04.12.08: Spelt penne pesto pasta

He baked a butternut squash beforehand and defrosted some pesto. She cooked it all up with some portobello mushrooms and thus re-created a squash and mushroom, pesto, spelt penne pasta extravaganza. The bnz and hazelnut salad from last night nuzzled up beside it.

SHE SAYS: Meh. It was ok. The squash mushed up in the pan and didn't exactly stir my appetite. To be fair, I had come home and devoured more smoked salmon than was wise, straight out of the pack, so I really wasn't hungry. The pesto was as deeply delightful as always but I could only toy with my fork and look forward to a speshy lunch. The salad was another overnite champion, staying fresh and crunchy, so I added it to my lunchbox for the next day with quiet anticipation.

HE SAYS: Not the prettiest pasta dish She has ever made but pretty tasty nonetheless. The squash was baked with just olive oil and salt n' pepper allowing, the natural sweetness to come thru and mix with the savouriness of the pesto nicely. The spelt pasta was definitely less heavy on my tum then the usual white variety, and, coupled with the bnz salad, made for delish and healthy grub.

03.12.08: Squid risotto with French bnz and mangetout

Eager to expand Their risotto repertoire, He tried out the "easy squid risotto with fresh tomato and parsley" recipe card picked up at the local Waitrose. The French bean and mangetout with hazelnut and orange zest side salad was nabbed from Our new best friend.

HE SAYS: I'm pretty impressed with this new risotto. A very different dish to our regular pesto variety, with far more subtle flavours and subtle overtones. I deviated from the recipe a lot, adding white wine, far more fish stock and more tomatoes. I also cooked the base risotto like the one We usually cook (much faster, and easier to check levels of doneness and add more liquid if necessary) and not by their silly baking method.

The salad was nice and zesty, crunchy and obviously nutty, with the roasted hazelnuts adding intense toasty intrigue to the mix. The orange zest was a little too intermittent in adding citrus so I squeezed half of the orange over the bnz, which helped. The recipe called for hazelnut oil, but I substituted peanut oil and it seemed to work just as well. Overall, a great meal but perhaps less of a winter warmer than is needed with the cold coming in.

SHE SAYS: This has got to be the healthiest indulgence ever, this here risotto. Squid done right always has a slightly sweet taste, but grilled and piled into creamy risotto tinged with tomato acidity, its humble flavour offering develops moreish complexity. He did a great job in deviating from the recipe - not sure this would be quite such a winner without the wine and extra stock, as the flavour was still v. light.

The salad was positively gourmet, with mangetout and green bnz matching crisp to crunch with the roasty hazelnuts (I couldn't stop picking them out of the bowl).