I cheated a bit, and used a package of dried herbs for my herb butter. Just mix it with some soft butter and serve. The soup, however, I made from scratch.

Ingedients:
- a bulb of fennel
- 2 leeks
- half a bunch of celery
- 2 onions
- 2 large carrots
- 1/2 a bulb of garlic
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- a sprig of rosemary
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 pepper corns
- a bunch of parsley


Start by making a broth. Roughly chop all the vegetables.

Put the oil in a big pan (at least 4 liters/1 gallon) and add all the vegetables and garlic. On low heat, let the vegetables soften a little bit. Now it's time to add the water and herbs, and salt.
Let this simmer for a couple of hours untill the vegetables have given up all their flavour. The vegetables have served their purpose, so strain the broth to get all the vegetables out. This broth can be stored up to a week in the refridgerator, or several months in the freezer. So you can make this well in advance. Reserve about half a liter (=half of a quart) of the broth for the risotto. About an hour before you serve this soup, put in some fresh vegetables and parsley, and some noodles if you like.

I used store-bought bread (just finish baking it in the oven), but you could make it yourself, too. I have this week off, so maybe I'll have time for a bread blog. While I do like fresh, home made bread, I don't make it that often (if at all). It's not that it's that much work, really, but it's very time-consuming.

Ingredients:
- about a dozen tomatoes
- risotto rice, 2 cups or so
- half a liter (=half of a quart) of stock, vegetable or chicken
- 1 small red onion, chopped finely
- 1 celery rib, chopped finely
- 2-3 gloves of garlic, chopped finely
- a cup of spinach (frozen) or 2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach


I didn't take any pictures of this, I'm sorry. This is the only dish I didn't document. There was just too much cooking at the same time, and by this time my family was getting a little annoyed by the constant picture-taking, too . I did do risotto blogs before though, so there should be pictures of everything besides the stuffing part somewhere already. I'll try and find a link to one of those blogs.

I use small bell peppers for this dish, as they are about bite-size. They're called Tinkerbells over here (which is one of the cutest names ever), and from what I remember from when I made this in the States, they're sold there as bellorini's or something along those lines. For the tomatoes, I used small tomatoes of roughly the same size as the peppers.

Preheat the oven to 225 Celsius (425-450 Fahrenheit). Bring the stock you reserved from the soup to a simmer. If you're using stock cubes, add boiling water to the cubes. The stock needs to be hot when adding it to the risotto, or it won't cook. Roast the peppers and tomatoes in the oven untill they're about done, usually about 15-20 minutes depending on their size. While the peppers and tomatoes are roasting add the oil, garlic, celery and onion to a pan which is about as wide as it is high. Let the vegetables soften for a couple of minutes, before turning up the heat. Add about half a glass of dry white wine if you happen to have a bottle at hand, and let the alcohol evaporate. If you don't have wine handy (or don't want to use it), use half a glass of the stock instead. It helps the flavour, but the risotto will be lovely without wine, too. Once the alcohol has evaporated, turn the heat back to medium and add the rice. Once it absorbed the liquids, add enough stock to cover. Keep stirring gently and add a few ladles of stock every couple of minutes, to leave the rice covered with enough liquid to absorb and cook. Depending on the rice, it should take about 15-20 minutes to cook. It's done when the rice is soft, with a slightly firmer center (al dente). Most of the liquid should be evaporated by this point. If not, turn the heat up a bit until the rice is done. When the rice is done, turn of the heat. Add the baby spinach and stir, then put on the lid and let it sit for a couple of minutes. 10-15 should be ideal. The peppers and tomatoes should be done around the time the rice is done, too. Take them out of the oven, and cover with aluminium foil. After 10-15 minutes (=when everyone finished their soup), you're ready to stuff the peppers and tomatoes. Take the tops of the peppers and tomatoes off and takes out the seeds and stuff, then fill them up with the risotto. Serve, enjoy .

Ingredients:
- 1 big turkey breast or 2 smaller ones, boneless and skinless
- knob of butter
- a bit of oil
- salt and pepper
- ham
- cheese (I used an aged gouda, as it's very flavourfull and melts well)
- kitchen twine, or toothpicks


If you can't get a whole turkey breast, or want to make individual portions rather than a big roast, you could use chicken breast, but it will be a lot harder to butterfly and stuff the meat.
Butterfly the turkey breast. If you slice carefully, you'll have a slab of meat that's about 3-4 times the size you started with, without any holes in it (very important, because else the cheese will leak out). Having a sharp knife makes this a lot easier. Cover the breastwith the stuffing and roll it up. Secure with kitchen twine. If you don't have any, you can use toothpicks, but it will be a hard time to get it closed properly. Make sure there aren't any gaps, as the stuffing will leak out.

Add the butter and oil to the pan. I use both, because the butter adds flavour, and the oil keeps the butter from burning. Brown the meat on all sides, turn down the heat and cover the pan. I don't have a large enough roasting pan with a lid for this, so I use a frying pan and upside-down wok as a lid. The lid keeps all the moisture in, making the meat nice and juicy. Turn the turkey occassionally. Depending on the size, the turkey should be done in about 30-45 minutes. Let the roast rest for 10-15 minutes before carving (in other words, take it off the heat around the time you stuff the peppers, and it'll be ready to carve when everyone finished their peppers and tomatoes).

Ingredients:
- filet of pork
- fennel seeds
- cumin
- salt
- a knob of butter and some oil

Cover the board with the fennel, cumin, salt and pepper, and roll the pork through it so it's covered on all sides. Add the butter and oil to the pan, and when the butter is starting to turn brown, add the pork to the pan. Brown on all sides, then turn the heat down and cover. When it's cooked (about 40 minutes, depending on the size), let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
The drippings in the pan make a very tasty gravy. Just be sure to strain it to strain out all the fennel and cumin that fell off the pork.

Ingredients:
- 500 grams (about a pound) of thin green asparagus
- 500 grams (about a pound) of green beans
- about 15-20 slices of parma ham


While the parma ham does add flavour (mainly salty), I used it mainly to create individual bunches. So you could use various other (edible) things to wrap, if you can't get parma ham, or don't want to use meat. To keep with the salty, meaty taste, you could use pancetta or bacon instead of parma ham, as long as it's not too fatty. Just put the bunches in the oven a little longer, untill the bacon is just starting to go crispy. For a vegetarian option (I'm not a vegetarian, so I'm not 100% sure), I believe there's a fake meat version of bacon, too. Or you could use strips of carrot (boiled, so they don't break) to bind everything together, or chives would work, too, or strips of other vegetables. Use your imagination .

Cook the asparagus and beans in boiling salted water (seperately) untill they're almost done. Or use a steamer, like I did. While it doesn't change anything to the flavour, steaming will keep the vegetables bright green, as opposed to simply boiling. You want them to still have a little bit of a bite left, as they'll continue to cook while in the oven. Drain the vegetables, and give them a quick rinse. Trust me, it'll make wrapping a lot easier if they're not boiling hot . Don't cool them all the way down, though, just enough so you can handle them. Take small bunches (you want them to be about 2-3 bites big) and roll them in a slice of parma ham. The ham sticks to itself, so you don't need to secure it. Just let the ends of the slice overlap a bit. Space the bunches out on a baking tray or cookie sheet, and put in a 225 Celsius (425 F) oven for a few minutes, untill the ham just starts to crisp up.


These are good at room temperature, too, if you have leftovers. Or warm up in the oven for just a few minutes.

Ingredients:
- about a pound of roasting potatoes, skin on, cut into wedges
- paprika
- salt
- pinch of sugar
- vegetable oil to coat


Don't use olive oil for this, as it will burn in the oven. Preheat the oven at 225 degrees Celsius (425 F). Wash the potatoes and cut them into wedges. I prefer leaving the skin on, as it adds flavour. Put the wedges into a large plastic bag (make sure there aren't any holes in it) and add enough oil to coat. You could use a large bowl, but I found a plastic bag is a lot easier for this. Add the paprika, salt and sugar (just a small pinch to counter the stuffiness paprika can have sometimes), close the bag, and shake untill all the wedges are covered. I like quite a lot of paprika in here, both for flavour and the lovely dark colour it produces. Spread the wedges out on a cookie sheet lined with grease-proof paper, and roast in the hot oven untill the outside is dark and crispy, and the inside is nice and soft. This should take 20-30 minutes. It's important to put the oven as high as it will go and you use enough oil, or it won't be crispy.

Ingredients:
- potatoes
- some milk
- a knob of butter
- salt
- egg yolk for brushing


Peel the potatoes and cut into equal size chunks. Boil in a pan of salted water untill done. Drain off the water, and while the potatoes are still hot, use a ricer and/oror masher to mash the potatoes. Add a knob of butter and a bit of milk to make a mash. Pipe the mash onto a cookie sheet lined with grease-proof paper. For a nice brown crust, brush the rosettes with egg yolk (I forgot to get eggs, so I skipped this step). Put the rosettes in a 225 C (425 F) oven untill they form a nice crust, about 20-30 minutes.
And yes,I do hate piping, and I suck at it . I was surprised they came out as well as they did.

I didn't make the ice cream myself this time, though I have in the past. It's mostly because I wanted 3 different kinds of ice cream, and with having to completely thaw and refreeze the tub of my ice cream maker for each flavour, that would have taken at least 3 days to make myself. You can choose any ice cream you like for this. The chocolate sauce I served with the ice cream, I made from scratch.

Ingredients:
- 200 grams (about 8 oz) of dark chocolate, in chunks
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) of cream
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) of milk
- 50 grams (2 oz) of sugar


Use a good quality dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids. Since you're adding quite a bit of cream and sugar to it, don't use milk chocolate, as the result will hardly taste like chocolate at all. I used chocolate with an 86% cocoa solids content, which is not edible by itself (it is very, very bitter because there's hardly any sugar in there), but when combines with the sugar and cream, gives a very rich chocolate flavour.
Bring the milk and cream to a simmer in a small pan with a heavy base. Chocolate will burn very quickly, so it's important to use a pan with a thick bottom. When the milk is simmering, turn the heat to low and add the sugar and chocolate. Stir untill the chocolate is fully melted and you have a nice smooth sauce. Serve on the side, while still hot. This sauce will thicken considerably when cooled, so if you plan to serve this on top of the ice cream (cold), you should use a different recipe. Serve with whipped cream and cookies.
The ice cream in this picture is, from left to right: vanilla, pistachio, mango. No whipped cream in this picture, as I didn't whip it up untill after I took it.