In the kitchen: Adele Ashley's Chicken Risotto

This week Adele Ashley, original creator of the Filmore & Union brand, talks to us about her new project and shares some of her favourite family recipes with us.

So, where did Adele’s love for, and knowledge of, nourishing, healthy, feel good food come from…?

“ As a family we lived in France for five years when my children were small and we experienced a whole new way of life. The French have a deeply holistic view of health and medicine and over time I embraced their approach. I decided to study and learn more about healthy eating and developed a much healthier and more holistic diet and lifestyle"

On her return to Yorkshire, Adele carried on her studies and subsequently opened a number of wellness clinics, this enabled her to share her knowledge and passion with a wider audience.

 “As I embraced my healthy life, I struggled to find nice places to eat out - there were lovely places that specialised in this and that, but nowhere that catered for a healthy appetite, in both senses of the word! In addition, my daughter and I have dairy intolerences and my son is Coeliac, so I always say that my restaurants came out of selfishness – I couldn’t find somewhere to eat, so I created my own, with the launch of Filmore & Union in 2012.”

Adele is now working on her latest project, an online healthy cookery school for one to one’s or groups, which we are all excited about being able to replicate some of her amazing dishes and in these times of virtual dinner parties, it’s a great time to launch!

As always with Adele’s approach to food…. “It’s healthy but wholesome eating, but there’s absolutely no sense of punishment about it. It’s just delicious”

Adele will be sharing more of her tasty recipes with us over the next few weeks.

What you’ll need

• 220g Risotto rice 
• 60g smoked chicken
• 30g chestnut mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of parmesan
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 10g fresh thyme
• 1L water
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 400ml white wine
• 1 mango, fresh chilli, coriander & mint
• A pinch of salt and pepper

What to do

1. Slice garlic and onion and fry in a pan with oil
2. Add the mushrooms and fresh thyme
3. Add the risotto rice 
4. Gradually add the white wine
5. Gradually add stock until creamy
6. Add finely sliced cooked chicken 
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste
8. Add Parmesan shavings on top
9. Chop mango and mix with diced chilli, coriander and mint and serve on the side