Risotto

I fixed the spelling. 

OK, well that all sounds great. Love the idea of mushroom risotto and DH likes mushrooms, so that would be good. I think I might try a chicken risotto tonight with lemon, parmesan, and capers, since that is what I have on hand. I could throw in some frozen peas, too. I don't have any homemade chicken stock made up, unfortunately, all I have in the cupboard are the stock cubes (Do they even sell it in tins here? Sadly, I never see it other than the fresh stuff in the refrigerated section), and I'm sure our local shops dont' have anything but those stock cubes and the little concentrated stock pots. Hmmm. This might be an issue.

I've been using the stock that I think Aldo Zilli has been advertising ...
comes in tiny little pots , about twice the size of an individual butter serving and of course you just add water... very good and not overly salty.

I've been using the stock that I think Aldo Zilli has been advertising ...
comes in tiny little pots , about twice the size of an individual butter serving and of course you just add water... very good and not overly salty.

I think those are the Knorr stock pots you are on about. They do have those at my local Co-Op. I guess that would be better than the cubes, which I just keep on hand to use in a pinch. I've not roasted any chickens in a while, so unfortunately, I haven't made any stock in ages. 

I couldn't think of the name... yes... Knorr .. as I said they are very good, not half as salty as the cubes , or tins, but have a very long shelf life .. so better than the "designer" stock in the frigo.

They do sell chicken stock in tins or in little vacuum packets here in the shops.  Not sure where your grocery deliveries are from, Jewlz - can't look on Tesco's site without registering - pants site!  I can buy a little envelope of ready-made Knorr stock here at Morrisons.  Had a look at Sainsburys & they sell a fresh stock in a plastic container (like soup) in the refrigerated section.  Plus I am sure there are tins as well.

We just find that we use stock so much for such a variety of things (well DH does anyway) - usually make a point to roast a chicken at least once a month or so, here at ours, and then I make up stock - usually 3-4 litres at once that go into the freezer.  Of course, that's dependent on that we have room in the freezer!  I did a chicken this week, but I think it's kinda warm for making stock right now - so I just bunged the carcass & the juices into the freezer for me to make stock later on when I feel like it.

I'm sure you'll do fine with ready made though! 

Don't stress out about it too much! I just use the cubes since I never have fresh chicken stock on hand and my freezer isn't big enough to store anything. Since I make risotto so often, I just have to use what I have in the cupboard. You need a lot of stock (I usually make around 800mL with one Knorr cube and one OXO cube). If I were having guests over or making it as a main course I would buy some nice chicken stock. Since it's just the two of us, I use the cubes!

Yeap, just usually use oxo cubes because its usually just me or me & J and we're not bothered.  Just can't have too often as the sodium is terrible.  
J is an excellent risotto maker and he only ever uses oxo cubes.  

J- you may not want to use many capers as I find risotto gets salty as in a hurry! Just my 2 p.

After we've had a roast duck (or even a Peking duck), I pick the carcass of the last bits of meat, shove the bones in the slow cooker to make stock, and then we use both in a risotto the next day. Believe me when I saw that duck risotto (with some green peas thrown in) is TO. DIE. FOR.

J- you may not want to use many capers as I find risotto gets salty as in a hurry! Just my 2 p.

Oh, right. I may just skip them, then.

After we've had a roast duck (or even a Peking duck), I pick the carcass of the last bits of meat, shove the bones in the slow cooker to make stock, and then we use both in a risotto the next day. Believe me when I saw that duck risotto (with some green peas thrown in) is TO. DIE. FOR.

Oh yum. I made some duck stock and it was delicious. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to carve the duck when I roasted it, which freaked DH out. He gets weird about stuff like that, and he wouldn't eat the duck because of it. I didn't understand, because it seemed to be cooked well, I followed the directions perfectly and the juices were clear, but I guess it's a much bigger carcass than a chicken, so maybe going about carving the meat off is a different process. The skin was so thick, I couldn't really get through it with the knife (yeah, we don't have any properly sharp knives, which would've helped immensely) and we just ended up staring at the roasted duck not even knowing which side was up.  Pretty sad. But I used the stock with some boneless, skin-on duck breasts in the slow cooker with hoisin sauce and lots of spices and it was delicious. 

Oh, right. I may just skip them, then.

Oh yum. I made some duck stock and it was delicious. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to carve the duck when I roasted it, which freaked DH out. He gets weird about stuff like that, and he wouldn't eat the duck because of it. I didn't understand, because it seemed to be cooked well, I followed the directions perfectly and the juices were clear, but I guess it's a much bigger carcass than a chicken, so maybe going about carving the meat off is a different process. The skin was so thick, I couldn't really get through it with the knife (yeah, we don't have any properly sharp knives, which would've helped immensely) and we just ended up staring at the roasted duck not even knowing which side was up.  Pretty sad. But I used the stock with some boneless, skin-on duck breasts in the slow cooker with hoisin sauce and lots of spices and it was delicious. 

Have you got a knife sharpener? I have like one very expensive knife and a couple of cheapos from Ikea ( a bit like this, but not quite, they don't have the one I have anymore - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20149321), I sharpen this one regularly (like almost every time I use it) and it's a great knife and I've had for several years now.
I want all expensive knives but I'm doing this thing of saving up and buying great one off pieces for my kitchen when I can and making do with cheap stuff in between.

I have one from betterware from about 1960, but something like this would work - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/57145296

You should be able to carve a duck, were you hitting the backbone rather than just to the side?
If you have problems with this you could spatchcock the duck before you roast it, to be honest I always spatchcock chickens now so I can marinate them and do them in the grill pan, it's so much quicker to roast a spatchcock chicken, a chicken for two will be done in a grill pan in 30 minutes with really moist meat and crispy skin.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/1041/spatchcocking-a-chicken

I've had lots of luck with the cooking light method - and its nice to make risottos that would taste good as a pasta dish.  I love pumpkin risotto (can subsititue butternut squash)

Super yum!

Also leek and parmesan or pea and parmesan. 

They definitely have fresh stock in the refrigerator section of Sainsbury's, and I've seen it at Tesco's as well.  Comes in plastic containers.  I usually buy two and pop one in the freezer.

My tip - Always make extra then make arancini!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/7406017/Jacob-Kennedy-recipe-Porcini-arancini.html

(I have no idea why this lady uses an egg, suspect it's a binding agent) I don't bother, cooled risotto, rolled into balls, stuff a bit of pecorino or other cheese in the centre, roll in breadcrumbs and fry, they're so wrong, yet so good!

I have some in my freezer at the moment I might have to liberate (into my belly) NOM

I wish I'd seen this yesterday! I had a little left over that I threw out yesterday afternoon! Damn! lol

It turned out pretty good. I think I would have preferred a vegetarian version, or at least one with less meat than the amount of chicken I added. Really, it was like a posh chicken and rice.  It was hard for me to tell when to add more chicken stock, but I managed. It was also overcooked, but DH thinks al dente pasta is gross, so I made sure it was soft since it was the first time I had ever made it. He said it was pretty good, so I guess that means he may not complain about having it again.  I used chicken breast, an onion, some peas, parmesan cheese, white pepper, dry sherry and oxo chicken cubes for the stock. I can see this as something I could improve upon with some nice mushrooms or other vegetables in place of the chicken, or just use one chicken breast (there were 3 in the packet, so I used all 3, and only one cup of risotto, so there wasn't enough rice for me, but this is probably why DH didn't mind it!) Obviously fresh herbs and good chicken stock would make it much better, but I didn't have any of those things on hand since the shopping is coming in tonight. Thanks for all the tips! I'm usually so crap with cooking rice, but this was pretty easy.