It was a very colorful week last week, foodwise! This time of year I can certainly use some color, and my body can too. Sure, the tomatoes aren’t very tasteful and the avocados are certainly better in summer as well, but a little variation from all the cabbage and carrots is nice. Jamie’s San Fran quinoa and blackened chicken salad was from his book “15 minute meals”, but it took me at least three times longer to prepare, and I had Joop cutting all the vegetables! The funny thing is, when I looked up the recipe for you, I came across this post, which said the exact same thing! It was tasty though and I do recommend it.
monday – beef hamburgers with homemade tzatziki, arugula, cheese, red onion, tomato and avocado
tuesday – easy oven-baked risotto with bacon, leeks and peas
wednesday – Jamie’s San Fran quinoa and blackened chicken salad
thursday – spelt tagliatelle with tomatoes, zucchini, arugula, red onion, Parmesan and pine nuts
Since I’ve already featured the oven-baked risotto three times here, I thought it was time to share the recipe. It’s super tasty, creamy and with enough veggies to keep it light. It’s also super easy and quick to prepare and that’s why whenever I don’t have a lot of time or run out of ideas, I make this recipe. You should, too.
easy oven-baked risotto with bacon, leeks and peas:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Fry about 200 grams bacon until nice and crispy. Add 2 chopped leeks and fry for about 5 minutes on low heat. Add 200 grams risotto rice and fry them for about 2 minutes until glassy. Transfer everything to an oven dish and pour over 500 ml hot vegetable broth. Bake the dish in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in 200 grams defrosted frozen peas, 125 grams crème fraîche and some dried herbs* and put back in the oven for 5 minutes. That’s it!
Enjoy! (adapted from AH Allerhande recipe “Ovenrisotto met spek en prei“)
*I use a mix of tarragon and thyme and can’t imagine this dish without the distinctive taste of tarragon anymore, but I think swapping it for oregano could work wonderfully as well. Also, the Dutch name for tarragon is dragon. Awesome, right?
Your new site looks great! Hugely impressed that you did all the coding, etc on your own! Looks lovely :)
These meals look good, too. I’ve never tried oven risotto – does it end up less creamy because you don’t do all of that constant stirring like with a stove-top version?? Definitely going to try the chicken salad as we get fantastic mangoes here in Brazil! Thanks for the recipes!
Hey Sarah! The risotto is still very creamy, mainly because you add crème fraîche at the end. It’s less sticky, but for me that’s a very good thing. And with those fantastic mangoes, you should totally make this salad too; it’s one of my favorites!
Wow, can I just steal all of your meals from now on? They look delicous! Inspires me to get back into regular from-scratch cooking.
It’s definitely worth your time! Most of them take less than 30 minutes. Except for that “15 minute meal” ;)