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 #63: Pumpkin Stew

Ingredients: Fortified Pumpkin or Sun Pumpkin, Goat Butter, Fresh Milk, Tabantha Wheat

Description: "Simply simmer a pumpkin to make this dish. A favorite in Kakariko Village."

It says simply simmer a pumpkin, so we'll keep it quite simple! I've got some leftover part-cooked squash (basically pumpkin) from the freezer, half a big onion, chicken stock, and ingredients for a bechamel sauce.

Browning the onion at first.

Then in goes all that nice pumpkin, a block of stock, and why not a big bay leaf? We're feeling fancy.

Thats had some nice stewing time, lets make up the sauce.

Hmm, how do we make this again...? Flour and butter into a paste first right?? is this too much flour?

And then slowly mix in the milk... yeah i think ive made too much.

This is probably a job for the whisk. Hey it looks less lumpy in the photo!

I made loads so I'll use half of it in the stew and half for another stew.

I haven't considered the seasoning on top... hmm.. how about dried oregano? Why not.

***

Its thick and warming, shame im currently in a heatwave... I dunno if its cause it was frozen but without blending, the pumpkin has a not ideal fibrous lumpy texture. Putting in in the blender would be much nicer. Its basic, but im still content with it.

Breath of the Wild #62: Carrot Stew

Ingredients: Any Carrot, Goat Butter, Fresh Milk, Tabantha Wheat

Description: "This simple stew sat simmering for a long time to bring out the sweetness of the carrots."

Ok, well, this is awkward, but I went ahead and did the pumpkin stew first. So you can look forward to me fumbling that one and making the bechamel sauce in the next recipe. For this we have the carrots and half an onion, and the butter, milk and flour already combined into a homemade bechamel (white) sauce. And some stock and seasonings.

Oops all my other pots are in the wash so ill get this needlessly massive one. Pumpkin pan for the carrot stew and not the pumpkin one... how ironic...

Anyway, frying up the onion and big chunks of carrot.

The pumpkin one was a bit blands so this time im going to go ham on seasonings. I'm adding celery salt, white pepper and paprika.

And then the stock and sage can go in with the water. I'll let it simmer for half an hour.

And when its nearly there, dump all that leftover bechamel in there!

*****

Wow! I nailed this one. The stew is so thick and creamy, the spices really pop and I really do think I brought out the sweetness of the carrots! This is so good!

Breath of the Wild #54: Vegetable Curry

Ingredients: Any Carrot or Any Pumpkin, Hylian Rice, Goron Spice

Description: "This healthy curry is popular for its mild flavor and moderate spiciness." 

I thought i'd try another curry paste I bought to mix things up a bit. It's another thai style yellow curry type. Just thought this would go nicely with veg. I've already given the "pumpkin" (butternut squash) a bit of baking in the oven to soften it up, and then we've got a big onion, courgette, tomatoes, and some chives. Oh and not pictured is some jasmine rice in the steamer.

First I'll fry the onions, medium sized chunks I guess i'd call that, in a tiny bit of veg oil.

I want to have some vegetables on the top like in the graphic, so ill chop some bigger and some smaller pieces, and take a few out once they've cooked in the pan before adding the curry.

Same deal with the tomatoes.

And the pumpkin, I guess just half of the thing will be plenty, cutting off the peel and chopping it into cubes, with some half-ring slices for the top.

Hello yello! I guess this is designed for chicken but... well, you gotta try stuff.

In goes the whole thingy of curry paste and a can of coconut milk. It says use half a can and hot water but I don't want half a can sitting in my fridge... very thoughtful of me I know.

Then I leave that to stew for a while, looks good enough to eat. Oh, I will serve it with rice and sprinkle the chopped chives on top.

****

Mild and creamy yet with a subtle spicy aftertaste. The vegetables on top don't really add anything, I guess if I did this again without the oddly specific vegetable choices i'd have used some more fitting ingredients, like... coriander and bamboo shoots or something. The tomato goes surprisingly well though. 

Breath of the Wild #53: Curry Rice

 Ingredients: Hylian Rice, Goron Spice

Description: "A favorite all over Hyrule, this simple dish has a flavor you just won't get tired of."

A favourite to me too, is the classic japanese stewed curry. There's about to be a looooot of curry recipes, but this ones supposedly just rice and spice... im at least going to use some chunky vegetables though! 

The rice is already steaming away, I got some japanese short-grain rice again. Might as well go all out.

I'll start off by browning the onions a bit in the bottom of the pot with some cooking oil.

That won't take long, so lets quicky get everything else chopped, the potato chunks will need a good while to soften. Im coming down with some sort of flu so im very tired today, i want to relax and have dinner asap! At least this is nice and easy.

I use half the packet of curry blocks with the recommended 660ml  of hot water!

And quickly chop the carrots to put them in straight after.

Try not to doze off on the sofa while I wait... this will fix me though!

When its nearly ready we can plate up the rice and add a little extra flair! I have some seaweed & salt seasoning for the rice, and its traditional to have a little bit of pickles on the side, but I don't have any, just this jar of chilli pineapple relish.. I think that will go well!

*****

I'm often coming back to this simple recipe (well, instant curry) because its such a banger! I think each curry has a different strength, some go well with seafood or lamb... this one's strength I think is vegetables. Sure it goes well with most meats, but it really brings out the best in those carrots and potatoes. The relish added a nice sweet and spicy kick as well.

Breath of the Wild #50: Glazed Mushrooms

Ingredients: Any Mushroom, Courser Bee Honey

Description: "The honey in this mushroom dish gives it a sweet, complex taste and a savory finish."

I thought that strong earthy flavour of shiitake just seemed like a good match for this one. I liked the chinese 5-spice and soy sauce with the vegetables so we'll do that again, and of course, the honey.

Straight in the pan with a bit of oil, it wont need long so ill already grind in the salt and dry spices.

Once its almost there a splash of soy sauce and a big drizzle of honey.

****

It's sweet, complex and delicious! The shiitake was a good shout, it tastes a bit like chicken this way. Points deducted for barely being a side dish, this is more like a topping. Damn near a garnish! I'll have a second course of crisps and a muffin.