| i got hired to make dinner for eight people friday night. two people told me that it was the best meal they'd ever eaten in their entire lives. it all came together really well, so here's the recipes.
menu:
- roasted butternut squash, parsnip and jalapeno soup
- tomato stacked salad with chevre pesto dressing
- warmed chevre in warm olive oil with roasted garlic and baguette
- sweet potato gnocchi sauteed in butter, apple, thyme and sage
- creme brulee
it was a winter vegetable themed meal, but to inject a little summer into it i made a tomato stack salad with chevre pesto. i left the pesto to sit for an hour before serving, which calmed down the garlic flavour perfectly. also, most of these recipes require vegetables to be roasted (one of my favourite preparation methods, as it adds nothing but enhances the flavour and textures beautifully), which you can do all in one go - i roasted the jalapenos, garlic and sweet potatoes first, then roasted the squash and parsnips straight after.
SOUP
possibly the best i've ever made. one person said that he "wanted to be buried in a vat of this soup." it's ridiculously easy.
you'll need:
- 1L - 1.5L of vegetable stock
- 2 medium butternut squashes
- 3-4 parsnips
- 5 jalapenos
- thyme
- salt and pepper
this soup is shockingly easy and absolutely divine.
prepare vegetable stock while you're doing this - i'd say get everything sauteed and bubbling before you go any further, because veg stock needs an hour before it's done. or just use stock that you've made/bought previous.
cut squashes in half lengthwise, place cut side down on a cookie sheet. peel parsnips and put on sheet. wash jalapenos and put those on there as well.
put in oven for 30-40 minutes, until all are wilty and soft. split jalapenos lengthwise, remove veins and seeds, remove skin.
scoop seeds out of squash, scrape the rest out of skin.
chop roasted parsnips coarsely.
sautee onions in olive oil until translucent. add jalapenos, sautee. add squash and parsnips and sautee a few minutes more.
add stock. simmer about 20 minutes until everything is soft. add thyme, salt and pepper, puree with a hand blender. serve hot.
TOMATO STACKED SALAD
you'll need:
- 2 red tomatoes
- 2 yellow tomatoes
- 2 orange tomatoes
- baby greens
- 5 garlic cloves
- bunch basil
- 2 tsp chevre
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow italian squash (looks like a yellow zucchini)
slice zucchini and yellow squash paper thin with a mandolin. grill until crispy.
place garlic, peeled, in food processor, pour in some olive oil and puree. add salt pepper and chevre. puree and add oil until creamy.
slice tomatoes thinly. place 1 slice on plate, place a pinch of baby greens on top. repeat twice, top with a tomato slice, place zucchini and squash chips on top. drizzle with pesto dressing.
CHEVRE WITH WARMED OLIVE OIL, ROASTED GARLIC AND BAGUETTE
you'll need:
- 1 baguette
- 1 piece of chevre, about 1" thick
- 2 heads garlic
- olive oil
cut off top of garlic heads. drizzle with olive oil. roast in oven at 400 for about 40 minutes, until very soft. (it's essential to roast it long enough; otherwise it doesn't get soft and carmelized and spreadable and is kind of gross.) when it's done, remove garlic from casings. turn off oven.
pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil onto an ovenproof serving plate. add roasted garlic. place in still-warm oven for about 10 minutes until warm. slice chevre lengthwise, place two rounds on plate, return to oven for 10-15 minutes. serve immediately with sliced baguette.
SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI
you'll need:
- 5 sweet potatoes
- 5 white potatoes
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 3 cups flour plus more for rolling
- 3 tblsp fresh thyme leaves
- 3 tblsp fresh sage, chopped (or snipped, i used scissors)
- 2 big green apples, skin on, cored and chopped into little pieces
very similar to the gnocchi recipe, except to prepare potatoes roast the sweet ones in the oven for about an hour. boil white potatoes in water until tender.
peel potatoes while still hot, pass through ricer. add eggs, mix until combined with hands. add flour 1 cup at a time, and mix just until combined on a very well-floured surface.
the thing about gnocchi is that the dough is so soft and sticky that it's easy to think you haven't added enough flour, but adding too much flour makes them really tough which is the kiss of death. if you're unsure, boil some water, drop one gnocchi in, taste it. if it's creamy and soft, you're doing it right. if it's tough ... boil another potato and add that in, and don't add any more flour.
roll out into tubes, cut into squares. lay out on waxed paper, dent each with a floured finger.
start a big pot of salted water boiling. gather up a sheet of gnocchi and dump the whole works in, removing the waxed paper as the gnocchi release. stir gently. when they rise to the top, they're done.
while you're doing this, heat half a stick of butter in a big skillet. add thyme, sage and apple. add gnocchi as it's done, until you have a big skillet of sauteed gnocchi. serve immediately.
CREME BRULEE
so pathetically easy it's kind of scary, but always a huge hit. you can top with any kind of fruit - i used little triangles of orange this time and served it with orange chocolate biscotti that i found at an italian bakery (i'm useless at making biscotti, but good biscotti is so delicious i want to fall down).
about flavouring - you can flavour it with vanilla by heating the cream with a vanilla bean, bergamot by heating it with earl grey, orange by adding orange zest or grand marnier, mocha ... well, maybe heating it with coffee grounds then straining through linen or just adding some instant coffee might work. at any rate, it's a real carte blanche which is one of the reasons i love it, endless variations. to infuse, bring cream just to a boil with the flavouring over medium high heat (don't scald it!), then remove from heat, cover, and let cool and infuse for 30 minutes, then follow recipe as below. it's also just good plain. mmm!
about rammekins - little oven-proof cups. for creme brulee you can also use oven proof mugs or teacups, which actually would be a really nice presentation if you can't find rammekins. they're usually available at kitchen stores and can be expensive but look around, i got 4 for $4.
about the torch - you can use any intense flame. someone had a creme brulee torch that was useless so i ended up using a butane lighter, which worked wonderfully. just melt the sugar until it's liquid a little at a time, then go over the whole thing to brown it.
on with the show!
you'll need:
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 cups whipping cream (35%)
- a few tsp of white sugar
- FIRE!
preheat oven to 400.
beat egg yolks. add to sugar and whisk. add cream 1 tblsp at a time until you've got about 1/2 a cup in the mix, then add the rest. whisk well.
pour into rammekins or whatever you're using. place in casserole dish and pour in water until it's halfway up the sides. (you put water in so the cremes don't burn at the sides; instead the water heats up and cooks the cremes.) cook until custard is set and wiggles only in the middle.
cool, then sprinkle a layer of sugar on top. melt and brown with torch. wait for sugar to harden, top with fruit if you like, and serve. really nice with biscotti! | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment   |
| so here's what happened. i've been knocking emails back and forth with a lady from verona, who passed on some awesome recipes, one of which being for the lasagna below. the other, the gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce, is my own creation (the gnocchi isn't, they've been making that for a thousand years, but this is a good recipe for it!)
it stuns me how much northern italian cooking is like french cooking.
anyway!
two things i made this weekend:
ONE!
holy crap lasagna. this is one that the lady from verona passed to me. bear in mind that ragu in the south of italy is tomato sauce with meat in it; in the north it's just meat with butter and tomato paste.
this lasagna has no cheese except parmesean. i made my own pasta. i nearly died of good. here's the recipe:
RAGU AND BECHEMEL LASAGNA
you'll need:
1lb beef
1/2 lb pork
1 stalk celery, diced fine
1 carrot, diced fine
1 onion, diced fine
small can tomato paste
about 4 tblsp butter
1 cup white wine
maybe 1 cup broth
1/2 tsp cinnamon
melt 2 tbsp butter. sautee the veg. add meat. when almost brown, add wine. when evaporated, add tomato paste. stir. cover and let simmer 2 1/2 hours. at about the 90 minute mark add cinnamon, also add 1 cup broth. when nearly done, stir in the other 2 tblsp butter and start bechemel.
for bechemel:
2/3 cup butter (i know, it's a lot)
a little less than 1 cup flour
4 1/2 cups milk
thyme
white pepper.
melt butter. gradually stir in flour over low heat. when roux is going, add milk. when almost all milk is incorporated, add thyme and white pepper. gradually titrate heat until bubbling. will make a very thick bechemel.
layer pasta in greased casserole. add layer of ragu. add layer of bechemel and a fistful of parmesean. repeat as often as necessary. top with bechemel only, parmesean and parsley. bake uncovered 35 minutes at 400F or until browned.
this is an extremely rich but mind-blowingly delicious lasagna.
TWO!
oh my god gnocchi. please note that every kitchen that's gnocchi bound should have a potato ricer - it looks like a big garlic press. don't try to mash the potatoes to make gnocchi, it works but it doesn't aerate the potatoes the same way, and the gnocchi is never as light and smooth - if you've only had gnocchi from mashed potatoes, you don't know what you're missing. i can't stress the ricer enough. my ricer cost $5, they're not necessarily expensive, and i would take it to a desert island if faced with the choice on the odd chance that i'd run into a potato. seriously.
also - gnocchi takes an afternoon, but it's worth it. if you're going to invest the time i recommend doubling this recipe and freezing what you don't use.
GNOCCHI WITH GORGONZOLA SAUCE
for the gnocchi, you'll need:
2 lb potatoes (double as you see fit)
2 cup flour (like pasta, the idea is to hydrate the flour, so you'll need more or less as you see fit)
1 beaten egg
pinch of salt.
boil potatoes until cooked. drain and peel while still hot. pass potatoes through a potato ricer onto a work surface. mix in flour. mix in egg.
when soft dough forms, rip off a handful and roll it into a tube. it will be sticky, so flour everything. cut into pieces. my family always made gnocchi about 1x1"; i like em smaller but that's just me. lay out each cut lasagna on waxed paper, not touching.
when you have them all laid out, flour your hand and push a finger into the middle of each gnocchi, leaving a dent. this is important - it aids in cooking.
get a pot of water boiling. gather up the sheet of waxed paper and drop it and all the gnocchi into the pot. they'll come off the waxed paper easily; if you try to pick them up one by one it's a pain in the ass and it takes forever. gnocchi tell you when they're done by floating to the top.
rescue cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon and put into a colander. don't let them sit though, they'll get sticky.
TO FREEZE GNOCCHI
put them on a cookie sheet on waxed paper, uncooked. freeze in freezer, then transfer to tupperware or a freezer bag.
GORGONZOLA SAUCE
i used about 1 cup of bechemel left over from the lasagna.
you'll need:
1 cup bechemel (1tblsp butter and 1 tblsp+1 tsp of flour if you're making this from scratch, plus 1 cup milk)
1/4 lb gorgonzola
2 tblsp sour cream (you really should use creme fraiche but good luck getting that outside europe - the cheese shop in kensington has it sometimes but it's very rare, it's basically unpasteurized sour cream)
fistful parmesean
parsley
thyme
salt+pepper
heat bechemel in pot. add sour cream. crumble in gorgonzola. (i also crumbled in ambrosia because i had some ... mmm, this is a REALLY good cheese. asiago would work well too.) throw in parmesean and spices. heat until blended. add milk or water if it's thick.
pour over gnocchi in a gratin dish. sprinkle parmesean and chopped green onions over the whole thing. put in oven for about 20 minutes at 350 or 400F. serve immediately.
the above took forever (especially because i made pasta by hand for the lasagna) but well worth the work!
from the crazyshit file:
verona has a gnocchi festival every year, the venerdì gnocolàr. they elect a "father of the gnocchi" (WHO DRESSES UP LIKE A SPARKLY GNOCCHI) and have a big parade and gorge themselves on potato pasta. this is SO my kind of town. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| i made a startling discovery tonight.
i've been doing a lot of research on tuscan and northern italian recipes, because they're profoundly different from southern food. everything that's generally thought of as "italian" - red sauces, oregano, lots of tomato - is southern, as in around or south of rome. the northern regions have a completely different cuisine, which is creamier, milder in taste and texture, and more akin, shockingly, to french food.
anyway, so i've been nosing around some recipes because i'm making gnocchi (potato pasta dumplings essentially) this weekend and was looking for something interesting to do with it. i read that in verona the most common way of eating gnocchi was with - get this - butter and cinnamon.
i thought, holy fuck ew.
i kept reading ragu recipes as well that called for cinnamon. (just so you know, ragu in the north is even different - it's basically butter and meat with a little tomato paste thrown in for texture and binding, which is exactly the sauce in the devilfish recipe i posted awhile ago. the south it's tomato sauce with meat in it.) i had the same "WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THESE PEOPLE" reaction. i made a ragu tonight (beef and pork if you must know) and came across some cinnamon in the cupboard. i went over to the sauce, smelled it, and dubiously smelled the cinnamon. smelled sauce again. figured, what the hell, and dumped in about 1/2 teaspoon.
dear reader, i have never had a sauce so overwhelmingly, mindbogglingly, heart-stoppingly good. ragu has to be simmered for at least 2 hours, and by the end of the first one i nearly fell over with how beautifully the meat flavours were marrying with the richness of the meat, how much the cinnamon added to the texture and body of the sauce.
cinnamon, i'm sorry i ever doubted you.
(shit ton of recipes to come) | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| broccoli was on for $0.45 per giant bunch the other day, so i bought a ton and made it into soup. i looked around for a cream of broccoli recipe but every one i found online called for such vomitizing ingredients as a few cans of mushroom soup (which is chock full of sodium and preservatives and just cheating i think). i sat down and thought about it and came up with this. it worked beautifully.
this is my fifth soup this week; i'm on a kick. so far i've made tomato carrot and ginger, cream of cauliflower, black bean, and cream of mushroom, and the one below. i think i'm going to make a carrot coriander tomorrow and then not make any more soup for the rest of my life.)
CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP
8-9 cups chopped broccoli (florets and stems, but peel the stems)
1 onion, chopped
2-4 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
4 tblsp butter
4 tbslp flour
3-4 cups milk
sautee onion and celery in a bit of butter or olive oil until tender. meanwhile, heat stock in a big pot until boiling. when boiling, put in sauteed veg and chopped broccoli. cover and simmer 10 minutes until tender. puree in food processor or blender, return to pot. add some black pepper and thyme if you're so inclined (i didn't use any salt at all and it was delicious).
melt butter at medium low heat. stir in flour gradually. keep stirring when it makes a paste (must be cooked over low heat for 5-7 minutes to completely saturate the flour). add milk a little at a time, increasing heat as you do so. when it's boiling and becomes thick, you're done.
stir roux into purreed broccoli, bring to boil, take heat back down to low. grate in some sharp cheddar if you like. soup will thicken slightly as it cools back down to edible temperature. spoon into bowls, grate cheese on top and serve.
(i bought some of those giant freezer bags; i've found that they're ideal for freezing soup! note however that food must be cooled to room temperature before it can be stuck in the freezer; otherwise the sudden change in temperature can cause funky reactions, rancid flavours and spoilage.)
*** edit ***
it just struck me that asiago would go amazingly well in this soup ... i'm off to the cheese shop tomorrow. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| just remembered this.
i used to buy peanut satay sauce from the store when i felt like a treat because it's expensive (as in $4 a bottle, which is a lot for what it is). then i read the label and realized that i could easily make this stuff. so! here's something that's absolutely amazing in stir frys!
PEANUT SATAY SAUCE
you'll need:
1/2 cup peanut butter (if you're using the organic kind you'll also need some sugar/stevia/rice syrup/sugar twin/whatever you sweeten with)
about 1 tbsp soy sauce
ground ginger
garlic powder
a little cayenne if you're feeling punchy
a little sesame oil if you're feeling adventurous
mix it together until it tastes right. some people like it really sweet, some not at all, some overly hot, some not at all.
i freeze this - in ice cube trays so you can crack out three or four and stir them into a stir fry and they melt and coat everything. i do the same with leftover wine so i can use it in sauces. god i love having a freezer. let me never take it for granted again. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| here's a good recipe ... suitable for vegetarians, and vegan if you make the roux out of olive oil!
you would not believe how much i love soup. i find it infinitely creative, hearty, a great way to use whatever's in the fridge, and if you have a nice bread to go with it there are few better things in the world. i made this from my usual quick tomato soup recipe, but changed it a little.
TOMATO CARROT AND GINGER SOUP
you'll need:
2 cans stewed tomatoes (diced, if they're whole dice them but ground tomatoes don't work well i've found)
3 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
bay leaves (i'm very heavy handed with these, i'm sure that when recipes say one they really mean three)
chop all these and put them in a pot to "cook down" (basically just soften) for about 15 minutes. bring to a boil, then simmer.
while you're doing this, make a roux out of
3-4 tblsp butter
3-4 tblsp flour
(i explained how to do this in a previous entry.)
when you've got the roux going, incorporate into it slowly:
1L stock (chicken, veg, whatever you fancy)
toss in:
basil and thyme (i never use oregano for chicken soup because i really feel that it makes it taste like pasta sauce)
as much chopped fresh ginger or ground ginger as you feel is necessary.
bring to a boil to thicken. add cooked down tomatoes, onion, carrot and bay lea(f)(ves). heat up again. mmm!
turn down and simmer for about 20 minutes until veg is soft. adjust seasoning; you'll probably need a liberal dash of salt and some pepper.
i found the flavours for this sauce blended really well when i pureed it in a food processor and are not as successful when i don't, but that decision really is yours.
NB: i don't know what it is about tomatoes and ginger, but whenever i put them together it's ridiculously successful. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| This soup is fantastic, but when you're sick it's even better because it has all kinds of anti-oxidant properties (garlic, lemon, oregano), plus it has protein, and is great for colds, flus, and especially hangovers.
I'm posting instructions for stock as well, as I firmly believe that every great soup starts with a kick ass stock, and a lot of the cubed and packaged stocks are really salty and don't taste of much, as well as meatballs if you're so inclined. If you want to make everything from scratch, you're looking at an afternoon but you don't have to stand over it all damn day. Make the meatballs as the stock is boiling and you cut down time significantly. Worth every second.
So!
( Chicken/Vegetable Stock! )
( Meatballs! )
( Finallly ... ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP! ) | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| i was reminded today about a fucking fantastic recipe i have for phylo pie. it comes by way of my brother, who apparently got the recipe at the liquor store of all places. it's a great appetizer.
you'll need:
- a package of phylo, thawed
- 1 big onion
- about 15 mushrooms
- 1 big red pepper or a couple of small ones
- blob of butter (margarine just is not the same but you can probably use it - olive oil too, but it won't be as flavourful.)
- romano cheese.
frozen phylo comes rolled usually, or folded. take it out of the box and leave it on a counter to thaw.
chop onion, pepper and mushrooms into bite-sized pieces (red pepper in strips). put a blob of butter in a pan on medium low heat (the heat's important). toss in onion, stir for about 4 minutes until it barely starts to carmelize.
toss in red pepper, and stir until it starts to soften.
toss in mushrooms, and stir until everything is soft and flavourful and gorgeous. toss in some salt and pepper if you like, thyme is good too. if you need more oil, add more butter or some olive oil. when you're happy with it turn it off to cool slightly.
carefully unroll/unfold phylo. separate the sheets. they're really thin so be careful not to tear them. preheat the oven to about 350F.
melt another blob of butter in the microwave. with a pastry brush, coat one side of the first phylo sheet. sprinkle with romano. repeat until all sheets are coated, stacked on top of one another.
spoon the onion, pepper and mushroom mix onto the top of the phylo pile, in a lengthways heap. (if you have some left over, i highly recommend using it in grilled cheese sandwiches, SO GOOD. or you can just put it on cold sandwiches. it's delicious.) when you have most of it on the phylo, roll up the pastry around it. you now have a log.
transfer it to a baking sheet, brush remaining butter (if you have any) on top of the log, sprinkle with cheese. bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. remove from oven.
slice. you'll get about 8 slices.
MMM!
(i've been thinking about making this recipe but with egg mixed into the veg, for something like a quiche roll. hmm ....)
(i have also been alerted to the fact that phylo is easy to make by hand, so i may be doing that soon as well!) | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| just in case you were wondering, i did indeed make ricotta, and it was unbelievable. my lovely assistant ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) intercitykitty who took pictures has been without the internetz because she moved, so i'll hold off on posting about it until i get pictures.
BUT NOW, i bring to you, by SPECIAL REQUEST ...
PESTO CREAM SAUCE
this involves making pesto, a cream sauce, and mixing them together.
tis the season, since fresh basil is only around (and affordable) in the summer months. this summer i think i'm going to start a little basil grow op in my kitchen to keep me in pesto through the winter, because that shit's expensive (and of appaling quality) in stores, unless you can find somewhere that makes it in-house.
a note about cream sauces: one of my only dietary restrictions is heavy cream. if i eat a cream sauce made with half and half or whipping cream, i have a lactose intolerance reaction. i'm all right with milk, but cream sends me groaning to the bathroom for hours, and that bathroom had better have a window that opens.
so the recipe here is a great recipe for cream sauce that is made with skim milk - and it's way less fattening. if you like you can make it with cream instead, though you'll have to adjust the recipe. it also uses a roux, which takes a little practice but is one of the most useful cooking skillz anyone can have.
on with the show!
THE PESTO
pesto is easy. you have a food processor or blender? great. stick these in it:
1 bunch fresh basil, washed
big handful of romano cheese (romano is made of sheep's milk and therefore more tasty, but you can use parmesean if you really want)
4-7 garlic cloves, depending on how punchy you're feeling
make it go, and drizzle olive oil into the mess to make it hold together. blend blend blend. it shouldn't be runny, but make it smooth.
you can stir a small handful of pine nuts in as well, though i find them repugnant in pesto and don't use them myself.
SMELL IT. yes, that's the smell of a masterpiece.
THE CREAM SAUCE
for the roux:
3-4 tbsp butter
3-4 tbsp flour
for the rest of it:
2 cups skim (or 2%) milk mixed with 1 cup of chicken or veggie stock
salt and pepper
big handful of romano cheese.
let's talk about roux. (pronounced "roo")
a roux is, generally, what anything thick is made from. it takes a little practice, but believe me, it's quick and easy. you just need patience and to keep the heat low. basically, all it is is some sort of oil with flour dissolved in it. butter is best, but you can use olive oil as well, but the results will be a little different. if you're worried about saturated fat, i've found that 1/2 butter and 1/2 olive oil works well.
melt about 3-4 tbsp of butter in a saucepan on MEDIUM LOW HEAT (i have a big wok-type frying pan that i find works really well for roux). it will liquify but not bubble.
when it's melted, stir in 3-4 tbsp of flour. SLOWLY, a little at a time. stir constantly.
you'll get this yellow pasty stuff. when the paste forms, keep stirring. THIS PART IS CRUCIAL, because what you're trying to do is completely saturate the flour. if you don't saturate it enough, the roux won't work as well and whatever you're making will taste like flour, which is gross. stir for about 5 minutes. a good way to test if you have the right consistency is to leave it alone for a second. the paste should be kind of solid, but will start to melt a bit under the heat. if it's too thick, add a bit of olive oil. if it's too runny, add a little more flour. if you adjust it, make sure to stir it for another minute.
voila, a roux, made by you. don't remove it from the heat though, we're not done here.
now, this is the next crucial part.
you have milk and stock mixed together. increase the heat to medium. pour the milk and stock into the roux, a little at a time, like 1/4 cup at a time. stir the roux and liquid each time. the paste will be a little chunky, but once you stir it it will incorporate the liquid. keep doing this until all the liquid is incorporated.
bring the mixture to a boil, where it will thicken. season with salt and pepper. add the cheese.
mmm. cream sauce!
AND THE FINALE ...
mix the pesto into the cream sauce. you may not need all the pesto, depending on your taste, but it keeps quite well in the fridge if you have some left over. heat through. great with chicken, pasta, vegetables. | | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| just so's you know.
this weekend i'm making my own ricotta, will be posting recipes, method and pics of the process, as well as what i made with it. (i'm thinking bruschetta with fresh ricotta and olives, and cannelloni - with homemade pasta and sauce!)
brace yourselves. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| risotto is something else from my childhood, except that traditionally it's made with the most disgusting parts of the chicken (liver, hearts, yum) and therefore i'm surprised i ever ate it again.
but! this is an excellent risotto, which can be easily modified to include anything you like, as long as you learn the technique to make it. but it's easy, so don't worry.
a note about aborio rice: you simply can't substitute anything else for aborio, don't even try. orzo (rice-shaped pasta) is used sometimes, but i think it's gross. aborio is an absorbant, starchy rice, and nothing beats its delicate texture.
also: the key to a really delicious risotto, i find, is the proper cheese to put on top. i recommend parmesean that's SLICED - that is, buy a block and slice off impossibly thin sheets and lie them on top of hot risotto. ohmygod good. if you can't get a block of parmesean, romano is really nice sprinkled on it (romano is made with sheep's milk so it's a bit sharper, i really prefer it). you could, however, really use anything. i'm going to try it with frulano next time i think.
(a lot of risotto recipes tell you to add cream. in a word: fuck that.)
MUSHROOM RISOTTO
you will need:
about 1 1/2 cup aborio
about 4 cups chicken stock (make your own for best results - the store bought, canned or cubed stuff is SALTY)
1/2 or 1 cup white wine
about 1 - 1 1/2 cups mushrooms. use whichever you like; wild mushrooms are great, as are portobellos and just regular button mushrooms. chop em fine though!
about 4 tbsp of butter
chopped onion
FRESH parsley for the top
salt.
what to do:
warm a wok or skillet (i make everything in woks but that's just me.) melt half the butter, sautee mushrooms until nice and tasty. set aside.
put the other half of the butter in the pan, add onion and cook until translucent. add aborio, mix around to cover and heat up rice.
NOW HERE'S WHERE IT MIGHT GET TRICKY.
add wine. keep mixing. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF IT. the only way to make proper risotto is to give it the attention it deserves and watch it and constantly stir it. there's no other way really; if you don't, the liquid gets absorbed unevenly, the starch doesn't do what it's supposed to and it all ends in tears. just give it twenty minutes and don't try to do anything else at the same time.
the wine will start simmering, and the rice will start to absorb it. no, you can't make it go faster. when you're satisfied the rice is doing something, add the mushrooms again (most people say add them at the end, but doing that doesn't give the aborio the mushroom flavour) and SLOWLY another 1/2 cup chicken stock. keep stirring. (i use a rice paddle, which works well because it has a wide flat edge, like a canoe paddle.) as liquid is absorbed, stir stir stir and add another 1/2 cup. this is the part that takes getting used to, but you'll eventually find a balance. the whole procedure should take around 20 minutes. taste it as you go; if it needs salt, toss some in.
at the end, some recipes tell you to add mascarpone cheese; what the hell. mascarpone is SWEET, which will taste like ASS and mask all the beauty of the white wine/mushroom angle. trust me, all you need for this is some lovely cheese and fresh parsley on top. mmmm. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| this stuff is so good it makes me ache. it also involves some of my favourite things - namely, the lowly and lovely pinto bean. mmm!
you can make it round in a pie plate, or you can cut the tortillas to fit a casserole dish. i recommend the latter; this stuff is so good you'll want lots. it is also AMAZING after it's sat in the fridge for a couple of days and the flavours have had a real chance to develop.
SOUTHWEST LASAGNA
you will need:
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
a bunch of shredded cheddar
basil and oregano
garlic
sweet chili sauce
cup of salsa
cilantro
one tomato
lime juice
about 8 tortillas.
mash up can of pinto beans. stir in basil and oregano, lime juice and minced garlic.
drain black beans, put into a bowl. (don't mash them up.) stir in a few tablespoons of salsa, cilantro, the chopped tomato and some sweet chili sauce.
put one layer of tortilla in pie plate or casserole. spread 1/2 of the pinto beans, cover with some cheese, cover with next layer of tortilla, put in half the black beans, cover with cheese. repeat.
cover the top with layer of tortilla. cover with salsa. (use as much or as little as you like.) cover with cheese.
bake at 350F until warm all the way through and cheese is bubbly on top. this dish also freezes so well that i actually recommend making 2 lasagnas and freezing one in portions for lunches.
YUMMY. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| so here's a recipe you won't get anywhere else. this is northern italian cooking at its best, and i'm posting this recipe because it's good friday, which is when it's traditionally eaten.
and this is the first and last time i'll post a recipe for something that i won't eat - i hate this, but that's because i am NOT a seafood person. if you are though, this is a really nice, simple dish and encompasses all the time and simplicity that i love about italian cooking - this dish is, however, intimidating. (if you don't like the smell of cooking squid, do not attempt - it stays in your clothes.) although i don't eat it i know how to make it, because i've watched it being made every good friday of my life.
the key to devilfish is finding good whole squid. my grandmother never ever ever bought the frozen kind, but since fresh squid is not always easy to find it has been used with decent results. the fresh squid is preferred because you can see how big the little buggers are - when you get them frozen they're in a big iceblock and you're kind of at the whim of the fish packers.
the key to polenta is patience, and a strong whisking arm.
(i have no exact measurements because they don't exist. you'll never see this in a test kitchen.)
DEVILFISH AND POLENTA. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
a bunch of whole squids (WITH TENTACLES), about 2 per person.
a bunch of breadcrumbs.
a big onion.
a big can of tomato paste.
a pound of butter.
toothpicks. the long double-pointed kind are best.
clean squid, running under water to get sand and grit out that is sometimes present.
chop off tentacles. chop really, really fine. put in bowl. add very finely chopped onion. add breadcrumbs until it reaches a stuffing-like texture.
slit open squid. put blob of stuffing in the middle. wrap squid around stuffing, holding closed with one or two toothpicks.
melt butter in a big pot. add tomato paste. *****EDIT***** i talked to my father and he told me that you should add water as well to encourage the sauce to form.***** if the sauce is too greasy, add more tomato paste, or vice versa. it should be very watery.
place squid in sauce. bring to a boil. they should be submerged. simmer for 2-3 hours. (people often think this makes the squid rubbery, but it doesn't - devilfish, properly made, is very very tender.)
for polenta:
big bag of cornmeal.
a giant pot.
a bunch of water.
whisk.
parmesean cheese.
bring a bunch of water to a boil (for the sake of argument, let's say about 1L, 4 cups). when it's at a rolling boil, start adding cornmeal. SLOWLY. whisk like a maniac. keep adding cornmeal slowly.
eventually, when your arms feel like they're going to fall off, you'll have added and whisked enough cornmeal that a bright yellow and fairly stiff substance will have formed. (you're trying to get the starch from the corn to hold itself together. if you whisk it enough it will.)
dump onto a plate. add a bunch of parmesean.
TO EAT;
spoon a blob of polenta on your plate. put a devilfish on top. drizzle with more sauce. very thinly sliced frulano cheese, traditionally, goes on top. (frulano is a region of northern italy. i don't know much about it other than for some reason when we were acting stupid my grandparents used to say, "WHATSA MATTA, YOU FRULAN?!".)
warning: one squid and polenta is incredibly filling. two and you're asking for trouble.
THE LEFTOVERS:
i have seen polenta on the menu in classy restaurants, usually grilled and as an appetizer. i find this hilarious, because grilling polenta is what you do with polenta that's a day old.
when it's fresh it holds together but when it's been refridgerated overnight you can cut it like soft cheese. the next day, slice off a slice, and fry it in a pan until crispy, and then put a slice of frulano on top and melt. now THAT'S something i'm into.
devilfish reheats well, but be warned that you'll be revisited by the smell. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| lasagna is one of the most versatile, gorgeous, easy dishes to make. there's a lot of room for variation, but i find myself making this one most often (it's meatless - i've made it with meat but it's never as good). there's two things that make it really good: a homemade sauce (chill, it's not as hard as you think), and lemon zest in the filling.
TO ZEST A LEMON: rub a lemon on the fine side of the cheese grater. just rub it until the yellow comes off; you don't want any of the white pith. it will smell citrusy and gorgeous. i always squeeze the juice out of the fruit and save it so there's no waste. (try not to zest california citrus, as they use dye and waxes on their fruit which diminishes the taste and is just kind of nasty.)
HOLY CRAP THAT'S A GOOD LASAGNA
SAUCE:
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 small zucchini
1 red pepper (roast it if you're feeling punchy)
buncha mushrooms
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
oregano, basil, salt, the usual suspects.
HOW TO MAKE SAUCE
first: stop thinking it's hard, because it just isn't. this particular sauce, it should be noted, has no garlic because i prefer to keep it simple and put the garlic in the cheese filling.
chop onion nice and fine. sautee in a sauce pan in olive oil. chop up red pepper really fine, mushrooms and zucchini into small chunks. toss in and stir around until fragrant and softened. throw in basil, oregano, salt, pepper, thyme, whatever turns your crank.
throw in cans of tomatoes. stir well. add bay leaves. the temperature in the pot will be reduced; stir until it reaches a boil again. reduce heat to medium low, partially cover with a lid, and simmer for 30 minutes at least, but you can simmer it until the cows come home if you want. the longer you leave it, the more robust it's going to be. give it a stir every once in awhile.
after you're fed up with waiting, check its consistency. if the sauce is runny (and it probably will be), stir in tomato paste and simmer a bit longer. it should taste good enough to make you weak in the knees. turn off heat and leave aside until you're ready to assemble the lasagna.
CHEESE FILLING
1 tub cottage cheese
1 tub ricotta
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup shredded mozarella (but you can use provolone or whatever kind of cheese you like ... chevre is lovely as well)
4 big cloves of garlic
oregano, basil and thyme
pour cottage cheese into a strainer. shake over a bowl or the sink to drain out the whey. put into a bowl, add ricotta. mush together with a fork.
press garlic cloves into the bowl, add the lemon zest and herbs. mix around. should start to smell amazing. stir in cheese. mmm!
ASSEMBLING THE LASAGNA
you'll need:
2 batches of lasagna noodles using pasta recipe in this journal (you can machine the noodles to 5 on the pasta machine for regular noodles, 6 if you want really fine thin ones)
(if you don't want to make pasta, you can buy fresh noodles at the supermarket. these are all right too and generally work well, and you can freeze them for ages so if they're on sale buy a bunch. if you must, you can also use the no-cook noodles. i really don't recommend the ones you have to cook because a) it's a giant pain in the ass, and b) they'll be wet after cooking and it makes the lasagna kind of sloppier than you want)
sauce
cheese mixture
another 1 cup of shredded cheese (or as much as you can stand ... it's really hard to put too much cheese into a lasagna)
preheat oven to 400F. take the trusty casserole dish and spray with pam or olive oil. spoon some sauce in the bottom of the dish. lay noodle(s) on top, trim to fit.
with a rubber spatula, spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the noodles. try to spread it as evenly as possible but it's a pain in the ass to spread so don't worry if it's not perfect. spoon sauce on top to coat.
repeat twice more. cover top layer with more noodles.
spoon sauce on top of the finished lasagna. spread extra cheese on top. i like to sprinkle the whole thing with parsley; it tastes good and is really green and contrasts well with the red sauce.
toss in oven for about 30 minutes, until cheese is bubbly on top. LEAVE IT ALONE for about 20 minutes for the whole thing to solidify (i know it smells good, but you'll not be able to cut it without destroying it for awhile, so chill already.) with a sharp knife, cut the lasagna and lift out with a spatula. the first piece will probably fall apart, but that's okay.
SO GOOD. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| i love peppers. i really, really do. red ones especially. high in vitamin a, c, k, and b6. roasted, raw, sauteed, pureed, on their own, with things ... gorgeous sweetness that compliments everything. every summer i say i'm going to buy a bushel of red peppers and roast them and freeze the lot but i never manage to do it.
stuffed peppers are amazing because they're ROASTED which is the most gorgeous way to eat anything, and they have a lovely filling! you can't go wrong.
a few notes:
- ground turkey kicks ground beef's ass. turkey is low in saturated fat, high in protein, has a similar texture, freezes just as well, is only slightly more expensive, and doesn't have any of the scariness associated with it that ground beef does. i have yet to find any recipe in which i could not substitute ground turkey for ground beef. the raw meat is a little wetter, but otherwise they behave very similarly. (the only thing about ground turkey is that it's high in cholesterol. but if you're worried about cholesterol, you're probably not going to be eating much meat at all.)
- the key to setting off tomatoes, i believe, is ginger. i find ground ginger is nicer than fresh in this particular mix.
STUFFED PEPPERS
you can use any colour .. i prefer red and find green totally inadequate for this recipe, but yellow and orange are nice too.
4 peppers
1 to 1-1/2 cups cooked rice - i have a standard blend of jasmine, brown basmati and wild rice, but it doesn't matter what you use
1/2 can stewed tomatoes, diced
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
ginger
1 green onion
the usual suspects - basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, and any combination thereof
shredded cheddar (asiago is also really nice for this)
cut tops off peppers, remove green stem, chop up tops and set aside. slice a bit off the bottom of each pepper to make a flat surface so they can stand up properly in the oven.
sautee garlic in a splash of olive oil until brown. add onion. add chopped up pepper tops and mushrooms. add turkey and brown. drain any fat (there will be very little). season with herbs of your choice.
stir in cooked rice, stewed tomatoes, frozen peas. stir around over med high heat. dust with ginger and adjust seasoning. mix should not be soupy, but should be made sticky enough to hold together with the tomatoes.
stand peppers up in casserole dish. fill each one (this should make quite a lot of filling and it's delicious so don't worry if you have some left over!) and top with cheese and green onion. put in an oven heated to 400F for about 20 minutes, until peppers are wilted and cheese is bubbly.
you'll thank me. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| everyone's always really impressed when they find out my freezer is full of pasta that i made.
i love making pasta. i die a little inside when i buy the dry packaged stuff. pasta is cheap and easy to make, and is a good excuse to hang out with a friend. it's fun, and it really helps to have another person to catch the pasta on the other side of the machine when it starts getting long. i've made it by myself lots of times, but it's so much easier with someone else.
FIRST RULE OF PASTA:
humidity counts.
if it's raining or is humid, you'll need more flour. if it's really dry, you'll need less. humidity is absolutely key. play it by ear; you know what you're doing. remember that the point is to humidify the flour.
a pasta machine is a sound investment if you don't already have one. they're made to last a million years, and if you make pasta once a month for a few years it pays for itself (assuming you're buying decent pasta as it is). and it's FUN. a lot of cities have italian grocery stores where you can get them - i really recommend getting an imported one; i've seen lots of domestic ones that are really flimsy and those italian companies know what they're doing. a good rule of thumb: if it weighs less than eight pounds, it ain't worth your time. you can expect to spend $50-$200. BUT! almost everyone i know has a pasta machine sitting in their basement that they've never used because everyone thinks making pasta is hard so they never do it. i don't actually own a pasta machine - i borrow them off my friends and relatives.
PASTA RECIPE
1 to 1-1/4 cups flour.
one egg.
fork.
(that's it.)
start on a STURDY SURFACE (i am not kidding on this one - a heavy table or counter. you'll be bashing this shit around and you don't need the surface moving). you need room. it's also better and less tiring, i've found, if the surface is below waist level; if it's higher i almost die of exhaustion and kills my shoulders.
put the flour in a little pile on the surface. make a well in the middle by gently pressing your fist into it. crack the egg into it. you might have to hold up the sides of the flour well to keep the egg contained.
take the fork. you must start with a fork, don't even THINK of starting with your hands. gently start incorporating the flour into the egg. shore up the walls of the flour with your free hand.
only abandon the fork when you can't incorporate any more flour. the fork makes the presence of lumps much less likely.
when you've mixed in a much as you can with the fork, start kneading.
knead knead knead knead.
your shoulders will start to burn. that's part of the fun.
refrain from sweating into the dough.
adequately kneaded pasta probably won't be perfectly smooth, but you'll know that you're done when you're left with a lump of dough that is a gorgeous creamy yellow colour, is very elastic (elasticity is the biggest telling factor), and feels like very smooth skin.
cut this lump into 4-6 pieces. cover the lumps you're not using with saran wrap - the pasta begins to lose humidity immediately.
open pasta machine to widest setting (1). feed dough through.
keep folding it in thirds and feeding it through again. rememebr that what the machine is doing is kneading it for you again - you might have to do this a bunch to get the consistency you want. it may rip in the middle as you feed it through; that just means it's not done being machined. trust me.
when it's at a stage where the texture is absolutely gorgeous, go down a setting, repeat. you don't need to feed it through a million times on the other settings, but sometimes on 2 and 3 i feed it through a couple of times. for really thin gorgeous noodles, go all the way down to 6.
when you get to setting 4 you really need someone to catch the other end.
you can make the noodles into fettucine by feeding them through the cutter, or just make big flat noodles for lasagna, canneloni, ravioli, tortellini, whatever. (i'll post my recipe for roman ravioli later.) pasta freezes beautifully. remember when cooking it that it cooks almost immediately - you need to have fresh pasta (even if it's frozen) in the water for no more than 2 or 3 minutes, especially if it's really thin.
i'm going to be experimenting with flaoured pasta soon - roasted red pepper, and herbed. i'll let you know how it goes. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| when i post recipes, these are things that are, i promise, easy to make. i provide approximate directions because i think you have to feel out what works best for you (your tastes, as well as factors like humidity and altitude, will affect a recipe anyway). i fully encourage experimentation, correction, and suggestion.
+++
there's a pinto bean shortage in toronto.
or maybe just in the west end where i live.
the THREE GROCERY STORES that i frequent - the 24 hour supercrazy store near work, the little place at the top of my street, and the ghetto no frills - are all OUT OF PINTO BEANS.
AND!! pintobean.org is down.
conspiracy?! probably!
ah, the lowly pinto bean.
firstly, do you know how good these motherfuckers are for you? shitloads of dietary fibre, which means that they stabilize blood sugar (the reason i started eating them), as well as thiamin, copper, manganese, and 171% of your recommended daily intake of molybdenum. hachacha!
secondly, they're versatile, have an excellent texture, are cheap, are the most gorgeous pink colour when they're cooked, and most of all, they're delicious. i don't buy them dry - i can't stand the entire process of soaking and cooking and all that - but they're cheap canned (WHEN YOU CAN FIND THEM); mr gouda's i find has the least salt added.
my favourite thing to do with pinto beans is mash em, to make burritos, pies, and filling for all kinds of stuff. they have a delicate flavour that really holds its own against what they're mixed with, so you can go in a lot of directions in terms of spiciness and flavour. i think they taste REALLY good with sweet chili sauce; you can get that for next to nothing in chinese stores.
here's something really good to make with pinto beans:
ENCHILADAS YOU'D SELL YOUR GRANDMOTHER FOR
6-10 tortillas, depending if you like them big, small, overstuffed, understuffed, whatevs.
1 can pinto beans (although i'm a big fan of making a double batch and sticking some in the fridge for quick lunches)
about 1 cup shredded cheese (sharp cheddar is nice)
1 onion
1 chipoltle pepper (you can get a can and freeze them and just use a little at a time)
a couple of fresh jalapenos
3 cloves garlic (i'm heavy on the garlic. it's good for you.)
squirt of lime
about 1 cup enchilada sauce (you can get this at mexican stores; basically, it's ground chilis but isn't hellish spicy. comes in green and red! if you can't find it, sweet chili sauce is nice too. in a real pinch, just use salsa - the less chunky the better.)
salt, pepper, basil
sour cream
In a saucepan, put in a splash of olive oil and saute the garlic. toss in the chopped onion, and the chopped up deveined and de-seeded jalapeno. (all the heat is in the seeds and veins, all the flavour is in the skin.) mmm! that smells good.
pour in the drained pinto beans. the key here i find is to get the beans hot, but not quickly - the object is to make them burst and get starchy and hold together instead of mashing them. cooking them to this stage instead of mashing means they taste so much better because they take on the flavours of everything you cook them with. turn the heat down to medium-medium high and keep stirring them. you need to keep them HOT but not burning. during this stage, add salt, pepper, basil. mix in some chili sauce and/or enchilada sauce and/or salsa because you can. stir in the chipoltle. mmm, smoky. if you like it hotter, stir in some pepper sauce (though keep in mind those chipoltles are pretty hot). stir in a squirt of lime.
stir around for about ten minutes. i usually get impatient and start mashing at them with the wooden spoon.
when satisfactory, remove from heat. get out a casserole dish and spray with pam or olive oil if you have it (you will thank me when you wash it). preheat oven to about 375F.
put a bit of enchilada sauce/chili sauce/salsa into the casserole dish to coat the bottom. important for the enchiladas to come loose after baking!!
take a tortilla. put a spoonful of enchilada sauce/chili sauce/salsa on one side of the tortilla. coat. flip it over and do the same thing to the other side.
put a blob of bean mixture inside, toss in a little cheese. roll up (you can tuck in the ends if you like) and place in the casserole. keep going until it's full.
pour the rest of the salsa/enchilada sauce over the top. (if you're using chili sauce i don't recommend doing that - it would be a little overkill, that stuff is really sweet.) top with as much or as little cheese as you like. bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. serve with sour cream.
seriously, i would make this every day of my life if it were up to me. it's good for you, it's low in fat (cheese is the only fatty thing, but you can use as much or as little as you like, and use non-fat sour cream), low in refined carbs (a bit higher if you're using sweet chili sauce because of the sugar), it's high in dietary fibre, and oh my god it's so fucking good i can't even tell you.
| | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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