Sunday, April 3, 2011

Risoni with roasted eggplants, cherry tomatoes and feta, and the Hilton in Auckland

















I have written lots of posts about different places in New Zealand, and not really much about Auckland, except for the West, that is!

But since my husband and I have just celebrated 20 years together (married for  17 and a half) we decided to spend a night at the Hilton in the Auckland Viaduct. The kids went to stay with friends ;-).

The hotel is on the waterfront, looking out on the port and the Waitemata Harbour (also known as the Auckland Harbour).

The Hilton Auckland is a very modern and stylish hotel, with a good view and  a lovely bar (Bellini bar, and they do make Bellini cocktails, plus it has an aperitivo buffet, which is very good if you, like me, cannot drink without also having a nibble!).

I ate at the hotel's White Restaurant a couple of times, and always liked it. The Executive Chef, Cristiano De Martin, is Italian and cooks seasonal food using many locally sourced products. Cristiano makes really nice risotto.

Slow Food Waitakere even organized a lunch at White a couple of years ago, and it was lovely.

A good way to book hotels in New Zealand is with Wotif, you can find really good prices and last minute's deals, even for the top hotels.

And just in case you wanted to know, I didn't get payed, nor got a discount for blogging about the Hilton. We are not quite at that stage in New Zealand yet!!!





And now for today recipe:

Risoni with roasted eggplants, cherry tomatoes and feta








Cut the long eggplants into halves and then quarters, if the 'strips' are too long cut them in half again.
Sweat them with rock salt for 30 minutes, rinse well and place into a large roasting pan. Add 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved, 300 g of cherry tomatoes, halved (these were from my garden), 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp smoked paprika, half tsp smoked salt, a sprinkle of coriander seeds, and a sprinkle of cumin seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle.



Roast the vegetables for about 1 hour. When the vegetables are nearly done, cook the risoni pasta in plenty of boiling water, drain and pour over the hot vegetables (still in the roasting dish). Add some cubed feta cheese and decorate with flat leaf parsley. Serve immediately, but if you have some leftovers this pasta will be good even cold, the day after. FYI, I have also made this dish using red and yellow capsicums instead of cherry tomatoes, and it was also very good, but I prefer the roasted tomato version.




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©



21 comments:

  1. Ciao Alessandra ! Che bel festeggiamento che avete fatto ! Sono invidiosa del tuo orto e della bellissima pasta ! Un bacio

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  2. Ciao Natalia, grazie per la visita, adesso vengo a trovarti anch'io :-)

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  3. bella idea la mini luna di miele per festeggiare ^_____^
    non ho mai pensato ai risoni come pasta asciutta, le verdure arrosto e la feta renderà tutto molto saporito, ciauzzzzzzzz

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  4. Astro, i risoni qui sono un'alternativa al riso o al cous cous. Funzionano bene :-), ma forse ho creato questo piatto anche perche' qui in NZ le varieta' di pasta in commercio sono poche e bisogna essere inventivi!

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  5. Sounds like a lovely anniversary and this recipe looks amazing!

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  6. Fancy Fancy! :) I really like the stark eggplant picture. You make me want to take a trip.

    http://haymarket8.blogspot.com

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  7. Well Vic, when you have a holiday that it is over one week long...

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  8. What a beautiful picture love it. That place looks nice.

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  9. Che bel traguardo 20 anni insieme, andava gesteggiato in maniera speciale.
    I risoni da piccola erano al mia pastina preferita in brodo. Capita anche a me a volta di farli "asciutti" come alternativa al riso e trovo questo condimento davvero molto gustoso, un'esplosione d'estate di cui approfittare a breve. Baci, buona settimana

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  10. Alessandra ciao, ti rispondo qui perché magari quello non ti arriva, il li.co.li. è l'acronimo di lievito in coltura liquida. E' una pasta madre idratata al 100%, più gestibile, si rinfresca solo una volta al mese, i risultati sono migliori, un pane più alveolato, più profumato, croccante e soprattutto non acido come con la pasta madre, e poi ripeto, solo una volta al mese, la pasta madre devi rinfrescarla ogni 2-3 giorni e fare il bagnetto e impasta, io l'ho tenuta alcuni mesi e ho capito che impazzivo, poi non mi ricordavo di fare tutto quello di cui ha bisogno, se vuoi provare a farlo è facilissimo, lo trovi nel mio blog: licoli - la nascita - ciao carissima un bacio

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  11. Grazie Tamtam! Mi sa che e' la cosa che fa per me allora... anch'io ho fatto fatica a star dietro alla pasta madre :-)

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  12. ma che bel piatto colorato, già estivo!! :-)

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  13. E bravi ragazzi!Avete fatto bene a coccolarvi!SAi che i risoni li ho sempre mangiati in minestra?Me la faceva spesso mia mamma, quando vivevo con loro!Ora proverò la tua versione, semplicemente intrigante!
    Un bacione

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  14. Bella festa e che colore spippirillente quelle melanzane!
    Buona settimana
    Barbara

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  15. Congratulations on your many happy years together! It is so nice to just get away for a while isn't it?

    Now your recipe today looks amazing...I love all those colours..and feta makes everything taste amazing.

    Happy new week to you my NZ friend. oxxoxo

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  16. mi piace molto il riso lungo con le verdure scelte per la ricetta, purtroppo non posso usarne del mio giardino, spero per il prossimo anno :))
    bravissima :))
    B.

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  17. @ Sarettta,
    Anch'io da piccola li mangiavo sempre in brodo, e le chiamavamo sementine. Infatti ho cominciato a chiamarli risoni qui in NZ, dove li usano soprattutto per insalate di pasta (non c'e' la cultura della pastina in brodo, neppure per i bambini).

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  18. How romantic :))
    That dish looks ridiculously good! Clean n fresh flavors!
    US Masala

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  19. Thank you Aipi, this would work well with basmati rice too :-).

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