The Postman always rings twice – EuroBlogging by Post #3

> A nice chunk of gorgonzola cheese

> A bag of chocolate flakes from Johanna’s local chocolatier Wiliam Curley to make some..hmm..chili vanilla hot chocolate maybe?

> A box of her homemade chocco-mocca beans – recipe here – and I’m telling you, these sweet cookies look so cute innocent, but boy taste they amazing! These are cookies for adults, very rich, very chocolatey, I totally fall in love with them

> Two very special chocolate bars from an Austrian chocolate company Zotter who produces the weirdest flavour combinations according to notes of Johanna. One is filled with strawberry-cream (and called Ein kleiner Trost –„a little consolation”) and the other with sour-cherry-marzipan and sesame nougat. I checked their website and they really offer a wide choice of interesting flavours from pinneaple+paprika to black beer+wild rice (Do I read it correctly Johanna that your favorite is the one with pork scratchings??:))

> A bag of wasabi peanuts – Johanna writes that she is addicted to them – oh, now I can understand why. I can remember reading about those in Angelika’s post when she visited Johanna. They are crunchy, spicy, salty, hmmm. Actually, it’s a kind of hard mental training to be able to stop eating them. In the morning I returned into my kitchen after every step of my make-up to nibble on them (which resulted in two things: 1. I was absolutely late at work, 2. I ate almost half of the bag for breakfast (now, am I a gourmet, or what:)?)

> And finally a bag of dried hot chili linguine made of pure durum wheat semolina + a recipe for a chili linguine with crab, lemon& rocket sauce.

I’m absolutely thrilled and happy with all these fantastic goodies, and can’t wait to use them at some special occasions. Johanna, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Tausend Dank!!!!!!

And I just finished the bowl of this risotto, which is – and believe me, I’m not exaggerating – one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten in my life, I can only urge you to try it!! This classic combination of pear, gorgonzola and rocket is fantastic in the risotto –it’s such a sophisticated dish! Creamy, full of exploding flavors, the ultimate comfort food for a winter evening. I followed the instruction of Johanna word for word, the end result is perfect. Johanna, I hope you don’t mind if I post the recipe – I also translated it into Hungarian for that language version of this post!

Johanna’s Gorgonzola, rocket &pear risotto (for 2)

2 shallots, finely chopped
200 risotto rice
125ml Noilly Prat (or Martini dry)
375ml chicken stock
150g gorgonzola (cut into chunks)
1 medium pear (cut into bite-size pieces)
50g rocket salad
parmesan to serve (optional)
­­*I sprinkled the top with a handful of chopped walnuts

Fry shallots in 3 tsp olive oil until just starting to brown. Add rice and fry for another 2 min. Deglaze with Noilly Prat. When evaporated /absorbed, top with ¼ of the stock. Turn heat to low setting. Cook until absorbed. Add another ¼ of stock, let absorb. Add the cheese, let it melt, then add another ¼ of stock. Leave to absorb and infuse, stirring constantly. Add the pear and the remaining stock, cook until liquid is almost completely gone and rice is cooked al dente. Fold in the rocket until wilts.

I hope that the parcel sent by myself will make at least the same great pleasure as this one. (No signs yet from x). Oh, and tomorrow I’m going to post that Hungarian goulash recipe in English.