The Main Course: Risotto

Before I get into the meat.....or, in this case, lack of thereof.....I should throw in a few disclaimers.  

1.  My cookware does not look like anything you will see on the Food Network or in the Sur La Table catalog.  I have a collection of mismatched pots and pans most people would probably throw away.  They work for me and I've never had anyone say something would have tasted better had it been cooked in one of those gorgeous Le Creuset pots that comes with the not so gorgeous price tag.

2.  I have a stove that rocks!  When Dan and I were looking for our apartment, one of the things on our wish list was a vintage O'Keefe & Merritt stove.  All the planets must have been in perfect alignment because not only did we find an adorable apartment, but there was a gleaming beauty of a tank in the kitchen.  "Georgia"....get it?  Georgia O'Keefe (& Merritt)....would blow any Viking or Wolf commercial range out of the kitchen.  She has fire power the likes of which I've never experienced with any other stove.  I say this because my temperatures and flame levels are based on her.  You may need to cook some things a little longer or on a higher flame depending on your own stove/oven.

3.  I'm a freak about mise en place.  Mise en place is a French term that literally translates as "putting in place".  The Culinary Institute of America defines it as "everything in place".  I believe some people who say they hate cooking might change their tune if they prepped everything prior to cooking.  I would go crazy if I had something on the stove and was still chopping and measuring things that needed to be added soon.  Get in the habit of chopping, cutting, measuring, etc. up front and you'll find a world of difference in your cooking or baking experience.

Okay.  On to the recipe....

Basic Risotto

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup water 

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 large yellow onion; chopped

1 cup arborio rice 

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 

Serves 2-3 people as a main course, simply double the above to serve 4-6 

Place broth and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a simmer.  In another saucepan, melt the butter and olive oil.  Add the onion to the butter/oil and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until translucent, but not browned.  Stir in the arborio and cook a minute or two until all the grains are coated in the butter/oil.  Add one ladleful of the warm liquid and stir until the liquid is absorbed.  Continue adding the broth/water, one ladleful at a time, stirring until it is absorbed.  It should take about 20-30 minutes until all the liquid has been added.  The rice should be tender, but not mushy.  If the rice is still too hard for your liking, add hot water a little at a time until the desired texture is achieved.  The consistency of the risotto should be creamy and slightly spreading when plated, but not runny. Season with salt and pepper.  Spoon into bowls and top with the grated Parmesan.   

Mushroom Risotto

To expand the above to be a Mushroom Risotto, saute 8 ounces of sliced Cremini or white button mushrooms in a dry pan (no butter or oil added) over low to medium heat.  Cover the mushrooms and allow them to "sweat".  Season with salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until browned.  If calories aren't an issue for you, add 1 tablespoon of butter to the mushrooms toward the end of cooking until absorbed.  Remove from the heat until the risotto is finished cooking.  Stir the mushrooms into the risotto before plating.  Note:  To create a more "meaty" vegetarian entree, you can top the plated risotto with sauteed, sliced portobello mushrooms.  To saute the portobello mushrooms, follow the same instructions as used for the Cremini/white button mushrooms above. 
  

Prelude to a Risotto

A week or so before Christmas, we had our charming neighbors, Julie and Alex, over for dinner.  Not only were we graced with their presence, but also that of their very adorable and totally cheeky Schapendoes, Rafferty.  At some point during the course of dinner or dessert, Julie asked about my cookbooks, recipes, and how I learned to cook.

Truth be told, I had absolutely no intention of ever learning how to cook....at least not until my mid-twenties.  Prior to that, I subscribed to my own feminist doctrine which went something like this:  "I'm a feminist, not June Cleaver.  I'm going to find a man who will cook for me.  Ta-da!"  Finally, it dawned on me if I was dependent on a man to cook for me, I really wasn't that much of a self-sufficient woman.  Damn!  And that is how the collection of cookbooks rivaling the selection found at our local Barnes & Noble came to reside in our apartment.

Next question.  How many of those beautiful cookbooks do I use?  I hate to admit it, but very few.  I went on to explain to Julie that you don't need to know how to make a ton of recipes....really only a few.  Once you "perfect" some base recipes, it's easy to play off that "mother" recipe and create a symphony of variations.  The alterations can evolve due to seasonality, price, leftovers that need to be used up, or a limited offering in the larder.  My favorite risotto came about because I had leftover roasted acorn squash wedges from Thanksgiving one year.  I scooped out the flesh, added it at the end of cooking, and filed one more variation under "risotto" in the cookbook that only exists in my head .  It's the perfect risotto for a chilly night when there's a cozy fire in the fireplace.

I didn't start making risotto until a couple years ago....so, you can teach a very old dog new tricks.  It's not that I didn't like risotto.  I loved risotto and ordered it often when it was on restaurant menus.  The honest truth as to why I didn't cook it for years was that I was intimidated.  I had heard the horror stories about it being difficult, time consuming, not to mention seeing chef after chef berated on Top Chef for a bad risotto.  If they couldn't do it, surely I couldn't.  Not true.  It's not hard at all.  It just has to be "tended".  In other words,
you can't put it on the stove and go watch an episode of Game of Thrones or even half an episode, for that matter.

The recipe I originally used was changed dramatically when Dan and I embarked on our healthier eating regime.  The butter/fats were reduced tremendously and the white wine was eliminated.  Bottom line?  We can't tell the difference.  From that one base risotto recipe, I have spun it into five additional options;  Mushroom, Roasted Shrimp, Artichoke, Asparagus, and Roasted Acorn Squash.

If you can do the same for a pasta, a curry, etc., you'll find you have tons of options based on only a handful of "mother" recipes.  Tonight I'm making Mushroom Risotto....the same risotto I made when Julie and Alex were over....and tomorrow I'll post the base risotto recipe, mushroom option, and photos.

Seed Porn

It seems fitting my first blog post pertains to seeds.  Seeds represent a beginning, new life, not to mention all the seed idioms we've grown up with...."sowing the seeds of love" (thank you, Tears for Fears), "seed money", "seed of an idea", but who am I kidding?  When the title of the post is "Seed Porn" it's probably best not to get too philosophical.

Back in December when I found myself letting my subscriptions to Vogue and Bazaar lapse, only to be replaced with Urban Farm, Mother Earth News, and Chickens (who knew such a magazine existed?), I also started ordering tons of seed and gardening catalogs.  Over the last few weeks, as we shiver against the cold winds of January.....okay, not really, here in L. A. it's usually sunny and 75 degrees, but it sounded good.....I've gotten accustomed to listening for the ka-thunk that heralds the arrival of our mail as it gets shoved through the slot and plops to the floor.

Hutterite Soup

The first catalog to arrive was Seed Savers Exchange and just about rendered me speechless....which, had that occurred, would have made my husband very happy as silence is not something he gets to experience often when I'm home and awake.  That was the day I started referring to all seed catalogs as porn.  How could I not?  The photos make my vegetarian mouth water.  The colors make my eyes dance.  And the descriptions make me say to myself or anyone within earshot, "how can I not grow this too?"  A month ago I had never even heard of Hutterite Soup Beans and now can't imagine my future garden without them as they are said to produce an excellent creamy soup.

Bumble Bee

Not to mention Bumble Bee Beans (a Maine native), Hidatsa Shield Figure Beans (described in Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden), or Lina Sisco's Bird Egg Bean (a family heirloom brought to Missouri by covered wagon in the 1880s).  Can you imagine what my head will be like by the time I get to the tomato section?

Hidatsa Shield Figure

 The world of heirloom seeds is amazing and vitally important to our health and agricultural diversity.  To have the opportunity to leaf through one of these catalogs is to stroll back in history.  Thanks to the preservationists and keepers of these seeds, we may very well also be gazing into the future.  I hope it will be my future.

P.S.-- The mail just came......guess what I got?

Lina Sisco's Bird Egg