Oven baked pork balls with peppers

This is my first time making pork balls, and amazingly, they didn't distintegrate into little bits and pieces during the cooking process. First, mix 500 g of minced pork with 1 finely chopped garlic clove, 4 tbsp of fresh basil, finely chopped and 3 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. With damp hands, roll the mixture into balls and reserve. Spoon 3 tbsp of olive in a large roasting tin and place in the preheated oven at 200 degrees for 3 minutes. Stir in the pork balls, 1 finely chopped garlic cloves, 3 peppers, cut into chunks and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in 225 g of cherry tomatoes, and season to taste. Bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the pork balls from oven and stir in 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Serve with garlic bread.

M's verdict: 5/10
N's verdict: 8/10

M doesn't like the pork balls as the taste of the pork is too strong, overpowering. I don't have any problems with that. I quite like it as it is a mediterranean recipe, full of the natural flavours of the peppers and tomatoes. Too bad, M doesn't like it, but i am sure my parents will. I think this is definitely one of the dishes i will cook for them.

Seafood risotto

First, fry 1 finely chopped onion in olive for 4 minutes until softened but not coloured. Add 120g of arborio rice and stir for minute. Slowly add 75ml of white wine. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until reduced by half. Bring 700ml of fish stock to a gentle simmer, then add to the rice, a ladleful at a time. Cook, stirring frequently until the stock has been added and the rice is cooked. Add the seafood you like depending on how long it takes to cook them in the rice mixture although for fish, it's better to poach it or fry it separately before placing it on top of the risotto. Stir in 25 g of butter, 1 tbsp of freshly snipped chives, 1 tbsp of freshly chopped dill, 1 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

M's verdict: 9/10
N's verdict: 9/10

This was a huge success. Light and not overly rich, it was light on the stomach. The trick for me, is not to use 'natural' chicken stock and to use stock cubes as you need quite a lot of seasoning to get the appropriate taste. Oh and don't be an idiot like me, when I cooked this for the second time, i forgot to descale the salmon. While the taste was still good, it wasn't that enjoyable biting into the scales.

Cream of butternut squash soup

Cook 900g of butternut squash, peeled and cubed in olive oil for 2-3 minutes, coating it completely with oil. Add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped leek, 1 finely chopped carrot, 4 garlic cloves finely chopped and 2 finely chopped celery sticks into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Cover the vegetables with 1.7 litre of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the vegetables are tender. Blend the mixture. (I like my soups to be a bit chunky, with bits and pieces of the vegetables so I don't blend it till it forms a smooth puree.) Adjust the seasoning, add 140 ml of cream. Bring the soup to boiling point, add 1/4 tsp of chilli powder and serve with a swirl of cream on top and warm bread.

M's verdict: 7/10
N's verdict: 7/10

Good, wholesome natural food. Excellent for a quick dinner. But as M points out, it's just a soup. Nothing exceptional about it, and so the maximum it can get is a 7.

Oatmeal and raisin cookies

We were watching the movie 'Stranger than fiction' and Ana Pascal was making cookies for Harold Crick. That gave us the idea of making cookies. We spent quite a lot of time burning the first batch of cookies on Saturday but at least by the end of that day, we were more or less sure of the time required in the oven. On Sunday, it turned out pretty ok. This recipe is taken from the goodhousekeeping website.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1 1/2 cups raisins
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with nonstick foil (or use nonstick cookie sheet).

2. On waxed paper, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat sugars and butter until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in vanilla, then eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in oats and raisins.

4. Drop dough by heaping measuring teaspoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 6 minutes or until tops are golden. Cool cookies on cookie sheet 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.