I can't quite believe that a few degrees drop in temperature makes me want comfort food, a couch, and a cozy duvet, but all I could think about today was risotto. I'm also trying to clear out my fridge before I am tempted by any more fresh summer produce, as I seem to be stockpiling without any actual eating. The kabocha squash that's been sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks seemed to fit the bill. I really was not in the mood for making any dinner when I got home, but once I got started I remembered that risotto is really no work at all - and after a long day at work it was so relaxing to just stand and stir without having to think about anything.
Squash Risotto (serves 2-3):
500g pureed squash
3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion
fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100g arborio rice
around 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
50g chèvre
large handful spinach, chopped
chopped walnuts (optional)
Quarter the squash and roast for 40 minutes in a 350F/180C oven, or wrap in cling film and microwave for around 5 minutes until soft. Scoop out the flesh and puree using an immersion blender, then set aside. In a shallow pan over low heat, melt the butter and cook the onion, garlic, and thyme until softened. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes, then slowly begin adding the stock, stirring constantly for about 20-25 minutes. Add the pureed squash and then salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes, adding more stock if needed. Finally, stir in the chèvre and spinach until the cheese is melted and the spinach softened.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Risotto Already?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Adventures in Pastamaking II
Some of you may remember that Brooke and I made our first foray into the land of homemade pasta making a good while back. Well, it took some work, so we took a little break before trying our luck a second time. We used the same recipe for the pasta itself as last time but the process was quite different this go round.
For one, we used better tools. Instead of kneading and kneading, we combined the ingredients using my Kitchenaid food processor. Oh glorious invention! After combining, we could just kneed in the additional water to adjust the pasta consistency. As well, we borrowed a Kitchenaid pasta making attachment from a generous friend, and were spared the incessant whirring of our $10 pasta machine (which will likely be $10 worth of garbage as it turns out). By using the lasagna noodle setting, we rolled out ribbons of pasta that were then used to make homemade ravioli.
Brooke and I wanted to try some very different fillings this go round, and so we also enlisted the hands of another willing partner in crime, so that we had three hands going for three fillings (and then we divided them up at the end). Brooke picked a pea and sage filling, our mystery guest chose a squash and cinnamon filling, and I picked a crab, shrimp and cream cheese filling. The first two fillings were pretty much as described above (simple fillings with few ingredients). Here is what I used for my crab and shrimp filling: 
- 1/2 package of cream cheese
- 1 small tin of crab meat
- 10-12 shrimp, cooked
- zest and juice of half a lemon
- 1 tsp fresh dill
- pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy. This yielded a very lemony, dilly filling. Flavors could be decreased to simply highlight the seafood more, and the seasonings less.
All of our raviolis turned out to be quite mild in flavour, and would lend themselves well to being topped with a sauce to add some depth. For the squash version, we fried it as opposed to steaming it, which made it taste quite a lot like pumpkin pie. It would make a very interesting dessert if done larger and plated with whipped cream for a dinner party.
The ravioli making was a LOT of work, and I think I would be more likely to just go with a deconstructed version in the future (just layering pasta with filling and sauce), and passing it off as hip. It was a fun exercise though, and after the fact we came up with lots of other filling ideas. It is a good activity to do with girlfriends for an afternoon, and I would say best done sitting at a table (we had sore feet) with a glass of wine.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Crust-less Ricotta, Tomato & Basil Torte
Recently I've been looking for recipes that will make good picnic food - i.e. they taste good unheated and travel well. I found this recipe on Taste.com.au and the picture looked so good that I had to try it. This was very tasty, but not exactly what I was looking for. Because it has no crust (gluten free!), it seemed like not the easiest thing to be packing around though it was good even cold. I would definitely make this again though! Using the food processor made it super easy to make, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a tart basically made entirely of cheese.
Ricotta, Tomato & Basil Torte:
500g low-fat ricotta
100g feta, crumbled
3 eggs
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
350g grape tomatoes, halved
Add the ricotta, feta, eggs, garlic and basil to your food processor and whizz together until smooth. Pour into a 22cm/9" pan that has been greased with olive oil (or lined with parchment paper) and cook in a 375F/180C oven for 1 hour.
I didn't mess with the recipe at all this first time, but reduced it by 1/3 as my pan was smaller. I got lazy and only did one layer of tomatoes (about half what the recipe called for), but it would be very easy to tuck a second layer underneath first before adding the top layer. This was very, very cheese-y, so adding all the tomatoes would cut through the richness of the cheese.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Risotto For Beginners
I used to be afraid of making risotto. Watching Hell's Kitchen had convinced me it must be a terribly complex dish of the kind that could reduce professional chef's into quivering tearfilled balls of goo. That was a misconception. Making risotto is incredibly easy (I wouldn't lie to you), although perhaps more difficult when doing it in bulk and partially cooking it prior to a restaurant shift. Just to be sensitive to the poor Hell's Kitchen contestants I will say that making risotto at home for personal consumption is easy peasy, and certainly worth trying. For me it is now a winter meal staple, both as a meal in itself and as a side. I can make lots and serve it for a dinner party, or I can use it to use up tasty leftovers (like pasta). I just love the creamy carby goodness, and that it tastes like it is made with buckets of cream when really there is no cream to be found in the recipe!
Spinach and Goat Cheese Risotto (as a large meal for 2-3):
1 cup Arborio Rice
1 half an onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 cups of chicken stock heated to boiling
1/4 cup white wine (optional, but nice)
about 2 cups of loosely chopped spinach (or as much as you like - this is where you could put in anything you want to flavor with, squash, mushrooms, chicken, asparagus etc. but if it should be precooked unless like the spinach it will wilt by being stirred in for 1-2 minutes)
2-3 tbsp of crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Heat the oil in a large deep pan, and saute the onions for 2-3 mins (until clear). Add in the rice and stir so it is coated in the oil. Cook it in the oil for 1-2 mins. Add the wine if you choose and stir until it is absorbed. Start stirring in the stock about 1/2 cup at a time and continue to stir with a spatula as the rice absorbs the liquid. Stirring is the magic in risotto. It keeps the rice from sticking to the bottom and lets all the starches come out to create the "creamy" effect. You don't have to stir the entire time, but most of the time is advisable.
The tricky part is that you have to taste the risotto to know when it is getting close to done. I would say that in my house, with my stove, I end up taking 20-35 minutes just depending on how high I have the heat. You will know it is close the way you know pasta is (no, not by throwing it at the wall), in that it will still have a bit of firmness, but no longer be crunchy. Think of it as rice al dente. When you feel like it will need only one more addition of broth, put your flavoring agents in so that they warm up and get nicely mixed in. Finally, when the last of the liquid is absorbed, stir in the parmesan to take the creaminess over the top.
Oh delicious comfort food! How would we make it through 6-8 months of winter without you?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sausage and Feta Pasta
Yup, still in the cooking slump. Pasta is right up there with stir-frys in terms of being an easy and flexible alternative for a week night dinner. It is even easier when you have made homemade pasta recently, as it cooks even faster than the dried stuff (even from frozen, you are only looking at about 4 minutes). I hit up the farmers market this Sat in an attempt to get something that I knew would be relatively fresh and locally produced so that I could get rid of some of my winter flavour blahs. Although buying meat this way can be a bit more pricey than the store, I kept it very affordable by opting for sausage. I have never made my own sausage (I don't have the stuff to do it, and honestly there are so many good ones at the local farmer's market that I don't see the need to). As the star of tonight's dish, I had some sundried tomato and chive sausage. I wish I had noted which farmer it was from, but I didn't. It was just over $6 for 10-12 breakfast sized sausage, so not bad for meat.
To start with, I get a big pot of water boiling so that it is all ready for the pasta when I hit the T -4 minute mark. Next, I grabbed a big frying pan and started to pan fry six of the sausages. When they were fully cooked, I got the pasta going, and removed the sausage from the pan to cut into smaller chunks. Cutting after cooking is the easiest in my opinion seeing as the sausage stays together, but sometimes I opt to cut off the casing and make little meatballs with the sausage filling. Once cut up, I returned the sausage chunks to the pan with some plain tomato and basil sauce (just grabbed from the pantry). I like to add the sauce to the pan because it kind of deglazes the pan a bit while warming, so that all the flavor the sausages would have left behind becomes part of the sauce. By this time, the pasta is ready to be drained, and tossed into the pan to get mixed around with the sauce and sausage. Finally, it gets plated and topped with crumbled feta (as much as you like).
The whole thing takes my under 10 minutes to make. Even on days when I am so hungry I have a bad case of grouchiness I can usually manage that much time before eating.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Adventures in Pastamaking I
After our success in making gnocchi last month, Court & I decided we wanted to try making pasta from scratch. The only thing stopping us was lack of a pasta machine, and no desire to spend a lot of money on something we didn't know we'd enjoy enough to do more than once or twice. A quick look on Kijiji and I found one for $10 (electric, unfortunately) - we were on our way.
I wasn't sure if special flour was required for pasta, so I stopped by the Italian Centre Shop and they did have imported flour with a pasta recipe on the back which we decided use (Thank you, Google Translate!).
Fresh Pasta (6 servings):
200g Semola di grano duro
250g Farina tipo ''00''
3 whole eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
enough tepid water to make the dough moist but not sticky
Sift both flours together, form a well in the centre and mix in the eggs and oil; the result looks a little like breadcrumbs. Now to add the water - this is where you need to be careful and where we made our mistake: I added too much water as the dough was very difficult to get together at first. I would recommend adding a little at a time and kneading it in, never adding too much. As soon as it feels the least bit sticky you've added too much water. Not to worry though, if you add to much the dough is still salvageable. We ended up having to knead in extra flour, and every time we thought it had absorbed as much flour as it could it was able to take more. The dough was very stiff, and once we got the dough right it finally started going through the machine properly.
The pasta mac
hine turned out to be the loudest thing I have ever heard - worse than a food processor. The shrill motor eventually made me give up on using the machine and I hand-rolled the final bit of dough (which I wouldn't recommend as the stiffness of the dough made it nearly impossible).
That night, I made Linguine Aglio e Olio from David Rocco's recipe. Tasty! This is a super easy dinner to make when you have no ingredients in the house. I can't wait for our second attempt, as hopefully we've got all the mistakes out of our system. Plus, fortunately, a borrowed pasta attachment for a KitchenAid mixer. Wish us luck!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Homemade Gnocchi
As is often the case, when my husband was working nights this week, I decided to have some girlfriends over for dinner. One of the invitees is a vegetarian, so I had to break from my usual meat eating ways. As a main, I decided to try out gnocchi, since I had never made it before but had always wanted to. I served it with mushroom and black bean pinwheels as a side/starter. The girls arrived early and were nice enough to help out to move things along. The result was light and fluffy gnocchi!
Gnocchi:
3 large baking potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
Boil the potatoes in a large pot for about 35 mins. Drain them, and as soon as they are cool enough to hold, either rice them with a potato ricer or, as we did, grate them with the small grater plane that comes standard with the Ikea grater set. The warmer they are when you do this, the lighter the gnocchi will be. Spread them out on your work surface without pressing the potato together. Let them cool completely.
In a bowl, beat the egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg together. Gather the cold potatoes into a mound and form a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well. Knead the potato and egg mixtures together, gradually adding the grated cheese and enough of the flour, about 1 1/2 cups, to form a smooth but slightly sticky dough. It should take no longer than 3 minutes to work the flour into the potato mixture; the longer the dough is kneaded, the more flour it will require and the heavier it will become. Repeatedly rub the rough dough from your hands and scrape it with a knife or dough scraper from the work surface back into the dough as you knead.
Wash and dry your hands. Dust the dough, your hands, and the work surface with some of the remaining flour. Cut the dough into six equal pieces and set off to one side of the work surface. Place one piece of dough in front of you and pat it into a rough oval shape. Using both hands, roll the dough into a rope 1/2 inch thick, flouring the dough if necessary as you roll to keep it from sticking.
Slice the ropes into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Sprinkle the rounds lightly with flour and roll each piece quickly between your palms into a rough ball. Use a fork to imprint one side of the ball. I was lucky that there were three of us, as I made the ropes and the other two had fun shaping the gnocchi. At this point the gnocchi must be cooked immediately or frozen.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a vigorous boil over high heat. Drop about half the gnocchi into the boiling water a few at a time, stirring gently and continuously with a wooden spoon. Cook the gnocchi, stirring gently, until tender, about 1 minute after they rise to the surface.
Remove the gnocchi from the water with a slotted spoon or skimmer, draining them well, and transfer to a wide saucepan with some of the sauce to be used. Cook the remaining gnocchi, if necessary. When all the gnocchi are cooked, proceed according to the directions for saucing and serving in each recipe.
To freeze gnocchi:
It is best to freeze gnocchi uncooked. Arrange the gnocchi in a single layer of wax paper on a baking pan and place in the freezer. Freeze until solid, about 3 hours. Gather the frozen gnocchi into resealable freezer bags. Frozen gnocchi can be stored in the freezer for 4 to 6 weeks.
To cook frozen gnocchi:
Frozen gnocchi must be cooked directly from the freezer in plenty of boiling water, or they will stick together. It is important that the water return to a boil as soon as possible.
I served mine with pesto and goat cheese, and it was very tasty and filling. The recipe above made enough for 6-8 people, so I sent each of the girls home with some of the frozen stuff to thank them for their help. The frozen stuff was a bit gooey when it was cooked, definitely not as good as fresh. It was nice comfort food for a cold winter evening of girl talk.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Ninja Lasagna
Cooking for two brothers while growing up who both tended to avoid most vegetables led me to get a bit sneaky. Lasagna (and spaghetti) has such strong flavours that it is quite easy to mask most vegetables in it. Getting a food processor made this even easier - because if you can't see it it must not be there. What mushrooms?
I'm in budget-mode after the holidays, so I really skimped on the cheese and I also used a 50/50 mixture of pork and beef to keep costs down.
Ninja Lasagna:
250 g ground pork
250 g ground beef
1/2 large onion
3+ cloves garlic
800 ml tomato sauce
1 chopped tomato
2-3 medium carrots
1/2 small zucchini
1/2 small red pepper
handful of broccoli florets
handful of cauliflower florets
10 button mushrooms
1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper
~12-15 lasagna sheets
250 ml cottage cheese
350 g mozzarella, shredded
In a large saucepan brown the pork and beef with the onion and garlic. Drain the majority of fat and add the tomato sauce and tomato. Puree the vegetables in a food processor and add to the pan. (Alternately, you could just finely chop the vegetables if your family is less picky than mine.) Add the basil, bay leaves, and salt & pepper and bring to a simmer over low heat; simmer for 2 hours uncovered.
This time I accidentally bought no-cook lasagna sheets, so it was even less work although I don't prefer them. It's best to lay out the sheets before you cook them to guesstimate how many you'll need for your dish - mine took around 12 for 3 layers of pasta. Lay out the layers in the following order: pasta, sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake in a 375F/190C oven for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Once cool I divide
d it into 9 portions and froze 8 of them. A better idea for freezing would be to arrange the layers in individual portions and freeze before cooking, as then you'd be able to cook each portion as you wanted it instead of just reheating it. Next time I'll read my packages more carefully, as having the no-cook sheets prevented this (simply due to the shape of my containers).
Monday, January 5, 2009
Pasta con Carciofi
...sounds much better than Artichoke Pasta. And I feel fancier writing it in Italian - win/win! This sauce is surprisingly creamy for basically being made of minced artichokes, and while there is parmesan in the sauce it can definitely be scaled down if you want to keep this light. (I'm always scaling cheese up because I love it so much.) I'm not super into pasta, so it really means something when I say I love this. As Court would say, it's pastalicious!
Pasta with Artichokes:
4 artichoke hearts (~1/2 can)
20 g pancetta or bacon, cubed
1/2 small onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper
25 g fresh parmesan, grated
150 g pasta
Put a large pot of water with salt on the stove to boil. While waiting for that, either mince 3 of the artichokes very finely or pop them in the food processor with some olive oil - this will form the base of the sauce. Slice the remaining artichoke heart. In a fry pan over medium heat, warm some olive oil and cook the onion and pancetta for around 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the garlic, artichokes, and salt & pepper and lower the heat. While the pasta is cooking just keep the sauce warm, adding some of the boiling pasta water as needed to keep the sauce from thickening up too much. You can also toss in the parmesan at this point. As soon as the pasta is al dente, drain and add to the fry pan to coat in the sauce. Quickly plate & serve immediately. This serves 2 very generously, or 4 as a starter or side.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Make a Different Sandwich
As mentioned yesterday, I love going to the Italian Centre Shop to pick up meat and cheese from the deli. This visit, I went with the prosciutto as my meat choice, and an old, sharp, white cheddar as my cheese. I also grabbed a nice looking mini ciabatta, and a delicious sandwich was a brewin'. All that was needed to round it out was something sweet, and something tangy.
The something sweet took a little bit of effort. I grabbed an apple from the crisper, cut it in half, peeled it, and cut it into slices. I sprayed a pan with cooking spray, to make sure my apple slices wouldn't stick, and then arranged them in a single layer and popped them in the oven. They only take a couple of minutes and you can tell by looking at them that they have softened up (the colour changes to look like a "cooked" apple).
Once the apples were ready, I layered up everything else: prosciutto, apple then cheddar, and added Dijon mustard spread on the top half to provide the something tangy. Pop the whole sandwich back into the oven so that the cheese melts and the sandwich feels like a hot lunch.
Each of the ingredients has such a different and fairly strong flavor, but together they compliment each other very nicely, and are a good change from a plain old ham and cheese.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Not Quick but Easy Mushroom Risotto
Now that winter is here all I want to do when I get home is curl up with the internet and something delicious, warm, and rich. This is one of my winter staples, and is a simplified version of one of Delia Smith's recipes. Today I've used a 50/50 mixture of oyster and button mushrooms as that's what I had, but usually I just use regular button or crimini. It takes about an hour all together; it's worth it! And who doesn't love having risotto without having to do any of the usual stirring?
Mushroom Risotto:
3-3.5 cups/200-225g chopped fresh mushrooms - any kind
1 medium finely chopped onion
3 tbsp/60g butter or margarine
2 cups/500ml vegetable or mushroom stock
200ml white wine
1 scant cup/175g arborio (risotto) rice
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp fresh grated parmesan
Preheat your oven to 300F/150C, and place a shallow 1.5 litre baking dish in to heat up. First, chop up the mushrooms and onion. Melt the butter in a medium saute/fry pan and add the chopped onion. Cook for around 5 minutes over medium-low heat, then add the mushrooms and stir. Keep the heat low and let soften for 20 minutes.
Add the rice and stir it in, then add the stock and wine plus 1 tsp salt and some ground pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Transfer the contents to the warmed baking dish and place uncovered on the centre shelf for 20 minutes. Then, stir in the parmesan and put back in for another 15 minutes.
This serves 2 generously, or up to 6 as a side. If you want fewer dishes to clean, just use an oven-safe saute/fry pan and pop that in the oven to cook - that's what I usually do when I'm not concerned with having a fancy dish to serve it in.
