Food: Pork Risotto

Ingredients:
(I usually do this by eye, but I'll try writing the quantities....)

For four people
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
3 Red chillies/Tabasco/Chilli past
1 cinnamon stick
1tsp cumin seeds
Rosemary and Thyme to taste
1 pork stock cube
Handful raisins
200g Risotto rice
250 - 300g minced pork
100g bacon cubes
4 leeks (Chinese Onion)
200g shitake mushrooms (or other variety)
1 red pepper
handful cherry tomatoes
tin of tomato concentrate (optional)
Garnish: spring onions, feta cheese, parsley

Method:
Heat some olive oil in frying pan. Add garlic and cumin seeds. One minute later add the chopped onion and allow to sauté until transparent in colour. Mix in the bacon cubes and pork mince (or meat chunks/spicy sausages), adding chillies/chilli paste, cinnamon stick, rosemary and thyme. Allow to cook for a while. Stir in the risotto rice, raisins and tomato concentrate. Cover the mixture with water and bring to the boil. Add the stock cube, turn down the heat and let simmer until the risotto is cooked. You will need to check this every 10mins as it can stick to the bottom of the pan and usually needs more water.
After the rice is almost cooked, add the mushrooms (whole or halved), leeks and tomatoes. Check for seasoning. Cook (lowest heat) for another 20mins - (this depends on taste...but I like risotto to be mushy)adding some parmesan cheese to taste.
Allow it to cool for 10 minutes and serve with a finely chopped green salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A glass of red wine and bon appetite!

Note: A more Mediterranean style would be without the cumin, chilli and cinammon and would add wine as well as stock (my taste buds are getting slightly more exotic :-). I usually do this without the tomato concentrate and add more leek and cherry tomatoes at the end... thought I would try something new though.
These ingredients can vary and is a great dish to use up whatever you have in the fridge.
For the salad the best way to get it really fresh and crunchy is to finely cut the lettuce, put it into a colander and wash it with cold water. Leave it in the colander and put it into the fridge for at least 15minutes or until ready to serve. Pour the dressing on the lettuce just as you are about to sit at the table.

Oh.... it tastes even better the next day!