Dwindling Supplies

Apologies to everyone for being a bit M.I.A. for the last few weeks. I'm having surgery next week and I've been trying to get lots of things done before I'm on crutches for a few weeks. Don't worry, I'm going to be fine, and this is going to fix what has been causing me pain for months so...I'm actually looking forward to it, as much as one can look forward to extra pain. Knowing that the pain will subside is what is keeping me going right now!

I've been cleaning the house, doing all the laundry, changing the sheets, and preparing for a week on the couch...but I've also been trying to use up what I've got in the kitchen. I haven't gone food shopping in a few weeks, trying to clean the freezer out of all the collected meats, and pairing that with randomness found in the pantry! There's too much stuff in there! I've actually purchased some cute little glass bottles, which should arrive in the next few days, in order to combine duplicates of spice jars in the hopes of making more space in there! I've got bottles and bags, jars and cans...and I need to use this stuff up. Otherwise, there's no room for new and exciting ingredients that I find in the future!

Last night, for instance, I made a risotto using things I had on hand. Like I've said in the past, risotto can be a great catch-all for leftover ingredients, and this was no exception. I even had some homemade chicken stock left over that I defrosted for the occasion. I'm not going to share the intricacies of my creation, because I'm thinking that this is one for the books - and a cookbook, I will write, one day. I'm taking notes, and collecting pictures. This one was an interesting pairing of ingredients that turned out really well so I was very excited!

What types of ingredients do you have lying around in your pantry? We've all gotten that jar of seasoned salt, that bottle of tarragon vinegar, that container of homemade jam that sits around, waiting for the perfect recipe. They take a long time to use up, but taste so good - we need to utilize these wonderful ingredients more often! That's the my goal!

A Week's Worth of Meals

I can hardly believe that it's Thursday evening, and it is the first evening where we didn't have plans after work! It's nice to sit down and have a relaxing dinner, and catch up on some TV. With all this business of being so busy, I didn't have time to share all the wonderful things I made, so I thought I'd do a little week-in-review type post.

On Sunday, the menu called for Rock Shrimp Tempura and Hayashi Stew, both from Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking. I decided to make the tempura because I found rock shrimp at a local winter market, and it's an ingredient that is very hard to find. When I see things like this, I sieze the opportunity to use them in recipes I may not cook otherwise! This was a very cool play on a buffalo chicken type of thing - the shrimp were fried after being tossed in a tempura batter, but half of them were then coated with a chili sauce, while the other half were tossed with a wasabi sauce. The dish was also served with celery and cucumber, dunked in a handmade ranch dressing, a little something to cool the palate between the spicy sauces. I decided to serve it with a very simple Japanese beef stew, and some white rice. We used the tempura as an appetizer while the stew simmered!

On Monday night, we had friends over for dinner and massages. That's right...my vegetarian friends, who I realized, also eat fish! Hooray! I opted for a chapter out of Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys, called How To Fry Fish. Since this was a whole menu of items, it worked out perfectly for an impromptu dinner party. The main course, of course, was a fish fry with a Piquant Tarragon Mayonnaise. With it, I served Salt-Roasted New Potatoes, as well as a Green Bean Salad with Pickled Shallots. As an appetizer, I put out some melon mixed with lime juice and mint. A refreshing starter for this meal!

On Tuesday night, we had our weekly hydrotherapy session for the puppy, to work on building her muscles and save her from the pain of her hip dysplasia. By the time we get home on these nights, it's pretty late, but I had bought some Caribbean-marinated steak tips at that same Winter Market, and whipped up a batch of Lemon and Caper Mashed Potatoes, as well as a Fennel, Red Onion and Parsley  Salad to go along with them. This picture didn't come out great, but nonetheless, there it is!

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner as well, and I opted to make a risotto this time around. You all know how much I love making risotto! This one is from Jamie's Italy and in Italian, is called Risotto con Cipolle Bianche Dolci, Cotechino, e Timo, or Risotto of Sweet White Onions, Cotechino Sausage, and Thyme. It was a really delicious risotto, with a lot of bold, rich flavors. I served it with a simple dish of greens, cooked Italian-style, in some olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice!

And that leads us to this evening! Since I've been cooking up a storm amidst our busy schedule, I decide to make something a bit simpler today. The menu was entitled Sick Day and comes from Tyler Florence's, Dinner at My Place. I made a really simple chicken soup with carrots, onions and celery, but into that I added some store-bought tortellini, as well as some chicken-apple sausage. The original recipe calls for the uncooked sausage to be made into roasted meatballs...but I bought the pre-cooked kind, so I just sliced 'em up and threw them in the soup. It was really yummy, and soothing on a cold winter's night. With it, I served some baguette slices, toasted in the oven, and baked goat cheese seasoned with some black pepper. It was a totally simple and comforting meal!

Ah, a week in review! I hope that you enjoyed it, and I promise to get back on track this weekend. Tomorrow night, I'm going to try a new restaurant with my dear friend, Heidi. Don't worry, I will report back on Saturday! We've also got another chapter from The Professional Chef on the way, and don't forget to comment on the previous post to enter to win a bottle of MonaVie's (M)Mun. There's lots in store for the coming weeks, and I'm very excited to get started on all of it! We're also going to have people over for the Superbowl, so I have some planning to do!!! 

So much food, so little time!

Fennel Bulbs and Artichokes

The plan was to make Fennel Risotto with Ricotta and Dried Chili, from Jamie Oliver's, Jamie's Italy, for dinner. The other night, I had to run to Whole Foods, and as I've been known to do, I wandered over to the artichokes...and had to buy more of them. I'm obsessed, I tell ya, obsessed! But, really, I just figured they'd go so perfectly with this specific risotto...and I was right!

I've talked about risotto many times in the past, so I won't regale you with more instructions on making it, but what I like about Jamie Oliver's books is that he takes a basic recipe, only explains it once, and then elaborates upon it in subsequent recipes. So, the recipe I chose had, as an "ingredient," the plain risotto recipe. Cool, right?

I gathered my mise en place for both the plain risotto, as well as the elaboration, and voila!

While I started the soffrito for the basic risotto recipe, I also sauteed some garlic and fennel until they were both soft and sweet. That took about 20 minutes, but it's great to just throw them in a pan, cover them, and forget about it.

Once the risotto was halfway done, I added the fennel mixture to the pot and continued to cook it until it was perfectly done! At that point, I removed it from the heat, added butter, crushed chili pepper, lemon zest, ricotta and parmesan and allowed it all to meld together for a few minutes. I seasoned the risotto with lemon juice, salt and pepper, tasting a few times to assure the correct flavors, and then it was time to plate!

The artichoke was a perfect pairing for this risotto, because it added a meaty quality that was absent from the risotto. It was also a very healthy side dish to an otherwise heavy meal...it balanced so well. Without each other, I would have been left wanting more...but together, it was the perfect meal!

Risotto Another Way

The other night, I finally got around to taking a trip to H-Mart, my favorite place to buy seafood and fish. I got the ingredients for the sausage I made the other night, as well as the rest of the items on my current menu! Among those ingredients was some nice, fresh snow crab meat. When I got home from work tonight, I was greeted by a happy puppy and a hungry husband, so I got to work in the kitchen! My mise en place came together pretty quickly for this recipe: Crab, Asparagus and Lemon Risotto, from the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites cookbook.

I gathered 3 cups of seafood stock, a bunch of asparagus, olive oil, a leek, salt, freshly ground black pepper, a garlic clove, chopped fresh chives, a cup of Arborio rice, some dry white wine, fresh crabmeat, lemon zest, lemon juice and unsalted butter.

In a small saucepan, I brought my seafood stock to a simmer, and threw in the ends from my asparagus. I let that cook for about 10 minutes before fishing the stalks out of the stock and tossing them in my garbage bowl.

In a heavy pot, I heated 1 tablespoon of olive oil until hot, and then added my sliced leek to the pot. For 5 minutes, I allowed the leeks to cook, stirring frequently.

Once the 5 minutes was up, I seasoned the leeks with salt and pepper, and added the minced garlic clove, as well as the chopped chives and allowed it to cook for 30 more seconds. Then, I added the Arborio rice, and allowed the mixture to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Does this all look familiar? It should, because we've made risotto before. You guys should be pros by now! :) Once the 3 minutes were up, I added half of the wine, stirring until the liquid was fully absorbed. At that point, I added the other half of the wine and allowed it to do the same thing. Continue this way with the seafood stock until the risotto is almost done and you have about 1/2 a cup of stock in reserve.

Add the last 1/2 cup of stock along with the asparagus pieces, and allow it to cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir in 3/4 of the crabmeat, the lemon zest and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper again. Allow everything to warm through.

Be sure not to leave this on the heat TOO long and over cook the already cooked crab, but definitely give it time to heat through. Meanwhile, take a small saute pan and add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of unsalted butter. Once that has melted and heated together, add the rest of the crab meat and allow to heat through, stirring to coat. Season this as well, with salt and pepper.

To plate, spoon a nice helping of the risotto onto each plate or bowl and then top with the extra buttered crabmeat. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped chives and serve. This is a really fresh, spring dish that really showcases asparagus during their season. The addition of crab is a bonus...you could do this recipe without the crab as well, should you have trouble finding the ingredient, or want to cut back on the cost of this dish!

My Favorite Kind of Onion

from Flickr - by roboppy

We went grocery shopping today, and I was inspired by an item that I buy every time we go to the grocery store. The leek! It's a part of the onion and garlic family, but it's much more mild than either of those ingredients. Leeks are generally sold in stalks that have a gradient of white (at the bottom) to dark green at the tips of the stalk. Generally, we cut off the dark green portion because the leaves are very tough. Using the light green and white parts of the leek can add a lot of flavor to so many different dishes.

Because of the way a leek is formed, it's easier to clean it once you've cut it in half. Normally, I will slice the leek down the middle, the long way, and then run cold water over each half, pulling the layers of stem apart a little bit in order to get the dirt out. You can also soak the pieces in cold water once it is sliced completely.

from Flickr - by mingfoto34

Leeks make for a great side dish if you cut them a bit thicker, and saute them in a bit of butter and salt and pepper. They make a lovely bed for a piece of salmon, and a nice thick sauce for a chicken breast as well. You can use them in place of onions in a risotto, and they make a great addition to a spaghetti carbonara. One of my favorite things to add to an omelette are leeks, too! 

Next time you are at the grocery store, pick up a few leeks...and experiment with using them for all sorts of different meals. I love when I find an ingredient that I seriously can't live without! I guarantee you if you open my fridge, you will always find at least one leek in there...unless I've eaten them already!

Holy Ingredients, Aquaman!

Well, tonight I decided to make the Seafood Risotto since I picked up some mussels, clams and shrimp at Whole Foods yesterday. This recipe was extremely prep-heavy so this one was a bit time-consuming, I have to say. Although, I think it was worth it, because this was a really refreshing meal! There were so many ingredients, and a lot of twists and turns, so I'm going to summarize here. If you are interested in a more in depth list, with measurements, shoot me an email and I will send it along. Since I've made risotto before, I won't bore you with a step-by-step here!



For this version of the risotto, the recipe called for either making a homemade seafood stock, or using a store-bought one. I bought one, but went the extra mile and simmered it with all the fixings that would have gone into the homemade one, without any of the seafood. I added 3 squished tomatoes, a bay leaf, a parsley sprig and some chopped carrots. I strained the mixture before I started scooping it into the risotto.



Meanwhile, I heated up some oil and butter in a large pan and added chopped celery, onion and garlic (a soffritto, the Italian version of a mire poix) and to that I added chopped fennel, fennel seeds, chili powder and some saffron. From now on, the more I stir the mixture, the more yellow in tint it will become, and that's because of the saffron. While it's red in color, it turns anything you add it to a bright, fresh yellow color.



Once the soffritto was softened, I added the Arborio rice and allowed it to fry a little bit, until the granules had a nice translucent outer coating.



Now, I'm going to skip a bit here - because you know how to make risotto already! It takes patience, many ladles of stock (seafood, in this case) and lots of stirring! But once the risotto was about done, I added a handful of parmesan and seasoned it up with some salt and pepper. The recipe actually calls for leaving the parmesan out (Italians don't think that seafood and cheese mix), but the nutty, salty flavor of the cheese is better than any salt...so I added a little anyway...but definitely not as much as a normal risotto recipe would call for. Once it was all stirred together, I threw in my mussels, clams and shrimp and covered the pot to allow the shellfish to steam.



As the shellfish started to open and the shrimp were turning pink, I added some globs of butter to finish off the risotto and stirred it all up to heat everything through. I also took some of the mussels out of their shells and stirred it directly into the risotto. This eliminated the mess of a bunch of shells at the dinner table, but also got the mussel juice mixed into the risotto adding a bit more briny flavor to the mix...something I love! I also poured some lemon juice and olive oil on top to add to that freshness.



Once plated, I garnished with fennel fronds and some chopped parsley. This was a delicious, comforting meal for a rainy Monday night! The mussels and shrimp were cooked to perfection...but the clams could have used a few more minutes. Next time, I'll throw the clams in first, and follow with the rest as they seem to need a few less minutes to steam.

The Art of Patience

Tonight, I needed to use the majority of my basil bunch, since it really only lasts a few days in the fridge. I decided to make the Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes, and Basil, a recipe that I've made before. I don't duplicate recipes a lot (there's so many out there, why make one more than once!?) but my husband really likes this one, and he specifically requested it for the current menu. Risotto is a great dish because you can do so many things with it. If you have arborio rice and chicken broth, you've got the dish, and anything you throw in to it makes the meal your own!

This specific recipe comes from Cooking Light Magazine. The yield is 6 servings and get this...it's only 378 calories a serving! This really is a very comforting dish, but also has a wonderful freshness to it. And it's simple, really! The only thing you'll need is patience...risotto is a very good exercise in the art of patience. Let's dig into this one and I'll show you what I mean!

First and foremost, of course, is our mise en place. For this meal, you'll need:

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped leek

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or other medium-grain rice

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

5 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, finely diced

It didn't take that long to pull this together since I really only had to cut the leeks, mozzarella, basil and tomatoes. Everything else just called for a bit of measuring. First, I placed the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and brought it to a boil over a medium heat. The vinegar needs to simmer and reduce until it's syrupy and thick, about 1 tablespoon in measurement. This should take about 4 minutes. Once it's done, I would pour it out into another bowl so it doesn't just cool and stick to the sides of the pot. I had to heat the syrup in the microwave before serving since it had thickened quite a bit as it cooled. If that happens, that's okay, but it would work just as well to make this the last step, rather than the first.

While the balsamic vinegar was reducing, I also placed my chicken broth in a pot to bring to a simmer. You don't want the broth to boil, but you do want to keep it warm. The reason for the warm broth is that it doesn't shock the rice as you add it to the pot because it's at the same temperature as the pot you are adding it to.

Okay, now for the main event! Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan (or in my case, Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the leeks to the pan, and saute them for 3 minutes. Mmm, I love leeks!

Next, I added the rice, and cooked for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then, I stirred in the wine and cooked for an additional minute, waiting for the liquid to be absorbed by the rice. 

And now, here comes the patience. You need to continue stirring throughout this process so don't even think about walking away from the pot! Add a cup of the heated chicken broth to the pot of leeks and rice and stir constantly, allowing the broth to be absorbed by the rice. When the liquid has been absorbed, add another 1/2 cup of the broth at a time, allowing it all to be absorbed before adding more...and don't forget to keep stirring! (If you don't keep stirring, the rice gets stuck to the bottom of the pot, burns, gets clumpy and doesn't cook evenly...have I convinced you now?)

Keep stirring!

Heehee, okay, I know you've got it. Once all of the broth has been absorbed, 1/2 cup at a time, into the rice, it's time to finish it all off. The rice should be tender or very close to it at this point, so pour in the half-and-half, salt and pepper and allow to cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove the risotto from the heat and add the grape tomatoes, basil and mozzarella.

Place about 1 cup of risotto on each shallow bowl or plate and then drizzle with a little olive oil and a little bit of that balsamic vinegar syrup that we made earlier. Yummy!! Check out all that gooey mozzarella goodness and the fresh grape tomatoes, and the flecks of basil! So fresh, so delicious, so comforting!