The 21st Century Housewife's© Leek and Ham Risotto with Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe is delicious – perfect comfort food for this time of year – and you probably have most of the ingredients for it already in your store-cupboard and freezer. In fact, it is a great way to use up any leftover ham you might still have tucked away in the freezer after the Holidays. If by any chance you don’t have any ham left, just buy a thick slice from the deli counter and chop it up. Don’t worry if cherry tomatoes are too pricey or not available. You can either chop ordinary tomatoes up finely and use them instead.

Risotto does require pretty much constant attention and stirring, but not much effort, and as it only takes about twenty minutes or so to make. This is why it is one of my favorite quick and easy dinners. Risotto is quite rich, so servings do not need to be all that big (in fact this recipe wills serve at least four hungry adults). You don’t really need to serve anything with this, although I’m sure no one would complain if you served some nice hot rolls or a small green salad alongside it.

2 tbsp butter
3-4 leeks, thinly sliced and washed and drained thoroughly
2 cups Arborio or other risotto rice
1 glass white wine
1 litre hot chicken stock
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup cooked ham, chopped in bite sized pieces
¼ cup light cream

Melt the butter over low to medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the leeks and sauté until they begin to soften. Add the rice and stir to coat with the buttery leek mixture. Cook for a minute or so, but don’t let the rice start to brown at all. (Turn the heat down a bit if it starts to do that.)

Add the white wine and stir in until it absorbs. Now add the stock gradually, stirring after each addition until absorbed. Once you have added all the stock, the rice should be cooked, but still “al dente”, with just a little bit of bite.

Stir in the peas, cherry tomatoes, ham and cream. Cook, stirring pretty much constantly, until the cream has absorbed and the peas, tomatoes and ham are heated through.

Serve on warmed plates.

The 21st Century Housewife's© Cherry Tomato and Shallot Salad

When most people think of cherry tomatoes, they picture sweet red baby tomatoes, the ones that you see most often in supermarkets. However, there are a large number of breeds of cherry tomatoes available, all different sizes, colours and flavours.

Cherry tomatoes, so named because they are roughly the size of cherries, are usually sweeter than larger varieties of tomatoes. They are not all round; some are oval or have a shape more similar to a small plum tomato. They also come in many different colours, from the bright red of the most common kind of cherry tomato to yellow, orange and even the streaky green colour of heirloom tomatoes.

This recipe is best made with at least two different types of cherry tomatoes. I used red ones and “Sungold” ones for the recipe in the photograph. Sungold cherry tomatoes range in colour from yellow to a more orange shade; these ones were definitely heading towards the orange! However it you only have red cherry tomatoes, do still make this salad. It is too delicious to miss out on, and even though a variety of flavours enhances this salad, it is very nice made only with the red cherry tomatoes as well.

You definitely need shallots for this recipe. Their strong deep flavour is the perfect foil for the sweetness of the tomatoes. Do please use a good Balsamic vinegar for the dressing. It really does make a difference, and as most recipes only call for a small amount of this tangy yet mellow vinegar it is worth buying a more expensive bottle if you can. Also, the better the Balsamic, the less of it you need to get a good flavour.

This recipe is delicious served alongside just about anything, but particularly fish, and provides a lovely shot of colour on an autumn buffet. It is best stored in the fridge, but please bring it to room temperature before eating as tomatoes really do not taste their best icy cold.

Obviously these quantities are flexible - you can make as much or as little as you wish. However I generally follow the rule of one shallot for every two cups of tomatoes.

About a cup or small punnet of red cherry tomatoes, washed, dried and sliced in half
About a cup or small punnet of any other colour cherry tomatoes, washed, dried and sliced in half.
1 shallot, peeled and very, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon good Balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Prepare the tomatoes as directed and place in a medium bowl. Add the chopped onion. Shake the olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper together in a small jam jar. Pour over the tomatoes and shallots and mix very gently. Cover and set aside for at least an hour before serving to allow the flavours to mellow and blend together. (If you are not going to be serving the salad for a few hours, it is best to put it in the fridge to mellow and then remove it about an hour before serving.)

Gently stir the salad and serve it in a pretty bowl.