Black Dog Delicatessen review and Olive Risotto recipe

How often do you decide to indulge in a fast and high quality dinner? The only option around if you don’t live in London seems to either be a takeaway or a microwave meal. But just imagine for the moment an exceptional meal which has had most of the work taken out of it and for that matter works out cheaper than either option?

 

Recently I’ve been sent some lovely food to try from the Black Dog Delicatessen. They are gorgeous products from around the world which offer high quality ingredients at great prices. Their inspiration for the name came from their own pets, their black Labradors Blue & Bailey. Both were rescue dogs which came from The Labrador Rescue Trust and from all sales a percentage of their proceeds goes to support this fabulous charity.

 

We were sent their Traditional tomato Risotto mix, Silican Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some Mixed pitted olives. The risotto mix is ready in just 20 minutes and fed four us with great portions. It was great just to chuck in wine and stock and know that we could just collapse on the sofa. The risotto was buttery and fabulously tasty without the need for cheap flavourings like garlic as in so many of these things. We used the Olive Oil with balsamic vinegar as a starter and its fabulous to see such a rich colouring. The taste was as rich, slightly lemony and perfect with fresh ciabatta!

 

We liked the risotto so much that we created another one with our other ingredients:

Olive Risotto

Ingredients

2 tbsp Silican Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

200g risotto rice

600ml vegetable or chicken stock, simmering

400g can Italian peeled tomatoes, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp chopped Mixed pitted olives

100g tiny black olives

4 sprigs basil, leaves shredded

50ml dry white wine

30g unsalted butter

75g parmesan, finely grated

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Heat oil in a sturdy pot over medium heat; add onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add rice and stir with a wooden spatula until all the grains are coated with oil. Cook for a few minutes. Have the stock ready and simmering gently. Using a ladle, add enough stock to come almost to the top of the rice, but don't drown it.

Stir until the stock evaporates. Continue adding stock little by little as needed, stirring most of the time. After 15 minutes, add tomatoes, tapenade, olives and basil. Continue stirring and adding stock. At 20 minutes, taste rice to check if al dente.

When al dente, remove from the heat, add the cold wine, stir and add the butter and half the parmesan. Season to taste. Cover tightly and leave to fluff up for 2-5 minutes.

Serve at once on hot plates, sharing the rest of the parmesan at the table.

 

 

And just for Christmas they are offering a Hamper crammed with 10 gourmet treats from the award-winning Black Dog range: 

• A 500ml bottle of extra virgin olive oil
• A 250ml bottle of aged balsamic vinegar
• Two varieties of delicious marinated olives in 250g jars
• Two varieties of traditionally-made, air-dried Italian pasta in 500g packs
• Four varieties of 300g risotto mix made with premium quality carnaroli rice flavoured with authentic Italian ingredients

Each hamper costs just £45 which includes the price of delivery anywhere in the UK. Even better, £5 from each sale goes directly to the Labrador Rescue Trust