“Bee” inspired

Happy Hump Day!

Training

This morning when I arrived at the gym before work, instead of turning "right" and heading to the weights room, I turned "left" and entered, on a whim,  the spinning studio. And boy am I glad I did. 45 minutes of an intense spinning class later, and I left the gym sweaty and energised to start the day. I'd forgotten how much I love this heart-pumping class and must not let that happen again!

Random Q - does anyone know how 'far' you ride in a spin class? I estimated 20km...

Dinner

Tonight was my turn in the kitchen, and I knew I had big shoes to fill after last night's potato tortilla and lentil / veggie soup combination. Oh and I've updated my last post with the recipe for the tortilla for those of you that requested it.

I turned to the Mystery Box this evening to provide inspiration for dinner. And the chosen ingredient....

Honey!

    

Did you know? Honey is a natural source of carbohydrate, made by bees using nectar from flowers, with varying flavours depending on the nectar source. Not only is honey a wonderful sweetener in cooking and baking, it has both anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, making it effective in the treatment of a variety of ailments.

Despite the temptation to make honey on toast,  or perhaps drizzle honey on a big stack of pancakes, I decided to try and make something little more hearty for dinner using this wonderful golden ingredient.

And what is more hearty than risotto, a honey pumpkin risotto to be precise.

Served with a good amount of parsley, parmesan and chopped walnuts.

The honey added a subtle sweetness to the dish, which worked well with the creaminess of the risotto.

  

Not to mention the crunch of the walnuts.

Definitely a risotto that I would make again!

Honey Pumpkin Risotto (serves 4)

• 800g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1inch cubes
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 cups aborio rice
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup white wine
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 cup parmesan
• 1/3 cup parsley chopped
• chopped walnuts and extra parmesan to serve.

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Place pumpkin on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes.
3. Drizzle honey over the pumpkin, then bake for a further 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is golden. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat stock / water in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat.
5. Sautee onion and garlic in a frypan over medium heat. Add the rice and stir to coat well.
6. Add white wine and cook stirring until all the liquid has been absorbed.
7. Add stock, one ladleful at a time, stirring until the liquid has absorbed.
8. Remove from heat, then stir through lemon juice,  parmesan and pumpkin. Season to taste.
9. Top with walnuts and grated parmesan.

What about you? How do you like to use honey in cooking?

Happy Baking :)