Roasted beetroot and lamb risotto

One of my favourite meals is risotto. It’s easy and versatile, and a great way to use up leftover meat and veg…
I used leftover roast lamb from the freezer and freshly roasted beetroots straight from dad’s garden. I diced the beetroots and roasted them with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and mixed herbs. You can use the canned variety for convenience…

Roasted beetroot and lamb risotto

Olive oil and butter
1 cup arborio rice
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 litre chicken stock (homemade if you’ve got it!), heated
Lamb and roasted beetroot
Grated Parmesan

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a minute or so. Add the rice and cook, stirring until the rice starts to “pop”. Add roughly 1/3 cup of stock and mix through. Once most of this stock is absorbed, add more stock. Once all the stock has been added, add the beetroot and lamb and stir through. Add Parmesan cheese to your taste. I love lots! Serve with more Parmesan!

Very very tasty, and freezes well.

Mexican chicken & rice pie

I had some leftover rice in the fridge and some vegies that needed to be used up….

Here’s what I came up with!

 

• 500g chicken mince
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 small can corn kernels
• Mexican chilli seasoning
• 1 can mexican-chilli beans
• Grated tasty cheese
• Cooked rice (about 1 ½ cups)
• Frozen puff pastry, thawed

Brown the mince in a frypan.   Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add the onion, carrot and zucchini and stir through.  Add some mexican seasoning to your preferences and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to mix through.  Add the corn, beans and rice, and cook, stirring, until heated through.   Place some grated cheese down the centre of the pastry sheet.  Top with mince mixture and roll up to enclose.  Place in a pre-heated oven at °200C for about 20mins until pastry is puffed and golden.

 

I would recommend allowing the mince mixture to cool down before placing onto the pastry – when I tried moving the pie to the oventray, we had a slight explosion of contents!!

What to do with those leftover snags?

Got a heap of leftover sausages from last night’s bbq? Chop them into smaller pieces, place in a freezer bag (labelled with the date). Freeze until needed.

Here’s some ideas….

Curried sausages – fry some onion and garlic in a pan. Add some curry powder and cook until fragrant. Add a can of diced tomatoes and some sausages. Cook for a couple mins, then add a can of coconut milk and heat for 15 mins. Serve with rice.

Sausage risotto – add sausages and your choice of vegies (I like pumpkin and spinach) to your basic risotto recipe.

Frittata – again add sausage and your choice of vegies to your basic frittata recipe.

Sausage pasta bake – heat sausages and pasta sauce together. Toss through cooked pasta and top with grated cheese. Bake in moderate oven for 15 mins until cheese is bubbly and golden.

Breakfast bake – put sausages, halved tomatoes, bacon rashers, sliced turkish bread in an oven dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in oven for 20 mins. Crack eggs over the top and return to the oven until eggs are cooked.

 

What’s your favourite way of using your leftover snags?

Bolognaise with potato bake topping

Got some leftover potato bake???

 

I made up a batch of bolognaise sauce, cooked up some pasta and tossed it in a casserole dish – topped with the leftover potato bake.  I sprinkled some extra grated cheese over the top and baked it in the oven for about 20mins until the cheese was melted and voila!!!  Yummm…