Mediterranean Orecchiette, Cooked Risotto-Style

How great is Groupon, right?


I came across a Groupon for Fox & Obel the other day, and my fellow Chicagoans know that it's an amazing gourmet market located conveniently (dangerously?) close to my office. As if I needed another excuse to shop there, the Groupon provided me the perfect opportunity to browse the shop and pick up a few things I needed. One of the produce treasures I came across was a pack of "heirloom peppers." I had no idea if they were going to be sweet or spicy, but I am not one to turn down a pepper of any variety, and certainly not an heirloom edition.


As it turned out, they were a variety of red bell peppers, but their thin flesh made them crisper and much sweeter than your average red pepper. They also had an intriguing, elongated shape, reminiscent of Cubanelles. If you happen to find them in your local market, definitely pick some up. They're a nice change of pace.


Among the other things I found at Fox and Obel was a box of Italian orecchiette, one of my favorite pasta shapes, but it's not always available at the regular supermarket. With a few other treats I had around, I had the perfect beginnings for a pasta dish, and I had been wanting to try cooking it risotto-style ever since I saw Mark Bittman do it on his blog a few months ago.


It's exactly what it sounds like - you add dry pasta to a base of oil and butter, and gradually add liquid while stirring, just like risotto - only instead of arborio rice, you use a short pasta. Just like with the rice grains (but to a lesser extent), the pasta releases its glutens slowly, thickening the sauce you cook it in and creating a rich base - all without having to add anything but the broth.


Despite the fact that this blog's subtitle is "How To Wine and Dine Daringly," I almost never share with you my adventures in vino. What a shame! Consider this my first step toward a remedy. We enjoyed this wine (photo above) with dinner, and at about $8 a bottle at Treasure Island, it was an absolute steal! In fact, I may just wrap this up and have another sip or two...or three....

INGREDIENTS
Makes 4-6 servings

2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 heirloom red bell peppers, sliced, ribs and seeds removed
2 T. butter
~2 c. dried orecchiette pasta (or other small pasta, like shells or rotini)
zest and juice of one lemon
1 container (the box) low-sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
fresh chopped thyme
fresh chopped oregano
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered (not packed in oil)
~1/2 cup frozen peas
handful olives, halved (use good quality black or green olives, or a combination)
~15 shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined (if using frozen, thaw first)

STEP 1:

In a large Dutch oven or pot with lid, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper. Add a little salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook until beginning to soften. Add the butter and dried pasta. Stir unti the butter has melted and coated the pasta.

STEP 2:

Add the chicken broth about a cup at a time, stirring almost constantly (the chicken broth should be at a steady simmer). Add the rest of the ingredients except the peas and shrimp, and continue to add the broth and stir.

STEP 3:

Taste a piece of pasta. When it's just shy of al dente, add the shrimp and peas and the rest of the chicken broth, stir, and cover. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked through and the pasta is tender but not mushy. Adjust seasonings if neccessary. Serve and enjoy!

Eat well and enjoy life, friends! More soon...

Copycat Risotto and a Gorgeous Disaster

Has anyone else been following Project Runway like a hawk tracking its prey through an open field?


Remember a couple episodes back where Mean-a Irina accuses Althea on the runway of copying her Aspen look, and Althea claimed her voluminous sweater was based on her own original sketch all along? This was a classic case of who-thought-of-it-first. This kind of stuff happens all the time among creatives working closely with one another (it happens to me in my job, like, every day). You see striking similarities between your work and someone else's, and no one can quite figure out whose idea was the original one.


That same phenomenon happened in my kitchen the other night. I was thinking over the ingredients I had - collard greens, arborio rice, butternut squash, bacon - and it occurred to me that a Butternut Squash, Collard Green and Bacon Risotto would be lovely. Later, I was perusing NewYorkTimes.com, one of my daily staples. I was looking through the recent recipe archives when I came across - you guessed it - Risotto with Butternut Squash, Bacon, and Collard Greens. Had I seen that recipe before, and had it lodged in my gray matter, only to resurface when the time was right? Admittedly, I made a dish very similar to this a couple weeks ago on a random night in with my friend Sarah, but this exact recipe - collard greens and all - well, I suddenly understood Mean-a Irina's irate runway reaction.

Regardless, this risotto is delish, be it hacked or not.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BACON, & COLLARD GREENS RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS

1 smallish butternut squash, cut into smallish chunks
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
4 slices natural bacon, cut into small pieces
1 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
1/2 small onion
2 small shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 c. dry Arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
zest of one lemon
1 container chicken broth (the box container)
2 bunches fresh collard greens, washed and sliced into ribbons
10-12 leaves fresh sage, chopped
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese for serving (freshly grated)

STEP 1:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the butternut squash chunks in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast until soft and beginning to brown at the edges, about 30-40 minutes, stirring around a few times in the baking dish.


STEP 2:

In a large, deep pot, fry the bacon pieces until lightly browned. Remove from pot with slotted spoon and set aside. In another, smaller pot, heat the chicken broth, covered, over low heat. In yet another pot, boil some water and boil the collards in it for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.


STEP 3:

Drain almost all the grease from the pot, but do not wipe out (you want the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as well as a little grease). Add the olive oil and butter to this pan over medium heat. Cook the shallots and onion, seasoning with a little salt and pepper, until beginning to soften. Add the dry Arborio rice and stir. Pour in the wine, and stir, scraping the brown bacony leftovers from the bottom of the pan (trust me on this part). Add the garlic and lemon zest. Cook until the rice begins to look translucent.

STEP 4:

Add the chicken broth, about a 1/2 cup at a time, and stir constantly until the rice grains have almost completely soaked up the broth. Do this over and over until the broth is gone. Stir in the sage somewhere in the middle of the brothing action. About 5 minutes before you want to stop cooking the risotto (when there is still some broth to be soaked up), stir in the greens, squash, and bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning.



STEP 5:

Serve in shallow bowls immediately, and grate some fresh Parmesan over the top. Enjoy!


I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I don't post everything I cook on this blog. If that were the case, you could assume I only eat about once every week or so, and we all know that's not true. Sometimes, I intend on taking photos as I cook, then forget. Sometimes, I'm so hungry that slowing down to take a photo before I eat seems completely absurd. And sometimes, I just plain screw something up and decide not to tell anyone about it.


These pancakes, however, fall somewhere in a gray area - I did sort of screw them up (but I proceeded to eat them anyway). And despite the fact that they were oozingly raw in the center, they photographed beautifully. A second batch actually turned out OK, so I decided to post the recipe with the simple warning to not make the pancakes too thick when you put them in the pan. Unlike raw cookie dough, no one wants to eat raw pancake batter.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES


INGREDIENTS (not exact recipe I used, but a good recipe from Martha Stewart Living)

1 and 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder;
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

STEP 1:

Mix together first 6 ingredients. Get a nonstick pan medium-hot.


STEP 2:

Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in the skillet. Pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side; serve with butter and syrup. Makes 8 to 10.



Other than the raw first batch, these pancakes were a delicious fall indulgence, and so pumpkin-y! We all know at this point how I love a hot, hearty breakfast.

Thanks for reading! More soon...

Risotto: The Second Coming

All day, I complained about how tired I was. I slumped. I hunched. I slunk around corners, rubbing my eyes and checking the clock. I drank caffeinated coffee, caffeinated tea, and (horrors!) Mountain Dew.



So what on earth would possess me, on a day as energy-less as today, to make risotto?

There is no shortage of quick and easy carbs in my pantry: spaghetti, cous cous, Success Rice (yes, I sometimes use Success Rice). But despite the availability of all those, I chose to make risotto.

It's basically the polar opposite of Success Rice. And those of you who were there for my Risotto Disaster a few months ago know my history with this starchy little devil.

Read on to see if I destroyed it...or coaxed deliciousness out of every grain....

CARAMELIZED ONION RISOTTO & ITALIAN SAUSAGE WITH TOMATOES AND BROCCOLI

***As a preface: I am completely aware of my recent obsession with all of the above ingredients. But let me defend myself: first of all, hot Italian sausage is one of the top five most delicious foods in the world (you heard it here first, people). Second, eating broccoli alongside anything makes me feel less guilty for whatever I'm eating (i.e., sausage). A culinary Hail Mary, if you will. And caramelized onions...well, there's just not a whole lot I can even say about them. How amazing they taste in or on just about everything really just says it all.***

INGREDIENTS

1/2 large white onion
1 c. dry Arborio rice
one 32-oz. container chicken broth
2 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
3 hot Italian sausages
1 head broccoli
1 can Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
1 tsp. sugar
grated parmesan for garnish (optional)

STEP ONE:

Thinly slice the onion and chop the broccoli into smallish florets.

Remove the sausage from the casing and brown it over medium-high heat until almost cooked through (i.e., just a tiny bit pink inside). Remove from the pan and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add a T. of butter to the pan drippings (don't freak out, just put it in the pan, you'll thank me later).

Add the onion to the pan and cook over medium heat (add a little salt and pepper) until the onion is caramelized. Throw in a pinch of sugar at the end to help it get brown. When they're done, set aside and keep warm.



STEP TWO:

Make the risotto. You're supposed to use hot stock for this, but I never do. I just add it cold or room temperature, and this time around, it came out fine. First, saute the rice grains in a T. of butter and a T. of oil until they're coated and beginning to turn translucent.

NOTE: This is where you would normally add about a 1/2 c. of dry white wine, but I didn't have any, so I just skipped it.

Then slowly add the broth, about a 1/2 cupful at a time, and stir the rice until the batch of stock is almost absorbed. Then add mroe. Then stir more. Continue to do this (and trust me when I say you need to seriously stand there and stir it - you do not want to be scrubbing glued-on risotto off your pots). You'll know it's done when the grains are al dente (like pasta), and there is enough liquid in the mixture to allow the risotto to slightly run on the plate when you serve it. If you can't serve it immediately, put a ld on it, and stir in a tad more liquid when you reheat it. When it's done, fold in the caramelized onions, add the lemon juice, and season to taste.







STEP THREE:

Pour the can of diced tomatoes and all the juices into a large saucepan. Bring it up to medium-high heat, and add the browned sausage and the broccoli florets. Cook, covered, for 5-7 minutes, until the broccoli is just tender.




STEP FOUR:

Place some risotto in a shallow serving bowl, and ladle some of the sausage-broccoli-tomato mixture on top. Sprinkle with a little parmesan if desired.




ROSS: When I first saw this, it looked like ingredients that would not go together very well, but I'm impressed at how well it's all working together. The risotto is cooked perfectly, and that's the key to the dish. Even though I wanted to use my sausages for sausage sandwiches [pouty frown]...

MY VOTE ON MY DISH: I give it 7 stars. Most of those stars are for getting the risotto right this time (wonders!). It was not sticky, gluey, and unpalatable, like last time. It was al dente, but still creamy and flavorful. I'm forgoing the other three stars due to ingredient overuse (sausage) and lack of creativity (i.e., pouring some stuff over a bowl of carbs). Although I must say, on a cold night, there aren't too many things more satisfying than a bowl of fresh risotto, spicy sausage, and homey tomato sauce. It was a tasty Winter treat - and, despite the risotto-stirring ball-and-chain, very easy to make.

Thanks for reading! Heads up for a blog-on-the-road brunch post soon, and a salmon post (this goes out to you, Andrea :-). Later, friends.

Risotto (?)

Most people think about their meat first when planning a meal. I, however, almost always start "noodling" (as they say in ad-agency lingo) on a side dish first.

This particular meal was inspired by - as you can probably guess from the title - Risotto. This was my second attempt at risotto, the first resulting in The Risotto Calamity of 2006. But since then, I've TiVo'd many a Barefoot Contessa, so I felt confident that I could make it without a hitch. I also had an outstanding lobster risotto at Viand, one of those downtown places that caters to the 40-plus business traveler crowd, but has an unexpectedly legit menu.


Without spoiling the ending of this post, let's just say "without a hitch" could be an overstatement.

Read on to get all the details of my Baked Salmon with Lemon-Leek Risotto and Arugula.

INGREDIENTS

SALMON:
3 Salmon filets
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper

RISOTTO
2 c. Arborio rice (NOTE: this made an absurdly huge amount of risotto - maybe just use 1 cup if you attempt this)
1/3 stick butter
1 T. olive oil
1 medium leek
juice of 2 lemons
zest of two lemons
salt and pepper
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated

ARUGULA
4 c. fresh arugula leaves
2 T. olive oil for the dressing
1 tsp. mustard
salt and pepper
1 T. sugar
2 T. white wine vinegar
squeeze of lemon juice

SAUCE
2 T. butter
1 T. flour
1/4 c. white wine
1/4 c. half and half
juice of one lemon
3 T. chopped fresh parsley
freshly grated parmesan (a little bit)
salt and pepper


STEP ONE:

In saucepan, heat 4 c. chicken broth (don't let it boil). Slice the leeks, then chop them into small pieces. Place them in a bowl of water to make sure they're extra clean. In a large Dutch oven or cooking pot, melt 1/3 sick butter and 2 T. olive oil (these measurements, again, are for 2 c. risotto), and saute the leeks (taken out of the water and shaken dry) until they soften and begin to turn translucent. Season them with a little salt and pepper. Add the Arborio rice, stirring it around in the butter, oil, and leeks until the grains are coated and begin to turn slightly translucent.








STEP TWO:

Add chicken broth one ladleful at a time, stirring the rice constantly over medium heat. When most of the liquid has been absorbed, add another ladleful. Continue to do this until the rice has become creamy, but the grains are still al dente. (More on this later.)





STEP THREE:

Zest two lemons, and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Stir this into the risotto a few minutes before it's done cooking.




STEP FOUR:

Preheat the oven to 375. In a shallow baking dish, place the raw salmon, and season with salt, pepper, and about 1 T. olive oil, rubbing the olive oil evenly over the fish. Bake for about 15 minutes, until fish flakes with a fork.



STEP FIVE:

Wash the arugula and spin or pat it dry. Place it in a large bowl. In a small mixing bowl, combine the juice of two lemons, 1 T. olive oil, salt, pepper, and 1 tsp. mustard. Whisk until combined. Just before serving, pour over arugula and toss to coat evenly.




STEP SIX:

To make the sauce, melt 1 T. butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/4 c. white wine, juice of one lemon, and 1/4 c. half and half. Cook until reduced by about half, and stir in 3-4 T. chopped fresh parsley. Add 1-2 T. grated parmesan, and stir to combine.





STEP SEVEN:

Place about 1/2 c. risotto on the plate and top with a piece of salmon. Spoon a few tablespoons of the sauce on top, then top with the arugula.



THE JUDGES' VERDICTS

ROSS: The salmon was really well-cooked. The other flavors complemented the salmon, but didn't over power it. And the salmon was also really warm - sometimes it seems like fish comes out not that hot. And it wasn't overcooked - it was still really tender.

TAYLOR: I thought this was awesome. I wanted to know how much cream went into the risotto. Elizabeth's answer - none - was both surprising and educational (the creaminess comes from the constant stirring stripping the starch out of the rice). I would definitely eat here again.

JESS: I loved the risotto. The tangy flavors were really great. The salmon peeled apart perfectly. I have no bad comments considering I ate all the leftovers.

MY VOTE ON MY DISH:
I give it four stars, and let me explain.

First, I can't eat salmon because I'm allergic to it, so, as a disclaimer, I can only make an educated judgement about the "risotto" and arugula. I put risotto in quotes because I'm 95% sure that I completely ruined it.

Don't get me wrong, the flavors were great - the lemon and leek were delicious. But the texture was suspect, and I think that's because I overcooked it. I actually remember the point in time when I tasted the risotto and thought to myself, "This is al dente. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead," but then I proceeded to cook it for about 15 more minutes, until it was teetering on the edge of mush (it had the consistency of rice pudding, which, while delicious, isn't what I was going for).


I also looked up "risotto tips" online later, confirming my overcooked theory. I also learned that if you add the parmesan cheese too soon (which I think I might have), it can become oily and grainy. I didn't notice that it was oily or grainy, but either way, you're supposed to stir it in right before you serve it, off the cooking heat.

I was hyper-aware of my risotto blunder considering we were watching Top Chef. By the way, did was anyone else totally disappointed in the lack of creativity in this last challenge? I mean, you choose your favorite movie and then make a meal inspired by it - how cool is that? - and Spike chooses "Good Morning Vietnam" and makes VIETNAMESE FOOD??!! So unexpected!


It got me thinking: what would I make for that challenge? Well, my favorite movie is, of course, Clueless.


It takes place in California, so I'd probably do something in the "California Cuisine" genre - something light, with avocados - maybe halibut in parchment paper with lime and cliantro - a Mexican influence. And for dessert, well - there's a part in the movie where Cher describes what she's eaten that day: "I feel like such a heiffer. I had two mochacchinos, five M&M's...." So maybe a Mocchachino Mousse with crushed M & M topping? And as an appetizer or amuse bouche, Chef and Dionne spend a lot of time in the mall, so maybe a gourmet bite-sized twist on "mall food" - perhaps an impossibly tiny, doughy warm pretzel, with a Meyer-lemonade-vodka shot on the side?

This is what I'm talking about, people! CREATIVITY.

Ultimately, boring old Manuel was banished by Padma - can't say I'm saddened by his departure.


Thanks to my guests, and thanks for reading! Till next time...