Dinnerlog #6

Haven’t done this for a while…

Sometime last year I was at a family get-together sort of thing in Warwickshire. As it was an area none of us knew (it was chosen as a good geographical centre) I took it upon myself to hunt out a good restaurant for the evening. I found The Crabmill and we were rewarded with some splendid nosh.

I was particularly impressed with my main course, a butternut squash risotto topped with a slab of cod. Because of overfishing and pollution in the North Sea, I tend to avoid cod (especially in fish & chip shops, where it tastes like slightly fishy water) but this particular fish was clearly of a finer pedigree. What really grabbed my attention, though, was the risotto. Risotto is one of those satisfyingly easy-to-make comfort foods, but the Crabmill’s chef had done a damn fine job. I resolved to learn to make this particular variety of the classic Italian ricey stodge.

Time passed, and it was only when we found ourselves in possession of a perky butternut squash a couple of weeks ago that I remembered my plan. A search of the BBC’s recipe archive turned up a pretty close match. It’s mostly yer standard risotto recipe, which isn’t difficult, but I hadn’t thought of the pine nuts or sage. I also used one glass of Noilly Prat instead of the two glasses of wine… I like to use vermouth in risotto, for the slightly “herby” flavour it adds.

Topped with a slab of swordfish from the local fishmongers and… result! Possibly not quite as good as my memory of the one at the Crabmill, but some fine-tuning should sort that out.

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