Crap photo - great dish
slow braised leg of lamb in adobo sauce
Mexican Adobo?
Ive been inspired to start cooking some traditional Mexican recipes (not tex-mex) for some time now and have always been stuck for finding decent cookbooks/resources. After a fair bit of research Ive decided upon and ordered a couple of Rick Bayless books, Mexican Everyday and Authentic Mexican. If they are everything they are cracked up to be, I'll be sure to get my hands on his Mexican Fiesta book which is supposedly ordered out like Neil Perrys balance and haromny with simple Mexican banquets through to difficult ones .
I cant wait for some summer fiestas and blowing half of my pay packet at Casa Iberica every fortnight! I can see I'll be making my own white corn tortillas and growing tomatillos in no time.
It was colder than your mother in law's stare here today, and I had the urge to make some old school, from scratch, comfort food. So I decided to make a risotto. By posting all the pics, I'm in no way trying to teach anyone how to suck eggs, it was more a 'record keeping exercise; I'm sure there are many out there that can cook a better and more authentic risotto than me. This is just one I always cook and the family absolutely demolish every time....and again, apologies for the crappy iphone pics
So firts it was a pot of chicken stock...just the carcass of a leftover bbq chicken; the leftover shredded meat from the frame is added later and the balance needed made up with some quick pan fried thighs
View attachment 46483
Then some carrot puree done in the thermomix... it's just a panfried onion, some peeled and chopped carrots, a knob of butter and a ladle of the chicken stock cooked and fine pureed
View attachment 46484
First in the pan and not shown is another diced onion and a couple of cloves of garlic sauteed with some olive oil and another smidge of butter and a good pinch of salt flakes. The salt really brings the sweetness out of the onions when sauteeing.. After this step and still not shown is a couple of vines of thyme and a bay leaf or two sauteed off with the onions. Then I remove the thyme and the bay leaf and add the arborio rice and sautee it off until it soaks up the liquid and begins to go opaque. Then I add a generous splash of wine and begin frying off the rice until all the liquid is gone again and the rice is starting to release its starch in the pan, which is where I am up to in this pic
View attachment 46485
Then I ladle in enough of the stock, which has been kept warm (very important) until it covers the rice like shown. This is where I differ from a lot of people that I've seen make risotto; I don't stir the bejesus out of it here. I have the heat at a level where it takes 5 or so minutes to evaporate the stock and I turn the rice over maybe a couple of times. I think over working the rice here contirbutes to a mushy texture in the end.
View attachment 46486
When the first lot of stock has evaporated completely and the rice is releasing more of that creamy starch on the bottom of the pan, I add the same amount of stock again, along with some sliced portabello mushies and the chicken flesh
View attachment 46487
Then repeat the same; evaporate the liquid while only turning the rice a few times until it releases the last of those creamy starches as shown on the bottom of the pan. At this stage, the rice should be a bit firmer than al dente.
View attachment 46488
To finish the rice, in goes the carrot puree and a little more stock. Very much a bit of an educated guess as to how much you'll need to get the texture of the rice correct.
View attachment 46489
last is some grated parmesan and a knob of butter to give it some saltiness and a nice glisten and silky mouthfeel. Once tha has incorporated, I add a good pinch of finely chopped parsley and season to taste.
View attachment 46490
and in the bowl with a garnish of parsley
View attachment 46491
polished of with a LCPA.... :icon_drool2:
I love and have Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayliss and I just recently bought My Abuela's Table which is a really lovely traditional mexican cook book and has just been released - bought mine from Dymocks. The real mexican food is awesome!
Pretty simple Eggs Benny for brekky.... Crappy iphone pic is no reflection on how good they tasted.... :icon_drool2:
View attachment 46482
Enter your email address to join: