Herbed Pea and Pancetta Risotto
Prep time 35 mins, cook 45 mins. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 750 ml (3 cups) chicken stock
• 30 ml olive oil
• 60 gm butter, coarsely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 250 gm vialone nano rice
• 50 gm diced pancetta
• 100 ml dry white wine
• half bunch each spinach and rocket, trimmed
• 1 cup each (firmly packed) mint and flat-leaf parsley
• 200 gm frozen peas, defrosted
• 40 gm finely grated parmesan

Method:

1. Bring stock to the simmer over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low, keep warm.
2. Heat oil and half the butter in a casserole over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and stir occasionally until very tender (8-10 mins). Add pancetta and rice, stir to coat, and cook until rice is just toasted (1 min). Add wine and stir occasionally until almost evaporated (2-3 mins). Add stock to risotto a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously until stock is absorbed before adding more. Cook until rice is al dente (20-25 mins), remove from heat, stand 1 minute.
3. Meanwhile, blanch spinach, rocket and herbs in a saucepan of boiling water until just wilted (1-2 mins), then drain, refresh (i.e. plunge in plenty of iced water to stop the cooking process) and squeeze out excess water. Process in a food processor until finely chopped, add peas and pulse unitl coarsely chopped. Stir into risotto with parmesan and remaining butter, season to taste and serve hot.

Yumm… buon appetito! :)

The result is this vintage travel diary of my trip in New Zealand:

To try yourself and make your own travel diary check out the tutorial on Abduzeedo

Te ne sei andato. Mi rende triste pensare che non mi chinerò più verso di te per baciarti sulla guancia prima di andarmene, portandomi via un po’ del tuo profumo. Non vedrò più i tuoi bianchissimi capelli né quel tuo sorriso così dolce che si apriva all’improvviso, tenero come quello di un bambino seppur privato dell’ausilio dello sguardo.

Tuttavia una parte di me è felice per te. Mi piace pensare che tu sia finalmente libero. Libero da tutti quei limiti fisici che negli ultimi anni avevano imbrigliato e offuscato il tuo spirito. Libero di essere di nuovo indipendente. Libero di essere di nuovo te stesso. Almeno nei nostri ricordi. Se penso a te oggi vedo il giovane uomo elegante che sorride dalle foto in bianco e nero. Vedo il ciclista che affronta l’ennesimo tornante con determinazione. Vedo il marinaio in divisa. Vedo il nonno in calzoncini corti e camicia sempre pronto a trasportarci in un mondo di pura fantasia. Vedo la persona che ci ha insegnato ad andare in bicicletta, mai troppo stanco per compiere ancora un ultimo giro dell’aia. Vedo il contadino che lavora nei campi e che mi lascia vangare un pezzettino di terra facendomi credere che lui non avrebbe saputo far meglio.
È così che ti voglio ricordare caro nonno. E se questa è l’ultima delle lettere che ti scrivo, voglio cogliere l’occasione per ringraziarti. Grazie per tutto quello che mi hai insegnato. Grazie per le meravigliose estati trascorse insieme, quando più che un nonno sei stato un compagno di avventure. Grazie per avermi trasmesso la passione per la lettura e la scrittura. Grazie per tutti i tuoi racconti, veri o inventati che fossero. Grazie per aver sempre avuto stima e fiducia in me.

Fa’ buon viaggio.

When we were at the stables waiting for our mounts to be ready, I dwelt upon a newspaper’s article that was pinned to the wall. It was a letter from an American lady, telling about her experience in New Zealand and how much herself and her sons enjoyed the horse trek at Cape Farewell. She reported a comment from Gail (owner and guide), about one of her sons throwing himself down-hill at fast gallop: “He doesn’t think. He just dares and damn the consequences”. I liked that. I thought I was kinda doing the same, joining a 3-hour fast ride with an experienced rider in the group without having ever had one single horse riding lesson in my life. But I wasn’t scared, I felt it was going to be exciting. Well, it was, far beyond my expectations.

I was matched with Kahn, a strong beautiful dark brown horse. Before mounting, while I was stroking his head, I catched a glimpse of deep pride and far away wildness in his eyes. Things were going to be interesting. Once all the four of us were in the saddle, we headed off. The first bit of the trek was along a gravel road, where we practiced a bit of trotting. At some stage we left the road and climbed up a steep narrow path through some bushes and found ourselves in the middle of a quiet and beautiful landscape. As far as the eye could see there were just gentle hills swept by the strong wind and scattered with sheep. Initially Kahn was giving me a bit of a hard time being cranky with the other horses, but after a while he calmed himself down and we started getting along pretty well. The first time I launched him into canter I immediately felt that pride I had glimpsed in his eyes. It was a nice feeling. Following our way up and down the hills we finally reached Wharariki Beach. What a view. Behind the white dunes of sand, the endless, empty, wind-blown beach. The blue, slight sea. The high rocks half way between the sea and the beach, home of several sleepy seals. It was astounding. And it was in such an incredibile set that we pushed our horses into gallop. What an amazing feeling. In few seconds we reached a considerable (and unexpected!) speed and I was now feeling like myself and Kahn were one single thing. The sound of Khan’s hooves hitting the sand, his deep breathing, the wind blowing hard from the side: it was just awesome, like sensing freedom with your skin. I enjoyed it so much that I encouraged him to go faster and race the other horses. He seemed to appreciate that, ‘couse he pushed even further and we got ahead of everybody else: we were now riding so fast my eyes kept filling up with tears due to the strong air passing through my sunglasses. But I didn’t mind, it was such a great feeling, I wished the beach really could be endless, so that we could ride like that forever.

When we stopped, I think my heart was beating as fast as Khan’s, and I had the widest smile on my face, from one ear to the other :)
But the fun wasn’t over yet, ‘couse we dismounted for a break and just around a big rock there they were: baby seals playing in the rock pools left by the receding tide. Incredibly funny and really cute. I felt really lucky to get to see them so close in their own habitat. Back in the saddle there was still time for another amazing race and then we took our way back, walking, trotting, cantering… and scaring the shit out of the passing sheep! ;)

Once back at the stables, with my legs stiff and still the big smile pinned on my face, I felt glad that I did not think: I did dared and I did damn the consequences, and it was just awesome.

The camper van is kinda cosy though, and the rain hitting the roof creates a nice soundtrack to my thoughts…
We’ve been on the road for a week now but somehow it feels much longer than that… sometimes I feel like, by landing in Auckland, I entered a new temporal dimension, like a parallel universe where there are no calendar, no seasons, no days of the week, no time except the one imposed by day and night. I wake up when birds start twittering and I go to bed when it gets dark, and every new day is a discovery. I like that. Just heading South, deciding what to do along the way and enjoying the different landscapes the street welcomes us with. It’s great, I feel I could do that all days of my life.

We are now half way through our itinerary around the North Island and so far it has been great fun. We had a swim in Waingaro’s Hot Springs, went surfing on the beautiful Ngarunui Beach in Raglan, visited the impressive Glow Worms Cave in Waitomo, relaxed on the black (and feet-burning!) sand of Oakura Beach, went hiking on the beautiful and difficult Mount Taranaki, and followed the slow bends of the Wanganui River. Some of the pictures that I took along the way are already online on my Flickr page, I will keep adding them on as long as we go.

Today, since the miserable weather, we locked ourselves in the Te Papa Museum, where we had the chance to learn a bit more about this amazing island. When the rain finally ceased we had a stroll in Wellington, which reminded me a bit of San Francisco but didn’t impress me much to be honest. Tomorrow the plan is to reach Cape Palliser, the southernmost point of the North Island, before pointing the nose of our camper van back to North and beginning our journey back to Auckland. I reckon the day after tomorrow we should hit Hawkes Bay, where hopefully we’ll find plenty of sun and good waves again.

That’s all for today folks, good night or good morning, depending on which side of the hemisphere you’re reading this ;)

So here I am, a rolling stone ready to roll once more.

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A rolling stone gathers no moss:
“A stone which stands still does inevitably gather moss and become buried and overgrown with all the ‘junk’ we carry around or fill our houses and lives with. One that’s always rolling down a hill or along a riverbed keeps itself ‘clean’ and free from all this.”