms and pour over some sauce. Serve with roast veg & mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!!

R&A