Ashtray Wednesdays: Bridges, Castles and Kafka

What can I say about Prague, other than that I've never been. I've never seen the impressive architecture of the buildings or walked on the cobblestoned alleys. I've never crossed the bridges and had coffee along the riverbank contemplating my ascent to the castle.

But a friend went last November and that's how I came to have this small memento of her and the wonderful time she had in this dreamy city in the middle of Europe. I am not going to say many things about her because I have already mentioned her here and here (what can I do she travels a lot and as she said to me the other day "It is her obligation to bring me back an ashtray" :)!

So for the time being I have to console myself by reading Kafka's masterpieces and living his nightmares in my dreams.

The Queen's Old Sports Clothes

Well it's official! I'm no longer the queen of the unfit and disabled! I'm the servant of the fit. The peasant girl who aspires to become like the blonde, skinny yet muscular, look how firm my ass is, goddess who was exercising pulling and pushing and lifting her body in Lara Croft style with just (!) 2 yellow ropes hanging from the ceiling of this super hip new gym I joined last Thursday.

What was I thinking!! Leaving the safe enclosure of my physiotherapy clinic. I was the indisputable queen of fitness there! I was the one-eyed woman in a kingdom full of blind men! But I was bored. I was tired of looking at old, hairy, mushie chests and bold heads. I was terrified at the idea of hearing yet another depressing story about injuries, accidents and strokes. I was desperate for some sparkle and glamour! Ah Vanity! The deadliest of all sins!

But I won't give up! I'm playing in the big boys league now. My sports clothes might be a bit older and more tarnished than I imagined, I will wear them with pride! And tomorrow at 9am, I will take on the pilates ring and ball and fight for my rightful place in the fitness food chain! This is my manifesto! And this is my anthem....

 

Opium Dreams

Opium Dreams by Attila Sassy

If ever a large Russian woman named Ludmilla tells you to eat poppy seed paste with honey before bed, do it, it works!

I finally slept after a long period of white nights. OK I'm exaggerating a bit. My nights are not exactly white, more like "polka dotted black and white". I fall asleep but I wake up every 3 hours (like a baby - I'm aware of all the associations behind this grrrr!). I tried different types of pills. Some worked, some didn't. So I asked Ludmilla, after all, she managed to spring clean my kidneys with her potent herbal concoction, maybe she'd be able to mend my broken relationship with Morpheus!

The paste worked. No breaks! But the dreams! The dreams were bizarre to say the least. I visited all genres, horror, comedy, romance! All in one night. The colours were so vibrant, the reds and the oranges just mesmerising!

I treasure my dreams. I write then down. They are after all direct messages from my subconscious, my Jabba the Hut ego. I try to listen in as much as possible. No Kubla Khan is going to come out of them but the colours inspired me to start painting this

The beginning 

Intensity

Almost done

Ashtray Wednesdays: Glago what?

It's about time I write something about the country that has been our host for the past 3 years, Croatia and more specifically, Zagreb since it is here that I got this special, handmade ashtray with those peculiar looking symbols.

More on the symbols later, now lets talk Zagreb...For starters it is the greenest city I've ever lived in. Apart from that, most of the northern part of the city is perched upon several densely forested hills, there is a huge park very close to the centre and tens of smaller parks and gardens dotted all over the city. It is a dog-walkers paradise and I don't exaggerate when I say that each Zagrebian has at least one dog in their household. There is also a river, the Sava, that flows through the southern part of the city but unlike other city rivers its banks have not been commercially or residentially developed. Maybe due to the fear of flooding which also led the city to invest into the creation of a series of man-made lakes, yet another source of green grass and white barked trees.

The river marks the boundary between Old Zagreb and New Zagreb (Novi Zagreb), an area that was developed during the communist years. Even if you want to forget this, the concrete square block architecture of the buildings won't let you and during the grey months of Autumn and Winter this part of the city is quite depressive. The old city is on the other hand highly reminiscend of it's Austro-Hungarian cousins, with a petite but equally gilted opera house, wide boulevards and yet more parks!

Life in Zagreb is nice and slow, sometimes too slow for my liking! It is a small city but it is slowly catching on. Zagreb's heart beats at and around the centre square, where I found this ashtray just before Easter 2010. There is always some sort of exhibition or traditional art and natural products market taking place on the square. I remember that it was an early spring day and I was heading to Georgie's office in Gorni Grad when I went past a stall with handmade earthenware decorative items. I was drown by the runic symbols on the ashtray and asked the older man behind the stall to tell me what they were. He turned to a teenage boy, his son, who told me in English that they were letters from the Glagolitic alphabet. But his English was not so good and soon he was destructed by other costumers and left me hanging with my questions.

I bought the ashtray. I think it is one of the most beautiful items in my collection and when I went home I looked this funny sounding word up. It turns out that it has nothing to do with runes. It is a Slavic script derived from the Greek cursive script around the middle of the 11th century by St. Cyril who translated the holy books from Greek into Old Slavic. The letters on the ashtray most probably mean "I Speak" nothing.

I played a bit with the colours of the picture....and created a funkier version

On Change and Giant Slingshots

There comes a time when things stop being the same. Change comes instantly and you have to adjust whether you like it or not. But it can also be a long, copious journey.

For the lucky ones it is easy, even enjoyable. An evolution into something different and new, good or bad. 

I am not lucky. Change is my enemy. But lately, I've been picturing myself sitting in the pocket of a giant slingshot, almost ready to get catapulted away. I hold back. Fear, resentment, indignation are sitting there with me. I fight with all my strength.

Is this how getting ready to change feels like? 

If yes, then I've better start preparing for the landing!

 

Cloud over my Head

Sunday

Supposed to be a sun-day, instead there is a sad sad cloud over my head. It weeps for a while and then stops. 

I try to send positive thoughts, to make it happy even for a while, to smile and let the sun glow through its teeth. I can't. It has no mouth. 

Even Psipsini is sad. Stay in. Wet balcony - not her favourite place. 

Went to lunch at a cosy little konoba for wild mushroom soup and creamy Gorgonzola njoki. 

The cloud is still sobbing over my roof . 

I'm thinking about pink orchids and yellow tulips.

"The Psychopath Test"

I did not actually read this book. I listened to it, narrated by Jon Ronson himself on a fancy little app called Audible.co.uk. I've never heard of Jon Ronson before and I must confess that when I downloaded the book I did it in a hurry and didn't really read any reviews. So imagine my surprise when I listened to the opening sentence " This is a book about madness" he read, in a very characteristic Welsh accent that brought back memories of years past. I thought the book was some sort of funny, light, modern novel! Well I could not have been more wrong!!! But I kept listening. The first chapter is a very odd introduction to the main theme of the book (psychopathy, mental disorders, the people who have them and those who diagnose them) but in my opinion it could actually serve as a nice short mystery story. I kept listening. Then things changed. Became somewhat darker, scarier more important. Scientologists where involved and visits to a real life scary high security mental hospitals and Haitian former death-squad leaders! I became a bit apprehensive. Was it real? Was it fiction?

I went online. Searched for reviews. Mostly good ones. I was relieved. I hadn't spent my money in some preaching manual of the occult. Jon Ronson is an investigative journalist albeit a more humorous than the rest of the bunch! Read a bit more about him and went back to the book; I din't want to spoil the trip of my discovering him.

Most of the reviewers mentioned that they got really scarred while reading the book. Strange, I didn't and I am a person who scares quite easily. Maybe because instead of reading I was listening and I could get the sarcasm with which he looked at some of the issues (the rudimentary test devised by a reality TV producer in choosing the subjects of her show - if you' re on Prozac you're mad enough to go on TV a bring home high ratings) but also the graveness in his voice when towards the end of the book he draws some really disturbing conclusions.

Do "psychopaths make the world go around"? Are the symptom check-lists comprising the DSM-IV manual and the 20 questions of the Bob Hare Psychopath Test, powerful weapons in the hands of psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies and even parents who feel relieved having their over-active children diagnosed as bipolar? You can judge for yourself when you read the book. I was convinced!

PS.1 If I understood the writer correctly and if the selfreferencing parts scattered all over the book are true then I have to be careful of what I say in this post! I am sure he is the type of guy who Googles himself a little bit more often than the rest of us (I've done it also and came up with a portrait of a very old lady who was an inmate in a Greek prison in the 1900's!!!) and I really don't want to get on his wrong side.

PS. 2 Should I be troubled by the fact that my therapist refuses to comment on the questions posed by the book?

Recipe: Stuffed Butternut Squash

This is one of those recipes that you read and say "gosh why didn't I think of that?" I use butternut squash a lot, mainly in a supporting role in soups, risottos and bakes. I never thought that it can play the leading role so that the whole recipe could revolve around it or better yet in it! Maybe it's because by the time I'm done peeling and de-seeding I just want to throw it in the pan, be done with it and go nurse my cuts, bruises and aching muscles! 

But this recipe simply makes all your senses happy! Your eyes because of the vibrant colours, your nose because it smells like summer in south of France (or Greece for my sake), your taste-buds because it is simply delicious. And you don't have to peel the squash! Hooray!

I found the recipe while browsing through the BBC Good Food website, an all time favourite source of inspiration. I did not change it, apart from that I used 1 medium and 1 small sized squash and I still had some leftovers from the stuffing, which Georgie was more than happy to make sure vanished from the bowl!

So no more talk! Here is the recipe!


Stuffed Butternut Squash
From Caroline Hire, BBC Good Food Online
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side. The recipe can easily be doubled
Ready in 1 hour
Ingredients
1 medium & 1 small butternut squash
Olive oil , for roasting
1 big pinch dried oregano
150 gr (5 oz) boiled quinoa
100 gr (3.5 oz) feta cheese
50 gr (1.7 oz) toasted pine nuts
1 small carrot, grated (around 50g or 1.7 oz)
Juice half lemon
1 red pepper, chopped
50 gr (1.7 oz) pitted black olives
2 spring onions , chopped

Instructions
If you do not have ready boiled quinoa, boil it in water or stock. Drain and keep aside.
Heat the oven to 200C/400F. Halve the butternut squashes, scoop out the seeds and score the flesh with a sharp knife.
Arrange the halves on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, sprinkle with dried oregano and cook for 40 minutes.
When ready, take out of the oven, add the chopped peppers to the tray alongside the squash and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile mix the rest of the ingredients. Take the tray out of the oven and carefully transfer the peppers to the stuffing mix. Stir together and spoon the filling onto the butternut squash. Return to the oven for 10 mins.
Serve and enjoy!

Blue Nails vs Black Cat

Who Won?

Belgrade in April...

... is shyly allowing spring to creep in and cover the bleakness of the concrete with every shade of green. 

 It was freezing cold when we arrived early this morning. I had to "borrow" a pair of socks, which now has taken its rightful place as the newest addition to my Box of Stolen Socks, from a friend. 

Having sorted the feet heating problem, we set of for a traditional Beogradski breakfast: Hemendex! Mmmm it sounds so exotic, seriously intriguing! I cannot wait. I'm salivating and imagining cuts of smoked pork with vegetables and toasted bread and, and, and what I get is 2 fried eggs sunny side up and a couple of  wafer thin ham slices! 

You see Hemendex is actually Ham-and-Eggs written as it's pronounced! Genious! And it was not half bad either! The chef in charge of the breakfast buffet informed us of the pedigree of his eggs. These are no ordinary eggs. They are organic from free range chickens that roam the back yards of his home village. I'm sold. From now on, Hemendex is my breakfast of choice when in Belgrade.

We did not have a lot of time to roam around the city this time. Our friend/driver had to visit her father at the hospital so she dropped us off at  Ušće  Tower Mall. The Ušće Tower was built in 1964 and served as headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist League in former Yugoslavia. The original building was 105 meters tall but during the 1999 NATO air strikes the building was hit setting the upper flours on fire. Between 2003 and 2005 it was reconstructed and in 2009, a shopping mall opened at the south side of the tower. For me this building represents the inevitable but still quite ironic change in the character of former communists countries: during the "golden years" of Yugoslavia the lights were left turned on in the building so at night it would spell out "TITO" nowadays the lights stay on to advertise clothing brands!

After we paid our respects to the altar of consumerism (3 new nail polishes for my ever expanding collection), we set off again for the centre and Skadarska Street. The sun had come out, bringing with him hundreds of Sunday church-goers who decided to ignore the cold northerly wind and enjoy their coffee after Mass in this cobblestoned little street. Skadarska is in the centre of the tourist trail. Here you can find a few really good restaurants offering traditional Serbian cuisine. And they are not very expensive either. We had a wonderful meal at Ima Dana. The tall, white haired, regal looking manager of the restaurant Mr. Vezilić informed us that it was one of the oldest restaurants on the street and there was actually a song written about it! 

As for our meal it was a carnivore's paradise! Cevapi, ustipsi, pjeskavica, kajmak, pork chops, turkey with prosciutto yummy and double yummy... and for dessert... tufahija. A baked apple in light syrup stuffed with walnuts and honey! Simply divine, the perfect dessert to finish off a meat lovers feast. 

Sadly we had to leave and head back to Zagreb. Not to worry thought. We will go back soon, at the end of May for a Pink Martini concert! So next time I will tell you how is Belgrade in May...

Until then....

The Soundtrack of My Thoughts

I wake up every morning with songs in my head. My own private radio alarm clock! It makes no difference if I'm happy or depressed, a song is always there to welcome or grunge at the new day. Lately the songs are quite happy and lyrical. Thought, there where times back in September - October when they very dark and somehow annoying. A definite reflection of my inner psyche.

Today I woke up with "Neutron Star Collision" playing full blast between my eardrums. It is undeniably one of my favourites, even though I'm not a fan of the whole vampire saga, haven't read the books and haven't seen the movies, I like Muse very much. For me they are "The Cure" of the noughties. Their music is inspirational and the lyrics are poetic with deeper meanings.

Now I'm ready to turn in for the night and song is still playing - a musical carpet to keep my thoughts warm. I'm curious about tomorrow's playlist. Good night!

Fructose Fighter - Week 2 - Going Nuts with Nuts

From http://spinarecipe.com/Blog/2010/08/25/going-nutty-for-nuts

One of my favourite things in being on a fructose free diet, apart from the weight loss (1kg so far), is that I can eat a lot of nuts! Cashews, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts I love them all. 


For the past couple of weeks I have substituted sugary desserts with a handful or two of nuts and I can assure you that I'm very satisfied. 


Sure they contain more calories than your average mid-afternoon snack but they are packed with protein, fibre, healthy omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. 


In a nutshell, they fill me up and make me forget about sugar. 

Spaghetti with Turkey in Coconut Cream and Peanut Butter Sauce - Μακαρόνια με Γαλοπούλα, Κρέμα Καρύδας και Φυστικοβούτυρο

Which is your best cure for hangover? 
For me as strange as it sounds, is a nice, warm and filling pasta dish!

Yesterday, Georgie and I had a blast at a wine tasting event, sampling amazing wines by Roxanich, one of Croatia's best wineries!

Today, I woke up with a headache. Eight glasses of wine and a 15 degree drop in the temperature will do that to you! Frankly, I did not want to see or think about food, but I had half a can of coconut cream in my fridge that had to be utilised immediately. So I went into my kitchen with the apprehension of one who has seen the world spinning the night before and scanned my fridge and pantry for a way to turn coconut cream into a pasta dish.

This is what I came up with: a dish that uses the creaminess of the coconut to make up for it being dairy free and the saltiness of the peanut butter to balance the sweetness of the coconut. I added turkey meat to give it more substance and carrots and peppers for colour and more flavour.

By the time I finished cooking the headache was almost gone and I was seriously contemplating the idea of having a small glass of Roxanich Rose 2009 together with my pasta. Isn't it true that sometimes the best hangover cure is to drink a little of whatever caused it? 

Spaghetti with Turkey in Coconut Cream and Peanut Butter Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2/3 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 green pepper sliced
• 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons salty peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons coconut cream
• 2 boneless skinless turkey breasts cut into small cubes
• 1 carrot sliced into ribbons using a potato peeler
• 250 gr (8 oz) rice spaghetti

Instructions

1. In a large sauce pan boil the spaghetti according to directions on the package. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, onion and saute for 4 minutes.
3. Add the soy sauce, peanut butter, coconut cream and bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Set the sauce aside.
4. Heat another teaspoon of oil in another skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the turkey for 5 minutes. Add 2 - 3 tablespoons of water or chicken stock.
5. Add the pepper and carrot strips. Sauté until the turkey is done and vegetables are crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes.
6. Add the turkey and vegetable mixture to the sauce. Toss the peanut sauce with the spaghetti and serve.

Μακαρόνια με Γαλοπούλα, Κρέμα Καρύδας και Φυστικοβούτυρο

Για 2 άτομα

Υλικά

• 2 κουταλάκια του γλυκού σησαμέλαιο
• 1 σκελίδα σκόρδο λιωμένη
• 2/3 κουταλάκι του γλυκού τζίντζερ λιωμένο
• 1 κρεμμύδι, ψιλοκομμένο
• 1 πράσινη πιπεριά, κομμένη σε λωρίδες
• 1 κουταλιά σάλτσα σόγιας
• 2 κουταλιές φυστικοβούτυρο
• 5 κουταλιές της σούπας κρέμα καρύδας
• 2 στήθη γαλοπούλας κομμένα σε μικρά κομμάτια
• 1 καρότο κομμένο σε λωρίδες με peeler
• 250 gr σπαγγέτι από ρύζι ή noodles ριζιού

Εκτέλεση

1. Βράζουμε τα μακαρόνια σύμφωνα με τις οδηγίες του πακέτου. Στραγγίζουμε και αφήνουμε στην άκρη. 
2. Ζεσταίνουμε 1 κουταλιά από το λάδι σε ένα τηγάνι σε μέτρια φωτιά. Προσθέτουμε το σκόρδο, το τζίντζερ και το κρεμμύδι και σοτάρουμε για 4 - 5 λεπτά. 
3. Προσθέτουμε τη σάλτσα σόγιας, το φυστικοβούτυρο και την κρέμα καρύδας και αφήνουμε να πάρουν βράση. Χαμηλώνουμε τη φωτιά και σιγοβράζουμε για 5 λεπτά. Την κατεβάζουμε από τη φωτιά. 
4. Ζεσταίνουμε το υπόλοιπο λάδι σε ένα τηγάνι και τσιγαρίζουμε τα κομμάτια της γαλοπούλας. Προσθέτουμε 2 - 3 κουταλιές της σούπας νερό ή ζωμό κοτόπουλου. 
5. Προσθέτουμε τις πιπεριές και τα καρότα και μαγειρεύουμε μέχρι γίνει η γαλοπούλα περίπου 5 - 8 λεπτά. 
6. Προσθέτουμε τη γαλοπούλα και τα λαχανικά στη σάλτσα. 
7. Ανακατεύουμε τη σάλτσα με τα μακαρόνια και σερβίρουμε. 

Ashtray Wednesdays - Sand of Wonders

This was a random pick, I swear! 

I keep all my ashtrays wrapped in bubbles in two baskets that sit on the top of my kitchen cabinets. 

For this week's ashtray, I climbed on a chair, stretched out my arm and grabbed the first one I touched. I unwrapped it and voila! Maja's ashtray from Dubai!

So what's the big deal, you ask. The deal is that Maja gave me this ashtray exactly 2 years ago! I have already written a post about her and how important her understanding and support have been to me for the past couple of years and I don't really believe in coincidences. I believe in what Carl Jung referred to as synchronicity, "events bound by synchronicity are connected by similarity, by meaning, by resonance, rather than by causality." 

To my understanding the meaning of this ashtray is that instead of talking about Maja I have to reveal a few more details about that very challenging period between April 2009 and May 2010. 

So here it goes... A few months after I turned 30, things started to fall apart. We had just moved to Zagreb and before I had the chance to learn how the public transport worked I had to pack again and head back to Athens for an intensive session of preparatory courses for an MFA exam. In the meantime the ever present back pain decided to become even more annoying and I ended up in a doctor's office hearing that I was at stage 4 of disk protrusion (stage 5 is surgical removal of the said disk). I  admit that I did not pay the required attention to his warnings and I set off for Athens, where my schedule was so hectic that within two weeks my left leg went completely numb. 

To cut the story short, the runaway disk between L5/S1 vertebrae was "successfully"  removed on 17 June 2009. After that you'd expect that I would be cautious and take care of my injured spine...Well I did take care of something but that was not my spine! 

In the first two months after the operation I went to a U2 concert (and jumped around like there was no tomorrow) and on a 7 hour (back and forth) train trip to Vienna and the subsequent museum hopping and shopping spree that a visit to Vienna entails. I went about my everyday life in my usual back surgery ignoring way until one Sunday afternoon I decided to take on the only advice I got from my doctor and go swimming! 

Now there are many styles that creatures like us who don't possess gills and fins and tails swim. Mine is more like "the frog" style. Useless to say that this is the completely wrong way to swim if you had a back operation. By August 17th, I was in such a bad shape I could not get out bed, the pain was excruciating.  There was no painkiller available that would make the pain go away. Believe me because I tried them all! Then a second operation was scheduled for the 17th of September (here's Jung's synchronicity again in all its glory!). This time the doctors were painfully explicit in their advise. I had to do everything right otherwise they would have to put screws in my spine and who wants that, not me for sure. So this is where Maja comes in. She was given the very difficult task of educating, comforting and generally standing by me and my injured body. She healed my muscles but she also helped me heal my soul. She gave me this ashtray after a trip to Dubai with her lovely husband Janko for Easter 2010 which was on April 4th!

Dubai is a truly wondrous place, the epitome of innovation, grand ideas, even grander constructions, luxury and for some, kitschness. They have the tallest building in the world, a ski centre in the middle of the dessert, two  man-made constellations of islands, lots and lots of sand and camels. Maja and Janko had a great time when they were there, as did me and Georgie, but this is another ashtray and another story!

P.S.1 This was meant to be posted yesterday 4/4/12, but I fell asleep while writing it. Anyone knows what Jung might have said about that?

P.S.2 If anyone is interested in reading about the not so shiny side of Dubai here is very informative article by Johann Hari of the Independent.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Feta Cheese / Ριζότο με Κολοκύθα και Φέτα

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

I always try to cook with ingredients that are in season. Having said that, I know that Butternut squash is not a "spring" vegetable, but I saw this organic, deliciously orange squash the other day at the market and I could not resist the temptation! 

This risotto was supposed to be beetroot red but I could not find fresh beetroots, hence, the squash. It seems that 99% of the beetroots produced in this country end up being pickled and I did not want to use those!
The risotto, thought, turned out really good, the sweetness of the squash was balanced by the saltiness of the feta cheese and the crunchiness of the brown rise. Enjoy it with a glass of chilled, fresh Pinot Gris.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Butternut Squash Risotto with Feta Cheese
Adapted from "The Food Doctor Ultimate Diet" by Ian Marber
Serves: 2
Ready in 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 500 ml (17 fl oz) vegetable stock
• 150g (5 oz) brown rice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 small butternut squash cut into small squares
• 1/2 teaspoon lightly toasted caraway seeds
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 100g baby spinach
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 medium head of fennel, cut into fine slices
• 150g (5 oz) feta cheese crumbled

Procedure

1. Boil the rice with the vegetable stock, garlic clove and cinnamon stick for about 35 minutes or until the rice is tender. Drain the remaining liquid, remove the cinnamon stick and mash in the garlic.
2. While the rice is cooking, heat a frying pan and lightly toast the caraway seeds. Remove the seeds and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the baby spinach leaves and cook gently until they wilt. Remove from the pan and set aside. 
3. Add one more tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onion, fennel and butternut squash until golden brown. Stir in the spinach and caraway seeds. Combine with the boiled rice and add salt and freshly ground black pepper. 
4. Place the risotto in a shallow baking dish and scatter over the feta cheese. Bake for 10 minutes into a hot oven and serve.

~~~~~~~~~

Ριζότο με Κολοκύθα και Φέτα

Εμπνευσμένο από το βιβλίο "The Food Doctor Ultimate Diet" by Ian Marber

Για 2 άτομα

Έτοιμο σε 30 λεπτά

Υλικά

• 500 ml ζωμό λαχανικών
• 150 γρ καστανό ρύζι
• 1 σκελίδα σκόρδο
• 1 στικ κανέλας
• 1 μικρή κολοκύθα καθαρισμένη και κομμένη σε τετράγωνα
• 1/2 κουταλάκι του γλυκού σπόρους κύμινου 
• 2 κουταλιές της σούπας ελαιόλαδο
• 100 γρ σπανάκι
• 1 κόκκινο κρεμμύδι, ψιλοκομμένο
• 1 μεσαίο φινόκιο, κομμένο σε λεπτές φέτες
• 150 γρ φέτα σε κομμάτια

Εκτέλεση

1. Βράζουμε το ρύζι στον ζωμό λαχανικών μαζί με το σκόρδο και την κανέλα για 35 λεπτά ή μέχρι να μαλακώσει το ρύζι. Σουρώνουμε το ρύζι, βγάζουμε την κανέλα και λιώνουμε το σκόρδο μέσα στο ρύζι. 
2. Όσο βράζουμε το ρύζι ετοιμάζουμε τα λαχανικά. Ζεσταίνουμε ένα μικρό τηγάνι και σοτάρουμε τους σπόρους κύμινου για 1 λεπτό μέχρι να μυρίσουν ωραία. Αφαιρούμε τους σπόρους από το τηγάνι και ρίχνουμε 1 κουταλιά ελαιόλαδο. Βάζουμε το σπανάκι στο τηγάνι και το σοτάρουμε μέχρι να μαλακώσει περίπου 5 λεπτά. Αφαιρούμε από τη φωτιά και αφήνουμε στην άκρη.  
3. Βάζουμε 1 κουταλιά ελαιόλαδο στο τηγάνι και σοτάρουμε το κρεμμύδι, το φινόκιο και την κολοκύθα μέχρι να ροδίσουν. Στη συνέχεια προσθέτουμε το σπανάκι και τους σπόρους κύμινου. Προσθέτουμε και το μαγειρεμένο ρύζι και αλατοπιπερώνουμε.  
4. Βάζουμε το ρυζότο σε ένα πυρέξ, πασπαλίζουμε με κομματάκια φέτας και ψήνουμε σε ζεστό φούρνο για 10 λεπτά.