Fennel & Mushroom Risotto

Serves 2
(For more portions you can use the same amount of vegetables, just add more rice and stock.)

Ingredients:

half a large cup risotto rice
0.75 litre vegetable stock
2 handfuls dried mushrooms (soaked for about 30 min, blended into paste and salted)
2 handfuls fresh mushrooms
1 fennel (peeled and sliced into thin strips)
half a cup green peas
250ml dry white wine
half medium onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons olive oil
ground black pepper
optional: grated hard cheese

Fry the fresh mushrooms and fennel for about 5 minutes, then add the onions and garlic and fry on medium heat for a few more minutes. When the fennel starts to look a little crispy, add the rice followed by the white wine, peas and blended dried mushrooms.

Stir until the wine is fully absorbed, then start adding ladlefuls of stock. Keep stirring frequently and allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next – this can take around 15 min.

Leave to sit for a couple of minutes before serving. Sprinkle the black pepper and, if required, grated hard cheese on top. 

Squash & Crispy Kale Pasta

Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

250g pasta
1 x large butternut squash
200 ml soya milk
1 tbs coconut oil
1 cup green peas
a few pieces of sundried tomatoes
2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder (alternatively, 1/2 vegetable stock cube)
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 tbs dried coriander
salt and freshly ground pepper

For the crispy kale:

100g kale
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsb sea salt flakes

Preheat the oven to 200C. Halve and deseed the squash. Place it in a roasting dish, flesh side down, and pour in 150ml water. Bake for 1 hour (or until the flesh is soft). When it's cooled down, scoop the flesh out with a spoon.

Place the squash and green peas in a saucepan and stir with the soya milk to a purée. Pour it into a saucepan and simmer. Dissolve the bouillon powder/vegetable stock in a bit of hot water and add it in with all the seasoning and chopped sundried tomatoes.

Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water.

While cooking the pasta, rub olive oil over the kale (torn into bite-size pieces). Spread it out on baking foil, sprinkle the sea salt flakes over the top and bake for about 10 min (in 150C) or until it's crispy.
Pour the squash sauce into the pan of drained pasta. Stir and cook on low heat for a couple of minutes. Serve with crispy kale on top.