Seafood Risotto (Risotto ai frutti di mare) with carrot cream soup

Today hubby placed order for a risotto as he missed the food in Italy so much. So today I decided to prepare a Seafood Risotto (Risotto ai frutti di mare). Since only two of us I did not want to make big portion, instead of going to wet market to buy 2 kg of fish and seafood to make own fish stock, I bought a pack of risotto with fish stock powder. I also needed  a mixture of seafood – I love mussels, clams, prawns, sliced squid n diced octopus. For convenience, you can find the frozen assorted seafood pack from shop. Today I bought one pack with all the seafood I needed and its size allowed me to do three times so I divided them  into 3 portions which cost only $30 and stored the rest of 2 portions in freezer for future use.

Seafood Risotto

Ingredients:

risotto rice: 1 pack (for two portion) with fish stock powder

mussels, clams, prawns, sliced squid, diced octopus: 500 g,1 kg if with shells

parmesan cheese: 50 g (grated)

parsley & tomato: some (chopped)

Seasonings:

chicken powder: 1 tbsp

olive oil: 1 tbsp

sugar: 1/2 tsp

water: 500 ml

pepper: some

Season the seafood with chicken powder if they are frozen ones, no need to season if they are fresh. Fry the seafood with olive oil (1 tbsp) till half done and then remove them from heat. Pour the water into a saucepan, add the pack of risotto, sugar & salt, stirr well and then bring it to boil, stir thoroughly until it boils, then turn to medium heat and leave it to cook for 15 mins without a lid till sauce thickens and risotto gets softened but sticky. Add the fried seafood, parsley & tomato and add a bit water if need, cook for 5 mins. Drizzle pepper and sprinkle grated parmesan, stir till cheesy and done!

You always need a soup to kick off a risotto. Today I made a  carrot cream soup as I still have some carrot left (but I didnt really use cream but milk for better diet).  Steps, easy:

Carrot cream soup

Ingredients:

carrot:  2 sticks

milk: 200 ml

water: 50ml

Seasonings:

chicken powder: 1 tbsp

salt: 1 tsp

Simply peel, dice the carrot as usual. Pour milk & water into blender, and then add also the carrot. Blend them until smoothened. Pour them into a pot n bring to heat till boiling. Put the soup in bowls and drizzle some pepper. Ready to serve!

Carrot Pear Juice, Lemon Coke Chicken Wings

Yesterday we dined out in a HK-style Italian restaurant, we ordered a 牛肝菌燒雞煱配珍珠飯 & honey pomelo chicken wings. However the food were just soso especially the 4 chicken wings which cost us $29 but tasteless. So my hubby asked if I could do chicken wings again, coke flavoured. And so today I decided to do a special recipe - lemon coke chicken wings so that I can make good use of my lovely lime juice XD I bought a small bottle of lime juice from 759 store. They have two colours: yellow as lemon juice & green as lime juice. And they are in fruit shape, so cute! I picked the green one as I need lime to do my Thai and Vietnamese for some occasions.

Ingredients: (for 2 person)
Chicken Wings: 6-8 pcs
Coke: 200 ml
Seasonings:
Dark soy sauce: 4 tbsp
Rock sugar: optional (I prefer not to add any sugar as coke already contains enough)
Rice wine: 2 tbsp
Water: flex

1. Season the chicken wings as usual. Chicken powder is always helpful if yours are frozen ones.
2. Pour coke, soy sauce, rock sugar into a small pot and heat it until boiling.
3. Add chicken wings and pour some water on it until the sauce can cover all wings.
4. Continue boiling until the sauce thickens and carmeralizes. Done.

Some people may saute the chicken wings before pouring in coke and sauce. However I prefer a more healthy diet so I usually skip the sauteing step.

Today is Green Monday and though we broke the rule & had wings, I made also a healthy juice with my new blender to strike a diet balance - Carrot Pear Juice. Carrot is always a gd veggi as it contains lots of fibres & vitamins A, and it's nearly starch-free! While Pear also contains some fibres, vitamins C and is less allergenic than many other fruits (in chinese medicine it is considered as 'mild' 溫性水果')

Ingredients:
Carrot: 1 stick
Pear: 1 pc (there are variety of pears & I love to pick the sweeter types like 水晶梨)
Water: 200 ml

Just peel, dice and blend with your blender. That is!