I (heart) Risotto

Risotto. I love it. And it is great for a Meatless Monday. True I use some chicken stock, but veggie broth could substitute.

This is my go-to risotto. Great for kids (if they like rice) and great for picky adults too.

Start with an onion and a bunch of garlic, chopped. Use half an onion or less if you aren't a big onion fan, I thought a full onion was almost too much.


Put in a pan with some olive oil and saute until soft.
At this time, put a whole box of chicken stock and half a box of water on the stove. Bring it to a simmer and keep it there.

Add the risotto rice (arborio is what I use) to the onion and garlic mix. I put in about a cup of risotto rice. I'm not so much with exact measurements. You want to saute the risotto rice until translucent.

Next up, add in two ladle fulls of the simmering stock, a couple T. of dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and a 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes.
Now, here's the key to making risotto. You bring this all to a boil and then lower the temp. You cook the rice until most of the liquid is absorbed, then add another ladle or two of stock. Let that soak in, then more stock. You keep adding stock until the rice is soft.

When the rice is soft, add in cheese and fresh basil.
I like manchego cheese with this, but mozzarella or other semi soft cheese would work well in this. Stir it in and let it cook for a minute or so.

Serve as a side dish or main dish.

Tonight I'm making a mushroom risotto.

Presidents' Day Weekend

It was a long weekend of treats and dinners. Did I take lots of pictures? Of course not. Friends were in town, guests had to be fed, and I was absent-minded.

Friday started out with some homemade Mexican. I made a nice meal of tacos, beans and rice. The filling for the tacos was chicken in a green pumpkin seed sauce. It was outstanding, in my opinion, and you can get the recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a bit, but it is close.

Have I mentioned my love of homemade beans? Beans are the easiest things in the world to make from scratch and one of the most satisfying. Bean juice is the greatest tasting substance in the world some days. Everyone should spend time next weekend making beans at home. Pinto beans are a very easy place to start and give you the most bang for your buck.

Saturday dinner was a bit complicated. It had to be a vegan gluten free dinner. Yikes. I ended up with a mushroom ragu (that was way too watery) on polenta. Tisha brought a spinach salad, that was perfect. Dessert was a bizarre concoction of prunes, oranges, and cardamom syrup on ice cream (and soy cream). It was an okay dinner, but not my favorite by any means.

Sunday, my feet hurt from two days of cooking, so dinner was takeout.

Today, was sort-of-meatless Monday. See, CJ gave me these great crocks for my birthday and Valentine's Day.
I also had a lot of chicken stock left over from making chicken Friday night and no room in the freezer for it.

What could I do? I made super nummy, super tasty, super awesome French Onion Soup.

I used the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It took over four hours to make; 2 1/2 half were inactive. It was very good and well worth it. While very few ingredients are used in the recipe, it would be too much work to paraphrase, so I suggest you get to the library and get the recipe yourself for your collection.

You do have a collection, don't you?

Barak is Better Mushroom Soup, but Just A Little

Yeah, I'll say it. Barak Obama is barely better than Hillary Clinton. But he inspires a really nice soup.

Start with 2 Tablespoons of butter. This was adapted from an Anthony Bourdain recipe, by the way.
Melt it and sautee half an onion in it until translucent.

Then add 4 more Tablespoons of butter and a bunch of mushrooms. Sweat it all for 10 minutes.

Add 4 cups of chicken stock. I use Swanson's Organic because it was tested best by America's Test Kitchen.

Also add some parsley.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 1 hour.
Then, take out your hand blender and blend.

Bring it back to a simmer and add 2 ounces sherry.

It is really good. Much better than Barak Obama.