* Top tier: Risotto with shrimps and mushrooms
* Bottom tier: Banana cogwheels, fresh mango stars, plum hearts, more banana cogs (all dripped with lime juice) annnd… a Mozart ball! One of the original ones, which are actually handmade (hence the “heart” shape of the marzipan, and the stroke through it where the stick went).
Tomorrow's bento is a luxury bento in lots of ways:
– I usually don't buy any alcohol (it's so expensive in Sweden) but I need wine for risotto. Today, we finally got around to check out the wine shop and found some really tasty wine for quite cheap! Gotta get more of that.
– Fresh mango! I love mango. Lovelovelove. You almost never get it here (or at least, not ripe and nice ones)!
– Mozart balls. My stepdad sent them to me for my birthday! They're dark chocolate truffles filled with pistachio marzipan and nougat, and handmade in Salzburg (where my parents live). Sooo good!
– Oh, and I found cookie cutters in (almost) the right size!
Scampi risotto recipe
Use medium or roundgrained rice. It won't work with longgrained rice!
For two persons, 1-2 cups of rice are fine. If you use brown rice, use more because it doesn't rise as much as white rice does.
Per cup of rice, you need:
2 cups of broth (use chicken or fish stock, or if you're as cheap as me, vegetable instant soup base. When making seafood risotto, I sometimes cook out the shells of the prawns and use that broth.)
OR
1 cup of broth and dry white wine each. Vary according to how much you like the taste of wine.
1/2 cup of shrimps or small prawns
1/3 cup of chopped onion
Salt, pepper, chili, garlic, parsley or italian spice mix for seasoning
Grated cheese (Parmesan, but any yellow cheese like gouda works too).
Olive oil or butter according to taste
Sauté the onions in olive oil or butter. When they look nice and translucent, add the dry rice and stir so the rice gets sautéd a bit too (it should become slightly translucent). Add one cup of broth and stir until the rice absorbs it.
Stirfry the shrimps/prawns separately in some garlic and olive oil and cool them so they don't become hard.
Cook on medium to low heat, spicing and adding more wine and broth alternatingly as the liquid gets absorbed. When the rice is done (it should be very sticky but still resist to the bite), stir in the shrimps and the grated cheese and serve with parmesan on top.
If you want to use only mushrooms (e.g. sliced champignons are nice) instead of the prawns, sauté them with the onions and use vegetable or chicken, but not fish base.
And because I used to practically live off this stuff, here's my quick Spaghetti all'arrabiata recipe:
(Warning: HOT!)
Roast chopped garlic and chopped fresh chilies (I keep them in the freezer so they keep fresh and don't lose their strength) in olive oil.
Add crushed tomatoes without peel, salt, pepper and sugar (the sauce should be almost sweet) and cook, adding small flocks of butter once in a while. Generally the longer you cook and the thicker the sauce gets the better it will be, but it also works well if you just make it while the pasta is cooking, hence the 5 minutes recipe. If you want the sauce to be thicker, add tomato paste concentrate to bind.
Serve with al dente italian pasta and parmesan or grated cheese.
Read Full Post »
Were rabbits 
