Nov 16 2010

Crunchy Walnut Risotto

This was my first time attempting to make risotto and I am sold. I loved the process. I loved the texture. I loved the taste. I my friends, am going to be a risotto making queen!

I picked up a random box of Arborio rice at the same market that I scored the Garlic Gold from. I had purchased a vegetarian cookbook for a whopping $2.99 on the clearance shelf at TJ Maxx and it had an entire section devoted to risotto. I could not wait to dive in.

Do you see all of those sticky notes? Why yes… this was a complete cookbook score! I honestly think I’m a vegetarian at heart. I’ve probably only gone about 6 months without eating meat – but if I knew what I do now… then… yes, I probably would have stuck with it.

Anyway… back to the recipe.

The Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2.5 oz. Butter – had to break out the scale for that
1 Small Onion – finely chopped
1.5 Cups Arborio Rice
40 Fluid Ounces (5 cups) Simmering Vegetable Stock – I only had a 32 ounce box, so I had to mix up 8 more ounces from some veggie bouillon I had in the pantry.
4 oz. (1 cup) Walnut Halves
3 oz. (3/4 cups) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 oz. (1/4 cup) Mascarpone Cheese
2 oz. Gorgonzola Cheese – I used crumbles

Directions:
Heat the oil with 2 tablespoons of the butter in a deep pan over medium heat until the butter has melted.

Add the onion and cook – stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, or until soft and starting to turn golden. Do not cook until browned.

Action shot – Reduce the heat, add the rice, and mix to coat in oil and butter. This reminded me of making Rice-a-Roni as a kid. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, or until the grains are translucent.

Gradually add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time.

Stir constantly and add more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition.

Just keep stirring in the liquid…

Special Instructions: Wear a hideous pajama and croc outfit to be comfortable during the 35 plus minutes of constant standing and stirring. 😉

What? Chefs totally wear leopard print – Raawrrr!

At some point the rice will no longer absorb the liquid – this is when you turn the heat up to medium so that the liquid really starts bubbling.  Cook for 20 minutes (with the lid off), or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy in texture. Stir every few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Mine took the full 20 minutes).

Melt 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the walnuts and toss for 2-3 minutes, or until just starting to brown.

Get your cheeses prepared and ready to add. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the remaining butter. Mix well, then stir in the Parmesan, Mascarpone, and Gorgonzola until they melt.

Cheesy goodness awaits! The last step is to stir in most of the walnuts – leaving a few for garnish – I also used some gorgonzola crumbles to garnish – serve piping hot!

This risotto was worth every single minute of stirring. I can’t believe I waited this long to try cooking it.

The photo in the book was not as orange – but the organic veggie stock I used is bright orange in color. Depending on what stock you use, yours might come out more of a creamy white to yellow in color. No worries, I’m sure the taste will measure up.

You all know I am a huge macaroni and cheese fan – this was an amazing aternative. The combination of cheese and buttery walnuts – OMG… so sinfully good! Totally low cal too, ha!

Watcha cookin’ next Mom? – Had to throw in a Higgy photo – he looked so cute on his bed with his favorite little bear.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2456

Nov 14 2010

White Bean and Pasta Soup

I was looking through a vegetarian cookbook and happened upon a white bean soup recipe. It looked a little involved – soaking beans overnight, finding corallini pasta, etc. and I didn’t feel like leaving the house to hit up the grocery store for missing ingredients. I knew I had a can of organic cannellini beans in the pantry and I had recently bought some organic vegetable broth for another recipe – I had various boxes of pasta, so I decided to do my own version. Sort of the same ingredients, but not really.

The Ingredients:
1 Can of Cannellini Beans
32 oz. Vegetable Broth
8 oz. Water
4 oz. Gemelli Pasta
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves – I used my frozen cubes
4 Tablespoons Flat Leaf Parsley – chopped
Garlic Gold Nuggets – I used 3-4 shakes for 1 bowl
Salt and Ground Pepper to taste

Directions:
Pour veggie broth into a soup pot/dutch oven and place on medium high heat –  let simmer while prepping the beans.

Rinse your beans and then put 1/2 of them into the food processor with a tablespoon of olive oil, process to a smooth purée.

Return the purée to the soup pot and stir well to mix. The bean purée was the perfect thickening agent. Add your second tablespoon of olive oil and 8 ounces of water and stir before adding the pasta.

Add the pasta and remaining beans to the soup, return to a boil, and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Mine took a full 15 minutes. Once the pasta is fully cooked, add the flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper.

I had been seeing Garlic Gold on a lot of the food blogs that I read, so over the summer I found some at Taylor’s Market in the Curtis Park area of Sacramento, CA. I’ve been in love ever since. Toasted organic garlic sprinkles (nuggets) added the top layer of crunch I was looking for.

This soup easily falls into my “top 5” favorite soups list. The only thing that disappointed me, was the fact that I didn’t make a bigger batch. Next time I will double the recipe for sure. I ended up with 3 medium bowls. One in my belly and 2 in the fridge for lunches this week. Crusty bread and a bowl of this… pure vegetarian soup delight.

Have you ever puréed beans for a soup before? Do you have a favorite bean soup? This was such a simple recipe, it will definitely be in my soup rotation from here on out. Corn chowder is still my favorite, but man o’ man was this good! Is it wrong that I’m already excited for my lunches this week?

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2442

Nov 13 2010

The Red Lotus Kitchen & Bar

We spent last night with some friends at a new restaurant for us. Josh and Deede have been huge fans of Kru over the years. They frequent the sushi bar there and have gotten to know the owner and sushi chef – Billy Ngo. We’ve gone to Kru a few times with them, but last night we decided to try Billy’s other restaurant The Red Lotus Kitchen & Bar. The Red Lotus is an Asian fusion restaurant – with an amazing dim sum menu. Being that Dan and I aren’t the most adventurous eaters – first glance at the menu had us doing a double take. Bone marrow, tendon, tongue, jellyfish, oxtail, etc. Yikes, nothing like a foodie adventure to start the weekend off right.

The glow of the red lanterns outside was pretty cool. We were happy to see that there wasn’t a wait – they sat us immediately.

iPhone photos… not so awesome, but you get the idea. The giant ceiling lanterns were pretty impressive.

Josh and Deede with her rabbit ears…

Dan and I looking all couple-ish

The plates were smaller in size, so we decided to combine orders “family style” so we could taste and try the different dishes.

My pick was the “Yee Sang” – Thinly sliced raw albacore, chinkiang vinaigrette, popcorn shoots and crispy garlic.

It was phenomenal – I was actually bummed I had to share, ha!

Next up was a silken organic tofu dish. (The waiter suggested the dish) The tofu was topped with snow crab, avocado, nori strips and the plate had an incredible sweet soy reduction with crispy rice puffs, wasabi and chili sauce – awesome presentation.

 

I loved the texture of the silky tofu and the sauce was amazing.

Everyone was in agreement over ordering the braised pork belly – House made kimchee and Japanese cucumber stuffed steamed buns.

I liked that the buns were just folded over… first time having “dim sum” like that.

Yum! – Next up was grilled asparagus with black bean foam. Nice to get some veggies in.

We also ordered braised oxtail chow fun, chicken chow mein, kimchee fried rice with duck egg and kung pau chicken wings. I didn’t get photos because I didn’t want to keep people from digging in. The portions were smaller in size, but we still had 3 to go boxes of noodles and rice to take home.

We had an after dinner break down of our favorite dishes – everything was incredible. I did not try the kung pau chicken wings, but I had small tastes of everything else.

The waiter then placed 4 spoons on the table and said that Billy was sending something out for us to try.

Basically it was heaven in a to go box…

So good it deserved two photos. Fried sweet buns served in a Chinese takeout box, are you kidding me?  There were two dipping sauces – one was condensed milk  and the other was a fruity sauce – Deede guessed mango… both were pretty incredible. Double dipping was hard to avoid. I could totally sleep on a bed of those soft and airy buns. Yes, I’m serious.

We ended our fun evening back at Josh and Deede’s for a movie. Deede tempted me with hot chocolate, but we got too wrapped up in the movie and forgot about it. We watched “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and I actually didn’t hate Jim Carrey. This is HUGE people… huge.

Another quality evening with good friends. Cheers to that!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2412