Garden wandering

One of my Mum's pride and joy is her vegetable garden, unfortunately i did not inherit these green fingers and although mum sends me home with pots of herbs and salad leaves i usually bring the pots and their very nearly dead components back to her for reviving a couple of weeks later.

I do love though when Alison and mum walk around the garden cracking open pea pods and devouring the peas before tossing the pods to Ozzie the dog. On a recent trip to Kildare Alison was caught in the greenhouse pinching the tomatoes. There is such a difference in taste in home grown tomatoes, they are delicious.

Roasted courgette and butternut squash with orzo risotto

I love orzo pasta for several reasons. It has a cool shape, makes for a lighter dish in comparison to the arborio rice and you can still have the slight "al-dente" bite.

Roasted courgette and butternut squash with orzo risotto
Serves 4

2 medium courgettes sliced and diced
1/2 butternut squash diced smaller than courgettes
2 tsp chopped thyme
1 onion finely diced
1 clove garlic smushed
300g orzo pasta
200ml white wine
1 litre hot vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 handful of chopped rainbow chard or spinach optional but nutritious and delicious
grated parmesan to serve

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Pop the courgette and butternut squash into a roasting dish, sprinkle with the thyme, pepper and a good slug of olive oil and roast until nice and soft, about 25-30 mins and tossing from time to time.

In a large saucepan gently soften the onion over a medium heat add the garlic and some fresh grated chilli if you so wish at this stage, cook out for a minute or two. Add the orzo and coat in all the sweet oily deliciousness. Add the wine, stir and cook for a further 2 minutes (this burns off the alcohol).

Gently pour a ladle full of hot stock into the pasta at a time, and stir until the stock has been absorbed before adding the next ladle. When the pasta is just slightly al-dente stir in the chives, parsley, chard/spinach and roasted veg.

Spoon onto plates, bowls, dishes smother with Parmesan and bon appetite. This is quite a quick dish to make especially if you roast the veg the evening before and just set aside in the fridge.