giving up

When I say I am giving up on myself, I mean it in the good way.

'Giving up' as in lunching on the most gross panini imaginable.  Meatballs and cheese!  No lovely vitamins, but boy did it warm me up and cheer me through a boring afternoon of emails.

'Giving up' as in eating the best part of an M&S coffee swiss roll in one sitting.  Because I haven't baked a cake in forever, and it looked Quite Nice.

And 'giving up' as in not being able to face pasta again, then remembering my friend Sarah making oven baked risotto carbonara from a Delia recipe.  So I made more than I needed and ate it straight out of the baking dish, which was swaddled in a tea towel and cradled in my lap.  As I listened to the FIRST episode of a NEW series of 'In and out of the kitchen' from radio 4.  I was delirious with joy.

Despite taking longer to cook than the 15 short minutes for linguine carbonara, this risotto somehow feels a little more leisurely and relaxing to put together.  The proper Delia recipe is below, however I was cooking from memory so veered from her genius.  If you would like the quantities for one person, then this is what I did:

• Preheat your oven to around 160 degrees, pop in a baking dish to warm.

• Put half a tub of pancetta cubes in a medium saucepan to crisp up.  Chuck in a washed and thinly shredded leek, and one finely diced stick of celery (about 2 weeks old in this case, but don't feel inadequate if you only have a fresh one): cook low until soft.  Bung the last bit of butter from the pat: melt.  

• Now add in 4 oz risotto rice and stir until 'slicked with butter' seems to be the writer's term of choice. Put this mix in your pre-heated baking dish, pour over 420 (very ish) ml marigold stock and return the dish to the oven.  Yes, without covering the dish.

• After 20 minutes, remove dish from oven, look disappointed at the thin liquidy contents, and fret it won't turn out very well after all.  Add in enough parmesan to make you smile, stir + return to the oven.  

• In another 15 minutes remove from oven and DELIGHT over how good and crusty and perfectly cooked it is!  Whisk together an egg and a splash of full fat milk, mix into the risotto, and leave to stand for two minutes.  

Serve with some steamed cauliflower, to make up for not having any vegetables at lunchtime.

The proper Delia recipe from the lady herself:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/italian/oven-baked-risotto-carbonara.html 

Addenda: I was initially defeated by the quantity. I hope you are too.  Having seconds in lieu of washing up is just the kind of exchange we all enjoy.