oh, what a night!

I am so excited by tonight's dinner.

I was talking to my sister yesterday. She mentioned that she had been to one of her favourite local cafes and enjoyed a beetroot and goats cheese risotto. I remember having attempted something like this in the past, and both my sister and I loved it, but weren't so fussed on the bright purple colour. It was almost as vibrant in colour as the time I made a raspberry and white chocolate risotto (that's another story). So tonight, for our entree, I made a goats cheese and beetroot risotto with balsamic reduction, but experimented a bit with the technique to keep the colour as normal as possible. We loved i it! I served it with finely sliced chicory, the bitterness of which was a good contrast to the richness of the goats cheese.

For main course, I made a seafood linguine with chilli, vodka, lemon zest and breadcrumbs. In Australia, we are spoiled for wonderful fresh seafood. That is not always the case in the UK, however, our local fishmonger has great stock on Fridays and Saturdays. Their king prawns and mussels are always particularly good, and this simple dish really shows off their salty, sweet flavour.

Finally, for the cooking challenge this week (week ten, can you believe it? where has this year gone?) I made a cheesecake. My first ever. Wagamama's does an awesome ginger and lime cheese cake and this is a variation on that. I couldn't find a perfect recipe for what I wanted so I sort of played around with a few until I was happy with the taste. And it was pretty delicious (but oh, so rich!). I will definitely be making it again another time. This is a real crowd pleaser. Everyone will love it.

Recipe coming shortly!

dd.x