With the advent of Spring upon us, and the winter snow melting in the Alps, Rus and I are eager to get back on the trails.  So this Tasty Tuesday’s inspiration comes from the latest edition of Wilderness magazine, with an excellent recipe called “Unlucky Fisherman’s Risotto”.  According to Wilderness, “There’s an unspoken rule of fishing in the backcountry: If you don’t catch anything, then you must be prepared to eat the bait”.

This particular recipe is (hopefully) a better-tasting version of the “real” version above.  It’s well-planned, well-measured, and “weight-sensitive” - suitable for carrying and cooking on a tramp!  Since Rus is my favourite tramping partner, he decided to assist with this week’s culinary adventure -  even choosing to cook it using our camp stove and camping pots - to test its true viability.  Was it a Delight or Disaster?

Ingredients

300g Arborio rice

100ml olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

4 cubes chicken stock (or 1L)

150g chorizo sausage

1 courgette (small zucchini), chopped

1 red capsicum (bell pepper), diced

50g parmesan cheese, shaved

salt, pepper, parsley

Here’s what we did:

1. Chop ingredients as instructed

2. In a small pot, bring the chicken stock to a simmer, then cover to keep warm

3. Lightly fry the chorizo, onion, and garlic

4. Add oil and rice; stir for two minutes or until rice is well-coated in oil.

5. Pour in a cupful of stock and stir over a medium heat until it’s absorbed.

6. Add the rest of the stock a cupful at a time, stirring frequently.

7. Add the courgettes about half way through, and the capsicum with the last cupful of stock (to prevent over-cooking).

8. When all of the stock has been added, and the rice is soft, throw in the parmesan, season to taste, and garnish with parsley.

Prep time: 45 minutes; serves 4

So…how did it taste?  The chorizo did a brilliant job of flavouring the rice dish.  The capsicum and courgettes are nice additions, both for texture and depth.  The rice came out soft as expected, though we did not need to use the entire one-litre of chicken stock (instead, about 750mL).

Flatmates say:

Dylan, Arno, Leanne, and Simon all loved it.  Rus also liked it.  I thought it was great, especially as a hearty meal after a tramp; however, I could do without the parmesan, and I would skip the salt (the chicken stock provides plenty to make it tasty).  Monique was not available for testing.

I think this will become a regular recipe, from which we will begin experiments with different ingredients - both for tramping and dinners at home.  All around, this recipe was a DELIGHT!