Saffron Risotto

This recipe is a surprising favorite of my family. I'm surrounded by meat eaters who avoid meatless dishes like plague so it is a small victory of mine when I make them eat something without a piece of meat in it and not make them fell "empty".

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 700ml veggie stock (or chicken ... if you insist on the meat flavor)
• 80g and 120g butter
• 3 small onions (shallots preferably)
• 2 pinch saffron
• 400g risotto rice
• 150ml white wine (Chardonnay works best for me)
• 150g parmesan (or grana padano)
• basil or something green to decorate it with

1) Take 80g of butter, chopped shallots and a pinch of saffron and combine it well on a saucepan. Let it fry a little till it's nice yellow and golden. 

2) Add all the rice in the pan and mix it well. 

3) Pour in the wine and let it evaporate. That's an important step. You don't want it to swim in the wine, you just want a nice touch of it on your palate, trust me. And no, cheap wine doesn't belong here. 

4) When the liquid is gone, you can start adding the stock. One scoop at a time. You always pour in a little and when the rice makes it disappear, you know you can add more. When you run out of stock and your rice is al dente, you can turn off the heat. 

5) Add the rest of the butter and cheese (you can leave some cheese shavings for decoration). Mix it well. 

6) The cheese makes the rice stick together so that the risotto won't be as "runny" as most of them. All you need to do now is to serve it. Take some saffron, cheese and basil and decorate it. 

Buckwheat with Bryndza and an Egg

This may not look fancy but it's quick, healthy and tastes great. Or at least to some people because there are those who can't stand the specific smell of buckwheat.

You'll need (2 portions):

• 1/2 cup buckwheat
• 2 eggs
• 200g bryndza cheese
• onion, two cloves of garlic
• salt (maybe)
• oil

1) Buckwheat, in case this is the first time you hear of it, behaves like rice - it doubles or triples in size when it's being cooked. And the time it takes to cook it is similar. So make sure you have 1:2 ratio of buckwheat to water. Also, before cooking it rinse it in cold water. For some reason. No, I've read all the good stuff comes out when it's being warmed up, so you don't want it to go down the drain. That's also why it's important not to use too much water when cooking it - you can't pour the excess away - it all must stay in. Don't cook it in salty water - after it's cooked, you add in the bryndza which is salty on its own. For me it is usually enough but if you find it not salty enough after you've added bryndza, go ahead and add some salt.

3) Chop the garlic and a small onion and fry them on a little bit of oil till golden. This will go on the buckwheat mound when you serve it.

4) Make your eggs - I like them sunny side up, but if you want them hard boiled, go ahead.   

5) That's it. I told you it would be fast. 

Red bean and chickpea burger

There are those times I avoid meat like plague. It happens time to time and it lasts from a few days to a few months. It's unpredictable and when it happens, I usually run out of food options because my local supermarket doesn't offer much variety in fruits and veggies section. So I wind up eating legumes a lot for lunch and desperately need some cool recipes to keep my appetite at bay. I came up with a resemblance of burger which is super easy to make and delicious to eat.

You will need (4 burgers):

• 1/2 cup red beans (black beans look better in it but I ran out of them, so red it is)
• 1/2 cup chickpea
• 4 buns (buy whichever you want, or make your own, it's up to you)
• 1 avocado
• 4 tea spoons sour cream
• 1 onion
• some lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cucumber
• dry garlic
• rosemary, basil, thyme, salt

1) Leave the beans and chickpeas soak in water overnight (it will reduce their softening time later).

2) Cook the beans and chickpeas in one pot (they are ready at the same time, so no need for two separate pots) till they are so soft you can mash them with a fork.

3) Mash them with a fork :-)= I prefer to leave a part of it quite intact to add nice texture to it but if you like it soft, you can even go ahead and use a food processor.

4) Add rosemary, basil, thyme (or that herbs de provence mix) and salt - this is up to you how much. I usually end up adding about two spoonfuls of the herbs and one of salt.

5) Then create a burger resembling patties and stir-fry from both sides to make a crunchy top.

6) Take a ripe avocado and again, just a fork should do. Mash till you have a nice smooth texture; add the sour cream, a bit of salt, and a pinch (or two) of dry garlic. 

7) Chop the onion, tomatoes, and cucumber. Tear the lettuce. Cut the buns in half.

8) Assembly as you like. It should go like this: bottom half of the bun-> avocado spread-> lettuce, onion, cucumber-> patty-> tomato -> avocado spread on the top half of the bun. Yum!