Saturday 30 May 2015

Baked Carrot and Feta Risotto and random musings

We had a conversation with Sylvia the other night about what we do that is good for the environment.  There is so much that we can do for the environment.  It is a bit like having another baby with so many needs and so many options.  My regrets on activities I didn't offer Sylvia in her preschool years are eased by knowing that I did lots of fun things with her.  Likewise I know that I have managed to do some things for the environment if not everything.  Little victories.

Here is a list of some of the things we discussed with Sylvia:
  • Eating vegetarian.
  • Cooking a lot of food at home to minimise packaging.
  • Using leftovers as much as possible rather than throwing out food.
  • Cycling, walking or taking public transport when possible.
  • Looking after our plants in the backyard.
  • Using our curbside rubbish collection to recycle as much paper, plastic and green waste as possible.
  • We don't have a clothes dryer or a dishwasher.
  • Turning off lights when not in a room.
  • Buying food at farmers markets.

A lot of this sounds like common sense to me.  Yet at the same time, today as I shopped at CERES Farmers Market I felt pleased that I am shopping at farmers markets regularly, making my own sourdough bread and growing lemons and limes in my backyard.  This is the sort of lifestyle I aspired to as a young adult but just could not imagine.  And while I don't have my own water tanks, solar panels and focus on indigenous plants in our yard, I feel like I am making progress with caring for the environment.

And being environmentally aware is not all serious and grim.  Farmers markets offer lots of interesting locally grown produce.  I have recently posted about my fun cooking with purple potatoes.  Today I bring you a risotto that features both orange and yellow carrots from the farmers market.

I made it a few weeks back when I needed to make a meal in advance for a busy night.  It was also execllent when we had Sylvia's friend over for a sleepover and wanted something simple to serve.  (The girls had pasta with creamy sauce and vegies on the side.)

I had carrots and feta to use up as well as many lemons on the tree.  I really liked the sound of Joanne's risotto with carrots and feta, but Lorraine's 'forget about it three cheeses risotto' seemed a good way to give me a bit of extra time by baking rather than hovering around the stovetop.

The salty feta and sweet carrots worked together brilliantly, with just a little extra baking needed so all the water was absorbed.  At first I thought perhaps all the feta made it too salty but the final dish was so moreish that I would do it the same all over again.  And probably will.  I will also be trying different flavours in baked risottos, this promising to be the first of many.

Before I go, because I have been rambling, I will continue to digress with a few random moments from today that amused me:
  • I love listening to Greg Champion of the Coodabeens on the radio when he sings his satirical songs.  Today he sang a song about FIFA corruption to the tune of the Monkees I'm a Believer and managed to rhyme "caught in Geneva" with FIFA.  It was brilliant.
  • Possibly all the talk of corruption in soccer got Sylvia thinking.  She asked if you wear socks to play soccer.  Actually it seems that 'soccer' comes from the work as'soc'iation.
  • Tonight I read Sylvia some of the Nancy Drew's The Secret of the Old Clock that she is reading.  At one point Nancy Drew had cinnamon cake with apple sauce.  Sylvia turned to me and said, that's just like us.  It was nice to feel that she felt akin to Nancy Drew for all the good food rather than envious.  After all we had chocolate pudding for sweets tonight!

I am sending this risotto to Jac for Meat Free Mondays, to Elizabeth's Kitchen for No Waste Food Challenge, to Cindy for Gluten Free Fridays #144, and to Vanesther (and Louise) for the Italian Challenge of the Family Foodies event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Street Art in Melbourne #8 miscellaneous
Two year ago: RR Brown butter picklets (not pikelets)
Three years ago: Chocolate macaroons and the wee rascal
Four years ago: CC Moody Blues - the juice and the colour
Five years ago: Sophie's moreish tofu - adapted
Six years ago: Blueberry Soup with Heavenly Yoghurt
Seven years ago: Promoting Promite
Eight years ago: Fruity caulifower chowder

Baked Carrot and Feta Risotto
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella and Eats Well with Others
Serves 6

2-3 tsp olive oil
1 leek, sliced
4 carrots (orange and yellow), diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
4 cups stock
200g feta cheese, crumbled (or less)
1-2 tbsp chopped parsley
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 180 C (or 200 C if you have a slow oven like mine).

Fry leek and carrot in oil over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.  Stir in arborio rice for about 1 minute.  Scrape rice mixture into a baking dish (about 9 x 13 inch) and mix with stock, feta, parsley and lemon juice.  Cover with foil.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes.  It is ready when the liquid has been absorbed.  (This took 60 minutes in my oven but I would advise to check at 40 minutes and decide if it needs more time at this stage.)

On the stereo:
The Basement Tapes Raw: Bob Dylan

27 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the shoutout Johanna! I'm always honoured when you take the time to make one of my recipes. It looks very tasty indeed! And good for you for doing everything that you can for the environment and teaching the next generation :)

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - I wish I had time to make more of your recipes - must try some more combos with the baked risotto

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  2. I always enjoy your musings! How lovely that you're able to live the kind of life you aspired to when you were younger. Growing your own lemons and limes does sound rather idyllic (and good for the environment of course!).

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    1. Thanks emma - I think I am more astounded that I do some of the things I never thought I would but it is nice to be evolving in ways I like. I am loving having fresh lemons and limes to use liberally in everything at the moment!

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  3. Yum, this looks like a delicious dish. I don't consciously think I am doing anything good for the environment, but it pleased me that I could tick off a number of things on your list that I already do. I would love to grow my own fruit and vegetables - currently not possible in my living arrangements. I am a proud grower of parsley and basil - I have not mastered any other herbs yet (read - learned how not to kill them), but two is a good start.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I think I wrote the list feeling like it wasn't earthshattering but it was good to talk with sylvia about what we do and feel that we do make some effort. I am impressed at your growing of parsley and basil - they are two herbs I would love to grow but have never done brilliantly with

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  4. That's lovely about Nancy Drew-- we're reading Enid Blyton here and not even the numerous mentions of treacle on porridge is convincing my daughter to go back to eating porridge, no matter how much I try to coax her (porridge was my life saver of a breakfast before both kids decided to hate it overnight!)

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    1. Thanks Faye - I don't think sylvia would be convinced to eat anything because someone in a book does - unlike it was hopelessly sweet like porridgies. I finally started to like porridge when sylvia was young but am a bit off it now so I am a bit sympathetic with your daughter - much as I aspire to an enid blyton life - I will just have to be content with lashings of ginger beer :-)

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  5. How wonderful that you had that conversation with Sylvia. I think most children are smart enough to see looking after the environment as a logical thing to do; I don't know what happens to that clarity of thought as they get older. I remember there was an enormous campaign around greenhouse gases in the 1980s, and loads of other children got involved via "Blue Peter" to design campaign materials.

    An excellent list of very easy things that most people can do to reduce their impact on the planet, and another gorgeous dish.

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    1. Thanks New Epicurean - it was nice to have the conversation so that Sylvia can feel good about what we do - I think it might have been something she asked about. I remember all the stuff about the ozone layer in the 1980s but no one talks about it any more

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  6. The food pages of those childhood books create the most wonderful subtle memories don't they. I think that's pretty wonderful she said you were like Nancy Drew one.

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    1. Thanks Brydie - food in childhood books is always great comfort food - one of sylvia's favourite sweet slices comes from a Katie Morag book - and I was pleased she compared my baking to Nancy Drew - would love to have a housekeeper like her Hannah Gruen :-)

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  7. I do try to do as much for the environment as possible so I have a trolley and I walk to the local shops and do my shopping that way. We also try to recycle as much as possible. I do have a dryer but I don't use it often but I'm very keen on my dishwasher! xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - I think I like to feel pleased about what I do because having a small child makes it harder to do some of the more environmentally friendly activities like riding my bike and taking my trolley to the supermarket which I do less since Sylvia was born. Though I guess having kids makes you think about other stuff like reducing cleaning supplies with nasty chemicals around the house

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  8. This sounds so yummy. I adore feta cheese! Just love it so I'll be giving this a whirl! Great list of 'do-able' environmentally friendly pointers there. You could even add in there to use Jute / life long bags rather than the plastic ones readily given at most shops / supermarkets. 'We' get given so many plastic bags here in the UK.
    Angela x

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    1. Thanks angela - Using your own bags rather than plastic bags is a great addition to this list - it is so hard when you have bags thrust at you so quickly - it would be good if you were asked more if you needed a bag esp if you are carrying a bag and buying small things - it gets tiring to continually say I don't need a bag!

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  9. Im loving the sound of this. So simple and so frugal too. I hope I get to try it out.

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    1. Thanks Laura - it is very simple and frugal - hope you enjoy it

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  10. I love how you combined our two risottos together to make this pan of baked deliciousness! SO much easier when you don't have to do all that stirring.

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    1. Thanks joanne - the great flavours of your risotto and the ease of baking it were a great pairing

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  11. I love your reflections on this topic and am very glad you're living the life you want. There is something very rewarding in that even aside from the benefits for the environment. I like the sound of this risotto too - so much easier than stirring, as Joanne said!

    You may be interested to hear that Mr Bite, who is very environmentally focused, tells me that dishwashers are actually more environmentally friendly than hand washing, so long as you run them when full and get an eco-friendly model. Apparently the water used with hand washing is greater, although I also wonder if the research is skewed by people like me desperately wanting justification to get one! (We don't have one either at the moment but I really miss our Australian one.)

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    1. Thanks Kari - it is nice to feel I am getting some things right in my life - and very interesting to hear your dishwasher information - E would love a dishwasher but it is not practical in our current place so maybe one day we would have one. However I do wonder about the processing of the hardware and also the waste when you have to replace old dishwashers also is taken into account when Mr Bite says they are environmentally friendly.

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    2. Yes, very good point - like the research coming out that says hybrid cars are not as eco-friendly as we once thought because of the manufacturing and need to dispose of batteries when they run out! Maybe they will continue improving, and by the time you have space, there will be a model with all the ticks of approval.

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  12. Great post. It is so important for children to learn how to look after their planet as early as possible and to talk about what we can do as often as possible. It would be great to have the time to be more self-sufficient than I am, but we do what we can.
    The risotto sounds very tasty. Definitely my sort of dish!

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    1. Thanks Kate - it is good for kids to be aware of looking after the planet so that it becomes second nature - I made this list to say that while there are many things we don't do we also need to appreciate what we do and for kids to understand that these activities are important.

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  13. I do love a baked risotto, so much easier than standing at the stove constantly stirring - although sometimes I am rather in the mood for that too. A perfect entry for the latest Family Foodies challenge. Thanks for linking up :) And I love our list of things you can do to be more environmentally friendly. If only all of us could take on board just a couple of these ideas...

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  14. A lovely recipe! Thank you for sharing it with the No Waste Food Challenge :) Interestingly, it wasn't until my husband showed me an article in the BBC Focus magazine that said it uses less energy (and is therefore better for the environment!) to run a dishwasher on economy mode than it does to reheat the hot water tank over and over again to wash dishes by hand, that I was convinced to get a dishwasher. :)

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