Hello First name / there

Has anyone noticed that the pace of life has stepped up?  This week I’ve been rushing around, usually from the garden to indoors, to the shops, nothing too out there, let’s face it there’s still nowhere to go!  

Yet the anticipation of lockdown beginning to ease on Monday, seems to have created a surge of activity.  Trips to the shops now take longer, I've been invited to make an appointment for the dentist … so excited, I haven't actually got through, but we're heading in the right direction.

Sunday morning I needed to get to a DIY store for some canes to hold up my broad beans and sweet peas; as I drove into the car park I realised something was up… but only sub consciously, its Sunday, the radio was on, I was in my happy place, but it took a while to find the right parking space.

As I jumped out the car and donned my mask I headed towards the entrance, my eyes scanned ahead to the automatic doors, I was met by people queuing, and queuing and queuing.  I never made it to the end of the line, it was a beautiful spring day and I could not bear the thought of losing one hour of it in the gloomy shade of a warehouse with dozens of people.

I think I was alone in this though, more and more people were collecting their trolley’s, chatting away and looking at their lists.  As I took one final look back, it reminded me of the golden days of my youth, when I would happily wait to find my way into a nightclub, is this the new social life?  Will we now instead of having to show ID to prove our age, we'll now be required to carry a vaccine certificate, it is beyond weird how our lives have altered in twelve short months.

I went home and returned to the sunshine in the garden, I cut down the straightest twigs and branches I could find!  The seedlings won’t mind a makeshift wigwam.

For most of the week, I have been organising the new instagram account,  Eat Well Together Co-op, where you'll be able to find many of our recipes, simply by going to our linktree in the bio! 

I'm hoping it will be super easy for you to find your favourite recipes.  If you haven't followed us yet, hit the link in pink and it will take you straight there!  We only have a handful so far, but this will be growing weekly, so if you're ever in need of inspiration you'll know where to look! 

Back in the kitchen I have put together my leek and lemon risotto recipe, it was an idea I had last week, when I had an abundance of leeks.  The idea of the lemon was to keep the dish fresh and it worked beautifully.

LEEK AND LEMON RISOTTO RECIPE

To feed 3-4 people 

INGREDIENTS

250g Arborio or Carnaroli rice

1 onion (finely chopped)

½ celery stalk (finely chopped) optional

2 leeks (Cleaned and thinly sliced)

1tbspn of cooking vegetable oil (sunflower, rapeseed etc)

1-1.5litres of vegetable stock. (stock pots are good for this, but you should only need one pod)  Don’t use 3 as the packet of instructions would suggest as it will be too salty.

juice of 1 lemon

zest of ½ lemon

125ml of white wine

30g butter (diced into small pieces) or good extra virgin olive oil (for finishing the dish)

2 tbspn Parmesan (or vegan alternative) grated

Salt and pepper 

METHOD

Add 1tbspn of cooking oil to the pan, and sweat the onions and celery for a couple of minutes, add the leeks and a good pinch of salt, continue to sweat until soft.  This will take a good 5-10 minutes, stir occasionally so that the vegetables soften but don’t burn.

At the same time make your stock and put in a pan and ensure that it stays hot.

On a low to medium heat, add the rice  and lemon zest and with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula stir and coat with the cooking juices until the rice is transparent.

Add the wine and stir into the rice until the wine has almost completely evaporated.

Now add a ladle of the hot stock, stir and wait for it to fully absorb before you add another ladle of stock.

This continues until your rice has softened, simply taste test after about 15 minutes, I like a little bite but definitely not hard or chalky.  Once your rice is just cooked add your butter and parmesan cheese and stir quickly into your risotto for a good minute to emulsify your risotto.  Leave for a minute or two before serving.

To serve, add a little more parmesan, lemon zest and some pea shoots or rocket would be great too!

If you ever miss a recipe, just send me a message here at susan@leighonseasupperclub.co.uk or on insta (hit the live feed below) and I'll happily re send or help you in any way I can - that's what I'm here for!

Have a lovely weekend!