Home Time: Mussel up and make it a night on the couch

THANK God it's fabulous. Here are our dinner and TV picks for tonight which include a risotto and some home renovation TV.

Emilia Fox in Silent Witness.

DECISIONS, decisions, indecision. If you've been following Silent Witness you'll not want to miss tonight's instalment, but if you're in a more red-wine-and-couch-and-I-don't-care sort of mood, it's hard to beat home renovations on TV. Then again, if you fancy a bit of crazy on your Friday night, Joan Rivers has been serving it up all week. Your call.

Johanna Griggs and Frankie J Holden present Better Homes and Gardens.

WHAT TO WATCH ON TV TONIGHT WITH DI BUTLER

Better Homes and Gardens, Channel 7, 7pm 3 stars

So the first thing you'll do when you get home tonight is remove one of your doors and turn it into a bookshelf. Doesn't matter which door, there are so many, you probably only use half of them. Just get out your drill and attach that thing and get it off its hinges. Oh dear. The door's hollow isn't it. Maybe you should've checked that before you took it off. I hope it wasn't the toilet door. No, what you need is a solid core door so you can cut a whopping great hole in it. You've got to make a copy of the other flimsy door first. Just do it there in the living room. You've got a circular saw haven't you? Course you do. You'll also need a handsaw to get the corners nice. You can neaten them up on your lap while you watch the bit with Frankie J Holden. You'll be needing a break, there's heaps to do yet. Frankie seems nice. He used to be a chartered accountant. Which surprised me, because he wheels out a story about how he bought his 1966 HR Premier wagon because that was the year his wife was born. Joh Griggs tells him he's an idiot because a car's a depreciating asset. Or I wanted her to but she didn't.

Emilia Fox in Silent Witness.

Silent Witness, ABC1, 8.30pm 3 stars

And I'd say there'll be an element of you who'll want to watch Dad Made Dirty Movies on SBS2. But some of you will be detained by the corner bar and get home just in time for a rerun of Big Wednesday at 1.30 tomorrow morning, the finest surfing movie ever made until Point Break 13 years later. Both starred Gary Busey, but only Point Break had Keanu Reeves as an undercover FBI agent. Yeah, sorry, spoiler alert. But for the rest of you, inert on the couch at 8.30, there's the last episode of Silent Witness. This is the exciting/methodical conclusion to last week's field trip to Afghanistan, featuring the British soldier who's either dead or not dead and Emilia Fox in a mindful headscarf. Obviously the producers love these out of office experiences, but would also be wary of covering up the face of their most attractive actor. That corpse they came across? Very convincing. No, I've moved on from Keanu now, talking about Silent Witness. Where do they get them from, do you think? The butcher's? I've learnt from watching Jamie Oliver, butchers are far more accommodating to a customer's needs in England than they are here. You can ask them for anything and they'll give it to you. Or Jamie can.

Fashion Police: Joan Week, E! Entertainment, Foxtel, 10pm 4 stars

Eighty, Robin Williams said to Joan Rivers in one of the many "sincere" messages during her week of birthday tributes, is the new 80. Willie Nelson turned 80 in April. He's looked 80 since he was 40. Joan Collins, 80 last month, is married to a man 32 years younger. ("If he dies he dies," she said when people scoffed.) Joan Rivers, 80 last Saturday, says of herself she's undergone more reconstruction than Baghdad. How much is that exactly? Last night on Joan Week, the specials to celebrate this pioneering comic icon, she was talking about Madonna's latest nip-slip - accidental, said the singer - and Joan said that was like saying she'd accidentally fallen onto the plastic surgeon's table - 19 times. Tara Reid came on last thing to throw a cake in her face, after years of ridicule. Tonight one of the guests is Stacy Keibler, George Clooney's girlfriend, who's been a regular object of fake pity from Joan. Let's see how that goes.

Risotto alla marinara.

WHAT TO COOK TONIGHT WITH JANA FRAWLEY, NATIONAL FOOD EDITOR

Don't freak out just yet. If you've done a quick calculation of the preparation and cooking times for this recipe you'll see it totals over an hour. Too long, you protest. But it's because it's risotto and the cooking time involves standing at the stove, wooden spoon in hand.

On the plus side all that stirring is actually calming and meditative, the perfect antidote to a stressful work week. And, because it's Friday you've got plenty of time to give the rice the love and attention it needs to transform itself into a creamy, dreamy dish.

Patience is the key to producing a restaurant-quality finish so don't add the next ladle of stock until the previous label has been completely absorbed. Other tips are to pour yourself a glass of wine - a dry style of riesling is a good option with the lemony seafood flavour of this risotto - and turn up the music, for tomorrow is Saturday and you don't have to see the boss for two days.

Risotto alla marinara

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Skills: Intermediate

Ingredients

2 tomatoes

1L (4 cups) salt-reduced chicken stock

20g butter

1 tbs olive oil

2 shallots, trimmed, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

330g (1 1/2 cups) arborio rice

125ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine

1 (about 350g) firm white fish fillet, cut into 2.5cm pieces

16 large green prawns, peeled leaving tails intact, deveined

8 mussels, scrubbed, debearded

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

Fresh continental parsley leaves, to serve

Method

Use a small sharp knife to cut a shallow cross in base of each tomato. Place tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 2-3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove tomatoes from the water. Use your fingers to carefully remove the skin. Cut into quarters. Use a teaspoon to remove seeds and discard. Coarsely chop the flesh.

Bring the stock just to the boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat and hold at a gentle simmer.

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallot and garlic, stirring, for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the grains appear slightly glassy.

Add the wine and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Add 1 ladleful (about 125ml/1/2 cup) of simmering stock to rice mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until liquid is absorbed. Add stock, 1 ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and allowing liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Continue for 20 minutes or until rice is tender yet firm to the bite and risotto is creamy, adding tomato, fish, prawns, mussels and lemon rind with the last ladleful of stock.

Discard any unopened mussels. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the risotto among serving bowls. Top with parsley.

Recipe by Michelle Southan

Photography by Jeremy Simons

Ryan Gosling in a scene from the film, The Place Beyond the Pines. Picture: Roadshow

WHAT MOVIES TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND WITH LEIGH PAATSCH

MUD STARRING MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY

It starts with someone's boat lodged high in the trees. It ends with someone's body floating down a river. And in between? Nothing but Mud: the best movie released in Australia so far in 2013. Who those aforementioned someones turn out to be are of little consequence to the perfect outcome achieved here. At the centre of a busy, yet easy-to-follow yarn is 14-year-old Ellis (a knockout performance by Tye Sheridan), an impressionable lad who lives amid a close-knit fishing community on the Mississippi River. When Ellis discovers a fugitive drifter (Matthew McConaughey) hiding out nearby, he gives the shifty character the benefit of the doubt. And continues to do so, even after this strange man is unmasked as a wanted killer. What we have here is a classic tale of innocence lost and wisdom gained, one that comfortably holds its own against the likes of To Kill a Mockingbird and the best works of Mark Twain. Currently screening in Sydney and Melbourne only. Other cities should start hassling their favourite art house cinemas right away. Very limited release.

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES STARRING RYAN GOSLING

There is only a week or so left if you wish to visit the uniquely unsettling The Place Beyond the Pines. Don't make the mistake of thinking the presence of two pretty-boy leads in Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper will be promising a light night out. This is one heavy motion picture drama. Gosling (as an outlaw motorbiker) and Bradley Cooper (a rookie cop in hot pursuit) each get a self-enclosed act of the picture to themselves, and rise to the occasion with performances that both near their career peaks. More often than not, there is an undeniable magic in the air. While the contrasts between the main characters are all too obvious, each point of difference is skilfully rendered by Derek Cianfrance, a rare filmmaking talent working on only his second feature. (If you saw his stunning 2010 debut Blue Valentine, this ripples with the same intensely damaged energy.) Co-stars Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne. General release.

Genevieve Bujold and James Cromwell in Still Mine.

STILL MINE STARRING JAMES CROMWELL

It is no use fighting against the feel-good factor driving along Still Mine. This is simply a true (love) story that overcomes all cynicism. James Cromwell stars as Craig Morrison, who at age 87 defies local law makers to build a dream home for his ailing wife (Genevieve Bujold). Unfortunately, local building officials take a dim view of Craig's unsanctioned construction work. The two parties are soon at war, each refusing to compromise as the argument escalates from the council chambers to the courtroom. The screenplay of Still Mine does not allow any fence-sitting on the part of the audience. Old Craig has his heart in the right place. Them rules-and-regulations types have their heads lodged elsewhere. Thankfully, the ever-dignified pairing of Cromwell and Bujold supply performances that can soften the hardest-hearted of viewers. General release.