Are You a Martyr Mum?

We all know a Martyr Mum. They sacrifice all their energy, time, thoughts, life, daylight hours and nighttime dreams and discussions to being a mother. For them it is all defining and all consuming. They go to bed early so they are on form for the next day, they play with their children for hours, they enjoy making puppets and home made easter cards, they volunteer for everything at school, they stay up late sewing little Johnny's Halloween costume/Dara's fairy outfit for the Christmas play and most importantly, they cook all children's meals from scratch. God Bless You All, I am not worthy. Granted, Martyr Mums are a little bit crazed, but hell some people are passionate about brewing their own beer and quite frankly I think children are a better cause... Ha. You thought I would be more controversial, didn't you? Just because I work doesn't mean I don't get it. The all consuming mom thing.

When I feel the love for my kids (and have the time) I make risotto!

Martyr Mum Risotto

Making risotto is neither scary nor difficult. It's an act of love. It's also a great way to use up an odd assortment of ingredients.

Get everything ready as once you start you can't stop: Heat some stock (cube will do) in a separate saucepan. Have lots to hand and it must be hot! Chop up an onion and all the vegetables you will be using. Choose a protein (I like cubes of chicken or tiger prawns). Grate some parmesan cheese. Now we start! Heat some olive oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion, a good shake of oregano and a handful of arborio risotto rice per person. Stir for a minute or so to fry the rice and semi cook the onion, then ladel in the first of the stock. It should sizzle impressively. Keep stirring the rice with a wooden spoon until the stock is almost all sucked up, then ladel in some more stock. Keep on stirring (this is the love part) and it too will be sucked into the rice, and so on. The whole process takes about 20-25 minutes, so if you are cooking hard veg like carrots or brocolli add them after 5 minutes and soft veg like asparagus or courgettes after 15 minutes. The hot stock and stirring eventually cooks the veg. Same for the protein. If it's chicken add it after 5 minutes so it cooks through by the time the risotto itself is done, and if you're using prawns, then add them only at the last 5 minutes to heat through or you'll have bullets. Add a generous handful of grated parmesan towards the end, and stir it in to melt. Taste the risotto to make sure it's not crunchy, and once it's oozy and soft, you're done. Serve with more parmesan on top.