Breath of the Wild #71: Crab Risotto

Ingredients: Any Crab, Hylian Rice, Goat Butter, Rock Salt

Description: "An everyday staple of seaside villages, the secret to its delicious flavor lies in crab fat."

If you'll remember way back in recipe 21, I bought and boiled a small heap of crabs. This is the day after I did all that, to use that fresh(ish) boiled crabmeat in this risotto. We have our arborio rice, butter and rock salt as per the recipe, and i'll also be flavouring it with veg stock, sweetcorn, garlic, parsley, white wine, lemongrass and lime. I thought i was gonna keep it simple!

I'll melt the butter and brown the crushed garlic. Everything else is cooked I guess, so it can go in near the end. Do i need more butter? I guess i can add more if it needs it..

Next ive added hot water and mixed in the stock cube, and then ill add the risotto rice.

I suppose I should put those misc seasonings in too... plenty of the rock salt, and a little bit of white wine and the lemongrass. Its just there because i want to finish up that old jar thats been in my fridge for ages tbh.

OK while the rice is cooking time to deconstruct this crab! I'll save a couple claws for garnish, and ill use half of the crab meat now and freeze half to use in the crab omurice for recipe 79!

I need to keep stirring the rice and topping it up with water as I go along.

In goes the crab meat, sweetcorn, chopped parsley and that lime wedge.

***

It's fine. The rice is still a little bit undercooked, my bad. This is the trouble with always winging it. It tastes a bit like.. garden? I think its the garlic and parsley. I kinda actually wish i used something to enhance the crab flavour, like seafood stock or crab sticks. I guess they said the secret ingredient was crab fat, I didn't have any crab fat. Do crabs really have fat?

Breath of the Wild #70: Salmon Risotto

Ingredients: Hearty Salmon, Hylian Rice, Goat Butter, Rock Salt

Description: "The rice used in this rich risotto permeates the light flavor of the salmon."

I've got a nice strong gimmick idea for this risotto. Let's do the classic sandwich combo of smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill! Will that work in a risotto? time will tell. About 45minutes.

I guess we don't need to fry any garlic or onions ahead of time, so i'll just warm up the butter and throw the rice and stock right in!

In goes risotto rice, a bat leaf, and a stock cube. I used chicken stock because i already had a packet, but veggie or fish would make sense too.

Once thats nearly cooked i'll throw in the frozen peas and dill. Ive had this packet of frozen dill in my freezer for... uh, so long. It's never ending. 

And lastly when its REALLY nearly cooked, I chop up and throw in some smoked salmon and a couple tablespoons of cream cheese and just mix/melt that in there. Oh, and theres salt on the ingredients so we can sprinkle on some sea salt.

*****

Huh I think I like it... maybe I just like how easy it was? Its light and creamy with that classic gravlax flavour. I would probably make this again...?

Breath of the Wild #69: Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Hylian Rice, Goat Butter, Rock Salt

Description: "The tantalizing aroma of mushrooms and butter beckons you to the table."

I was gonna get dried mushrooms for this and make some kinda stock, but I saw they had a nice easy mushroom sauce and some mixed oyster mushrooms, so why not? Alongside that I've got risotto rice, spring onion, butter, seasonings and parmesan.

I'll fry the mushrooms and spring onions in plenty of butter to start... I think i'll just keep the mushrooms whole, better for the final photo and that.

Then I can throw in the rice and seasonings, I've got salt, mixed pepper, extra white pepper, and tarragon. The pre-made sauce should provide extra flavours since it's got garlic and white wine.

Then we keep adding water and stirring till the rice is cooked. 

Once it's nice and cooked, I add in the sauce and some grated parmesan and mix that all in. Oh and I still have some basil for garnish.

****

The rice is perfectly cooked and the creamy mushroom flavour is... well, it's about as good as mushroom gets on its own I think. It would be better with some other ingredients, like meat or peas.

Breath of the Wild #68: Vegetable Risotto

Ingredients: Any carrot or pumpkin, Goat Butter, Hylian Rice, Rock Salt

Description: "The sweetness of the ingredients gives this risotto a mild flavor."

Someone gave me a fun ingredient to use for this one - a jar of i guess... sweet and sour preserved pumpkin? I'll cook that with an onion, carrot, veg stock, bit of basil. And proper risotto rice of course. See how that goes.

Here's in our jar! Pumpkin chunks, sweet and sour, but not too much so. Think this will work?

I'll start by dicing the onion as small as I can, and browning that with plenty of butter.

Then the carrot too, I can add a bit more butter slowly as well.

I reckon I can just put the whole jar in liquid and all, and cook the risotto in that with some added water and the veg stock cube. Then i throw the rice on and let it cook for ages, stirring often.

It looks nearly done, i'll add some chopped basil and extra salt, since thats in the ingredient.

****

It's a fun, buttery, mild, sweet and savoury flavour! The vegetables are still surprisingly crunchy while the rice thankfully isn't. Maybe pumpkin isn't my absolute favourite risotto flavour ever, but I think I executed it well, and yeah I do like it.

Breath of the Wild #67: Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin

Ingredients: Fortified Pumpkin, Any Meat

Description: "This hollow, meat-filled pumpkin is a local specialty of Kakariko Village."

The bad news is, it's not pumpkin season yet... (well, when i made this, i have a bit of a backlog so idk) The good news is... WHO CARES?? I HAVE A PUMPKIN SHAPED CASSEROLE DISH

First I just throw the whole entire butternut squash in the oven, that'll provide the pumpkin for the filling (we weren't going to NOT have pumpkin in it!) And fry up the mince, starting with diced garlic and onion.

For the meat i've got a mixture of beef & pork mince, mince is a traditional "stuffing" meat and good for a bolognese flavour. I guess while i'm here why not throw in the fresh tomatoes, a bit of chilli paste, and season with salt & pepper.

I thought it might be fun to throw in some cardamom pods as well, just for a lil' something different.

The mince is nice and brown and mixed up.

As you can see, the baked squash is waaaay easier to chop up now. But we have much more than we need, i'll just use as much as I can fit in the dish with the mince...

Oh! And I was going to put in tinned tomato and red wine vinegar and basil as well... uh... i've done it again haven't I? Why can I never not overfill things? It's fine, ill save the rest of the tomato for some pasta or something.

...So, I was just going to bake it for like 30mins or something, but I got called to an emergency, so i turned the oven off and let it slow cook for about 2 hours. That'll be good for a dish like this.

*****

Oh.. it tastes like being a hero after helping someone in the neighbourhood having a medical emergency! Sweet, rich, and meaty. Sort of like a bolognese with pumpkin instead of pasta.

Breath of the Wild #66: Gourmet Meat Stew

 Ingredients: Raw Gourmet Meat, Goat Butter, Fresh Milk, Tabantha Wheat

Description: "The meat has simmered for so long it melts in your mouth. A true bucket-list meal!."

Going all out again for the gourmet, our meats are venison AND turkey thigh. Then we have the ingredients to make that bechamel sauce again. And since there seems to be other chunks in there, we've got some onions and a sweet potato.

I'll start cooking the venison in butter while I prep everything else, this will probably need the longest to cook if we want it reasonably tender.

Wow it shrinks a bit! Still, good sized meaty lean chunks in there. Now we can start the stew.

I'll cut the sweet potato and onion into pretty big chunks.

Ah right, the "stock"! Ive got a bunch of leftover pastes and sauces in the fridge already, so i've grabbed a selection that I think will complement the dark meats. Beef stock, celery salt, tomato & chilli pasta sauce, and concentrated umami paste (made from tomato and mushroom?).

that can all go in with some hot water.

And that turkey thigh... well... its already pre-cooked actually so we can just sort of... just place it on top? I guess?

We can't do all that and half-ass things, so ill let this simmer for a full hour!

Time to make that sauce again... I swear it feels different every time.. 

Looks good!

And in it goes!

*****

It really does melt in your mouth! The turkey melted right off the bone already, and the venison is sooo tender too. The broth is soo rich and buttery. I guess I could have put the sweet potato in a bit later, its quite different from regular potatoes i guess and gets a little bit too melty after that long. Gourmet, decadent even.