When I'm not at Work: risotto

Showing posts with label risotto. Show all posts

Cauliflower Risotto Bianco

In my post-school meandering I've spent a lot of time just sitting. Getting my toenails painted...

reading, sending emails, Facebooking, you know... that kind of thing. In my Facebook perusing I came across this article that one of my friends shared.
The article is by a contributor to the New York Times. It's been all over Facebook and god knows what else. It's called 'The Busy Trap'. I loved it. It hit home. We've all had those friends... you know the ones who have to book you in. The ones that say 'Yeah, definitely. Once things slow down then we'll book something' when you ask them to get together. We've probably all been those people at some time or other. The thing is that I had just just read this post by one of my favourite bloggers. Chandelle is writing about summer and simplicity and how she and her partner consciously chose to live differently, not as an experiment... but permanently.

When I was younger I would sometimes feel like something inside me was going to burst - in a good way. Like there was all kinds of creativity in there, all damned up for some reason or other that I could never figure out. I wanted to let it out. I tried. I felt frustrated. I tried again. I looked for support or belief or whatever you might call it from others. I felt frustrated. And then time happens. Marches on or whatever the hell we say. Stuff happens that distracts you and covers up all that 'feeling of bursting'. Stuff accumulates and before you know it you're surrounded. By people. By stuff. By a job. By multiple roles. By all of these things competing for first priority. At least that's how it's been for me. I've talked things through so much with D (because he's kinda in the same boat as I am) and looked for reasons or causes or blame or whatever but the bottom line is that all of that creativity/thought/idea just isn't there... it's all cloudy.
After reading these two articles I've started to wonder if I haven't had it completely backwards. What if the only reason that all that stuff never got out wasn't because of something that I did wrong or someone else did wrong to me but because of something that I didn't do. I had lots of time to sit and stew when I was in university. I had no tv. I didn't really listen to the radio. I remember times when my busy friends were all busy and I had no work and would just sit on my couch. Occasionally, something amazing would happen like a great poem or awesome wedding vows or a kicking vocal lick but mostly I just sat there and felt sorry for myself because I wasn't busy like my friends were.
Now I find myself wishing for that time again... and more. Who knows what could have been with more time like that. Who knows what kind of person I would be with more of that time - idle, nothing, wasted (not) time. What would it turn me into. I fully intend to do my best to find out this summer.
This of course has absolutely nothing to do with Cauliflower risotto.

Cauliflower Risotto Bianco adapted from 'Vegetarian' by Alice Hart

4 1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 vegetable boullion cube
4 cups cauliflower broken into bite sized florets
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup garlic scapes, chopped (optional: use 2 cloves crushed garlic)
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
generous 1/2 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
1/2 cup cream
salt to taste

Steam the cauliflower for about 7 minutes or until just starting to soften. Set aside.
Heat the vegetable stock and boullion cube together until almost simmering.
Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over med/low heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted add in the garlics scapes or garlic and cook for just a minute. Add in the arborio rice and stir until the rice is coated.
Begin to add in the vegetable stock one ladleful at a time, stirring constantly and making sure that the mixture doesn't stop simmering. You want to add in another ladle of stock once the liquid gets low but not low enough for the rice to stick to the bottom of the pan. Continue for about 20 minutes or so. The rice should be soft and not look more white in the middle - ie. all one colour. Turn the heat down to low.
Add in the parmesan cheese and the cream. Stir well and check the taste. Add salt if necessary.
Add in the cooked cauliflower. Stir and serve.

Asparagus, Fiddlehead and Sausage Risotto

I read a comment from another blog recently. The writer was making note of the changes in food presentation and ultimately in the food that we are making these days. It's homier. It's stew, it's curry, it's a mess on a plate. We've turned ever so slowly from making food with ingredients that we have to source from expensive grocers and begun to appreciate a simpler way... and with it we get the pictures of food ladled on a plate in a big glop.
I kinda like it though. It's simple. It's the way I cook. It's the way I've always cooked and the way I prefer to cook. I feel like I want to go out for fancy food. I'm going to pay for the whole experience of it. I love the creativity that you get from a high end restaurant and the appreciation for the whole experience beginning to end. However, I don't feel the need to cook that way at home. Plus, I want leftovers. If I had to cook every single night I would have done something awful to myself way before now. I like leftovers and some things taste better as leftovers than they did the day they were made. Also, I don't have the time or the techniques to pull it all off successfully - and mistakes can be expensive when you are talking about fancy stuff.
I'm at that stage of life when I don't feel like I need to apologize for who I am. I don't want to have to pretend that I'm something other than that. I want what I want and that's the end of it.
This dish is nothing new necessarily. Who hasn't read about asparagus risotto before? You know what though? It's good. It works. It's not too difficult. It makes leftovers. It's homey.

On a different note, I'm totally enjoying the spring veggies that are taking the starring role right now. After a long winter of root veggies and squash it's so wonderful to have the greens again and the short lived fiddleheads. I think that this is my last batch of fiddleheads for the season and I've probably just got one more week of asparagus. I love the cyclical nature of it all and I feel renewed. So I'm going to go and plop some food on my plate (leftovers at that) and enjoy every second of my spring veggies with creamy rice and cheese and say a big thank you for it all.

Asparagus, Fiddlehead and Sausage Risotto
serves 4 - 6

2 cups (less about 2 tbsp) arborio rice
4 cups warm vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 cups (1 bunch) asparagus, ends off and chopped into large chunks
2 1/2 cup fiddleheads, cut into 1 1/2 pieces or so
1/2 cup chives, chopped
4 large sausages (mild), sliced thin (feel free to use less or even leave them out)
1 cup (or just under) cream
salt
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Heat a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan over med heat.
Add in about 3 tbsp of oil and add in the asparagus and fiddleheads. Saute in the oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and stir well so that the rice is coated with the oil.
Begin to add the heated broth one ladleful at a time. Stir well and make sure that the liquid remains simmering the whole time. You might want to turn down the heat to low. Continue adding the liquid until it's all used up.
Add the sausage and stir well.
Add in the cream.

Add the salt to taste and the parmesan cheese.
Check the taste, adjust if necessary and serve.

Chicken Risotto with Shitake and Leek

Today I woke up at 6 am... ok 6:20 (yeah, I slept in a bit. What!) and it was still pitch black outside. I left to bike to work at 6:50 am and, Yup, it was still dark. Not pitch black. Not dead of night black but dark. I needed bike lights. In fact, it wasn't until well after 7 am that it began to lighten up a bit.
It's coming people. The long dark of Winter. This is a hard time for me. D actually uses a light box from now and takes generous amounts of Vit D to deal with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). When you grow up in the West Indies there are no time changes, no times of the year when it's dark more than it's light. The Sunrise/Sunset is pretty much the same all year round. Heaven! Not here though and it's a lot to grapple with. Seasons are beautiful, for sure. They are not easy though.

I did however, manage to get myself to a breakfast meeting that I'm pretty happy about. Over the last year, I've begun to help out at school with our Eco Club. We have been working away at our little corner of the planet to raise awareness and make our corner a more sustainable place. Last year we got some funds from TD Friends of the Environment Fund to get a Vermi-Composter for one of our classrooms. TD FEF, in turn, invited us to this breakfast which was attended by fund recipients and donors alike. We heard about upcoming initiatives and got to give our input about where we think funds should be allocated. It's kind of heartening to feel surrounded by other people who care about something as passionately and deeply. It's easy for us to feel like we are working alone, to get isolated and depressed about it. Today I walked away feeling like I'm not alone, like there is always hope and like I could maybe get some more money ;-)
Thanks to TD for caring and to our little SMCS Eco Club and Mme LoCurto for keeping the flag held high.

This, as you might have guessed by now, has nothing to do with the Risotto. You gotta trust me though, the Risotto was good. I made it with homemade chicken stock and the chicken that I used in the risotto was all chicken that came off of the 4 chicken carcasses that I used in the stock. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of how resourceful that was... for sure!

Chicken Risotto with Shitake and Leek
serves 5 - 6

6 - 7 cups chicken broth, heated
3 cups diced or shredded chicken
2 cups Shitake Mushrooms, halved
1 medium leek, sliced thin
1 cup peas (frozen or fresh)
2 cups Risotto Rice
3 - 4 tbsp butter
salt to taste
1/2 - 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cream

Keep the chicken broth heated in a medium sized pot.
Heat a larger pot and add in the butter and leek. Sauté for a few minutes. Add in the Shitake mushrooms and heat for about 4 minutes or until things are wilting just a bit. Add in the rice and mix in the butter/veggie mixture for a couple of minutes, until the rice is coated with butter.

Begin to slowly add ladles of the broth. Stirring in between each ladle full. Once the liquid simmers down a bit add in another ladle full. Once you get close to the end of the broth (check the rice as you are going to see if it's done or not) add in the chicken and peas.

Let that heat with the last few ladles of broth. Add in the parmesan cheese and cream. Add salt to taste.

In desperation

I'm drowning my sorrows in comfort food. I am sad. Very sad. My cousin has gone.

Ok. She's not really my cousin. She is D's cousin. She comes every summer with her two gorgeous kids and they stay for about two weeks. My cousin is an inspiration. She is a prominent woman in the UK who has become a real role model for many women of colour (any colour - thank you!). She is not only a well known lawyer but she also is involved with many charities and does public speaking regularly. Total superwoman. Did I mention that she also has two gorgeous kids? When she is here we do crazy amounts of stuff. Canada's Wonderland, the ROM, the EX, cottaging (newly added this year) AND we always make sure that we have one day all to ourselves.

We really hit it off when we met 8 years ago. She is someone who not only shared my champagne obsession (begun by D's father) but encouraged it, fed it even! Who's going to have a problem with someone like that. We discovered though that we just clicked and it's been like that ever since. It's like I have another sister. Our 'Ladies Who Lunch' Day always involves lunch (this year at 'One') and champagne and coctails (yes, I know), shopping (think Chanel, Prada, Tiffany's - and I'm not joking, please note that I am only window shopping and watching my cuz have her fun) and lastly a mani/pedi. Crazy.

She and her two gorgeous kids have flown back to London today and I'm sad. We filled her with her favourite Buffalo Chicken wings last night and sent them off. Very sad. I love when my sisters come but it's so hard when they leave. Comfort food had to be in the line-up today so I turned to Risotto. How much more comforting can creamy, cheesy rice get... just add bacon.

Comforting. Now if only I had a glass of champagne...

Creamy Bacon and Chard Rissotto

(makes a lot - just enough to drown your sadness - for about 8)

5 cups hot stock (chicken or vegetable) - I used just under 5 cups

2 cups risotto rice

1/2 cup of onion, sliced and chopped very thin

8 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped (biggish pieces)

3 cups (give or take) of chard leaves, chopped thin

1/2 - 2/3 cup parmesan cheese

dash of cream if you wish (I wished today!)

In a large, heated pot. Melt a dash or two of butter and saute the onion in the butter for just a couple of minutes. Add in the rice and saute the rice for a minute or so. Making sure that the rice is completely covered with butter. Begin by adding just enough hot stock to cover the rice. Stir continually until each cup or so of stock gets almost absorbed by the rice. Always make sure that the rice doesn't get dry enough to stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the rice is almost ready (ie. once you are almost at the end of the stock) add in the chard and let it cook with the rice for a few minutes. It will wilt in the rice. Once wilted, add in the parmesan and bacon. Mix it all well. Check the taste and see if you need to add anything. Add some more liquid (cream or wine) if you wish. If you have leftovers then you will probably need to add more liquid when you reheat it.

Drown yourself in the comforting, creamy goodness.

I love Risotto

I do.

I totally love risotto. I could eat risotto for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I love rice.

I love cheese.

I love peas.

I love wine.

As I've said before, there is nothing that I can think of that woudn't work well in risotto. Hmmm, so why does the thought of rice pudding make me want to blow chunks - doesn't make any sense does it?

I got this totally rad sweet pea stuff in the food box this week. Have I ever shucked (is that even the word?) peas before? No.

Who cares, it was easy and they tasted great. I was torn because I wanted to make curry with them (Keema - Oh Yeah!) but I also got really hungry and then there wasn't any meat thawed and ready to go and then I saw this recipe for pea risotto in the magazine and then... I was making it. I loved this dish so much that I had 3 helpings in about 10 minutes. Now, truth be told, it was about 4:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so this was like supch or lupper or whatever you want to call it. But, I didn't have this with anything else, just straight up, no meat, no extras. It was great. I love those kinds of meals, driven by necessity and totally satisfying in the end.

I find risotto quite easy to pull off. I'm not sure what the mystery is. Maybe I'm the only one who even thought that there was a mystery! I also used some wine (that I just happened to have chilling in the fridge) from one of my favourite Ontario Wineries (yes, we do have rather good Wineries in Ontario), Coyote's Run.

The addition really does make a difference in the taste, another layer so to speak. As always, you do have to stand and stir but really, what trouble is stirring? Either way, I don't actually find that I'm spending any longer at the stove than for any other recipe and the results are always optimal.

Pea Risotto

(inspired by BBC Good Food magazine)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup onion diced fine

1 1/2 cup peas (I got mine fresh from the pod - thanks to the Food Box)

4 cups of chicken or veg. broth heated (I used organic chicken)

2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 - 2 tsp salt to taste

little bit of lemon zest (optional)

In heavy bottomed pan melt the butter and then add the veggies. Let them sweat at a fairly low heat for about 7 min. or so. Add the Arborio rice to the butter and veggies and mix well. Increase the heat just a bit. Once everything is well coated and has kind of warmed up a bit then begin to add in the heated broth by the ladle. Add one ladle and mix well, letting the mixture simmer well (the whole idea with risotto is that it simmers constantly, which is why heating the broth is so important - that way the temperature won't be affected when you add cold liquid). Continue adding by ladleful until the risotto looks like it's started get creamy and fluffy. Begin to test for doneness. Add the wine and continue to mix well (you could continue adding ladles of broth as well). Once the rice looks done add in the salt and the parmesan. Check the tastes and adjust as necessary. Enjoy....

How Far can I stretch? ... Sausage that is.

Ok, so I'm trying to be thrifty but I'm not really trying to be thrifty. I'm just experimenting really. Since we are all (well, most of us) trying to cut down on our meat intake just a little bit, I bought five hot italian sausages and I want to see how much I can do with them.

First on my list, Risotto. Since my lemon Risotto discovery on Valentine's Day I have made risotto part of my regular repertoire. It took me a long time to get onto it but now that I've kind of got it, I can't believe that it took me so long to catch the bug. Delicious just about any way... and there are tons of ways. I'm trying to think of something that would just not work if you threw it into risotto but I'm having trouble thinking of what that would be. Thoughts???

Also, the food box came today and with it arrived a huge bunch of huge asparagus and some yummy looking mushrooms - let's throw 'em in. I figure, the more crap in the risotto, the further it will go, right? (Also, in the food box was some yummy cheese and some super yummy Cocoa Camino chocolate... oh and some awesome Ace bakery multigrain bread! It was a great food box... SEE...

So, with 4 cups of heated chicken broth, 2 cups of risotto, 2 hot italian sausages and some veggies... here's what I did:

Risotto with Asparagus, Mushrooms and Sausage

(serves 4)

4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth, heated

2 cups of Arborio rice

5 large stalks of asparagus

1/2 a red onion, diced small

3 cups of mushrooms (I used button) sliced

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tbsp olive oil

2 hot italian sausage, sliced thin

1/3 cup of parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Once heated add the butter and olive oil. Once the butter is melted add in the veggies and saute in the oil and butter until the onion is just clear (doesn't have to be limp though). Turn down the heat if necessary. Add in the arborio rice and coat with oil and butter (add a little more butter if you need to). Slowly begin to add ladle's full of heated broth, being careful not to add so much at one time that the mixture stops simmering. Continue stirring regularly and adding ladles of broth as needed.

Once the rice is done (takes about 15 - 20 minutes) remove from the heat and add the sausage, parmesan and cream. Check for taste.

The Bah Humbug Menu

I'm not huge on celebrations that involve gift giving (save birthdays which are unreservedly about the birthday person) and that includes Christmas. So! Needless to say, Valentine's Day is not big on my list at all. However, I thought that some sort of commemoration might be in order, even if it just ends up being an excuse to hang with my husband and have a good meal together - not something we often get the luxury of.

I guess that my lack of need for gifts on my anniversary, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas should make me 'low maintenance' BUT let me assure you that I was totally serious about my birthday fixation - that day is ALLLL about the birthday person and in my case I have no problems requesting gifts from the likes of Tiffany's or Birks (see this years birthday request - doesn't mean I'll get it - that I fell in love with in the Birks window. The picture doesn't really do it justice though).

Ah, I digress, back to Valentine's day. I recently had a lovely meal, at one of my favourite italian resto's here in Toronto called 'Terroni', of spaghetti al limone. It was spectacular, creamy, cheesy (with Parmesano of course), infused with a perfect hit of lemon. This is what I want to make today! I'm winging it with a recipe here but I'm thinking that if I go with a kind of Carbonara based sauce and just use lemon instead of bacon then I should be on the right track at least. Well, that is until I changed my mind. I remembered (sometimes my brain does this at the right time, rather than about 5 hrs too late) that Derek usually prefers rice to pasta (a mild preference but it is Valentine's Day after all) so I decided to make it Lemon Risotto instead. I had seen a recipe in Nigella Lawson's 'Nigella Bites' and followed it loosely here. Although Risotto sounds finicky, it's actually pretty straight forward AND it's extremely flexible - vary the vegetables, add seafood, instead of using broth use wine... you get the idea.

Risotto al Limone

2 1/2 cups of Arborio rice (short grain Italian rice available at any grocery store these days - totally necessary for the creamy texture)
half a medium sized red onion (what I used but shallots would be even better)

1 rib of celery
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/3 cup butter (yes people Real butter - do not use margarine or some 'low fat' alternative PLEASE!)
few dashes of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
approx. 6 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable) already simmering or having just boiled (this is crucial)
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon

2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
1/2 - 3/4 cup Parmesan
salt to taste
dash of pepper
2 cups of baby spinach

Heat the broth and have it at the ready. Chop the onion and celery until they are almost mush. In a large pot melt about 1/2 a cup of the butter, reserving the rest for the end. Once butter is melted add the chopped vegetables and saute about 3-4 min. Add the garlic and saute another 2 min. Add the rice and olive oil, stir well to cover the rice completely with the butter and oil for just a minute.

Slowly, begin to add the broth in a ladle full at a time. The idea here is to keep the heat as steady as possible which is why hot broth being added slowly is essential. As each ladle full gets absorbed add the next (beware - you may need extra hot water just in case) and stir continually (this is really as complicated as it gets!).
Combine the egg yolks, cream, lemon juice, zest and parmesan cheese together in a small bowl. Once the rice is cooked to al dente (about 20 min but make sure you taste it) remove it from the heat and add the spinach. Mix well and let the spinach wilt. Once mixed add in the egg yolk mixture. Again, make sure that you taste check. At this point add in any extra salt or pepper that it might need as well as the remainder of the butter. The idea is for this to be creamy, almost like a savoury rice pudding!

I loved it and it tasted fantastic with the Rainbow Trout that Derek whipped up. This dish can definitely hold it's own but is fantastic with fish or seafood (of course you could also add it right into the Risotto to make life simpler. I would say that this would probably serve 6 as a first course or 4 if serving it as the only main course.
This is truly comfort food!!! Creamy, cheesy, lemony, YUMMY!