Summer Lemon-Vegetable Risotto

As I hear rumblings of all things pumpkin just around the corner (yay!), I realized that my days of beautiful, fresh vegetables are numbered (boo). Which means I needed a recipe that used some of summer’s best. This risotto recipe from Cooking Light fit the bill: Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini, Yellow Squash.. mmm.

Ingredients:

8 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 (8-ounce) zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (8-ounce) yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 3/4 cups organic vegetable broth
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
1/4 cup beer (I used a pilsner)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

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Rigatoni with Halibut Tomato and Basil

This recipe for Rigatoni with Halibut Tomato and Basil is loosely adapted from Marc Vetri’s cookbook, Rustic Italian Food. Last Friday, I went to Vetri for the first time. And it was hands down the best meal I’ve ever had, both food and service. I was also so terribly awkward that I’m not quite over it. Marc Vetri is one stellar chef. He opened Vetri in 1998 and 14 years later continues to wow people with the food he turns out. I was swooning over each and every plate that came out. I brought my parents for their 30th anniversary and honestly, I feel like it ended up being as much a present to myself as it was for them (sorry mom and dad!).

Vetri even came over to our table, wished my parents a happy anniversary, and signed his cookbook for me! (This is the stage where I got truly embarrassing. I absolutely turned red during this encounter. Eep). So naturally, I can’t think of anything but those delicious meals. I decided to use a recipe from his cookbook, Rustic Italian Food. I ended up using Halibut because the store I was at was out of swordfish (boo).

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) box dried rigatoni
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 (12 oz) containers heirloom tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 pound halibut, cut into large chunks
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup basil leaves, hand torn, plus additional basil leaves for garnish

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Individual Tiramisu

I love tiramisu. Honestly, what’s not to like? I’ve never tried to make a traditional tiramisu, but it might be a terrible idea. I’d probably eat the entire thing in one sitting. So to save me from that embarrassing end, I decided to try a recipe from the Walkers Shortbread website for Individual Tiramisu. The recipe makes two servings of tiramisu so that I can’t be a complete piggy. I came across it while trying to find a recipe to photograph (I made their raspberry creme brulee instead) and knew I’d have to make it. Luckily, I still had some Walkers Shortbread leftover!

1 tablespoon coffee flavored liqueur

1 tablespoon hazelnut flavored liqueur
2 ounces boiled water

1 heaping teaspoon espresso granules
8 shortbread cookies (I used Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 container (8 oz.) mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

So before I go into the recipe, I just wanted to talk about one of the small businesses near me, Wedge + Fig in Philadelphia. They are an amazing cheese shop, brunch location, and also serve some of the best and most creative paninis in the city. When I had a hankering for this tiramisu recipe, I was excited to find that I had all of the ingredients on hand. Except the mascarpone cheese. Blast.

I thought I’d take a gamble and went to two corner stores near me. No mascarpone. So I went over to Wedge + Fig, assuming they wouldn’t have it either, but thought they might know where to get some. I asked, expecting a no, and was ready to leave. They told me they did not sell it, but they had some on hand because they used it in some recipes and would be willing to sell me some. How awesome! So thank you SO much to Wedge + Fig for saving the day. My tummy thanks you!

On to the recipe: Begin by combining the espresso granules with the boiling water. Stir to combine.

Take 1 tablespoon of the espresso and combine it with the coffee and hazelnut liqueurs.

Take 6 of the shortbread cookies and brush them with the coffee mixture on both sides.

Cut each cookie in half. (Note: I decided later that I kind of preferred them crumbled so after allowing them to soak, I just chopped them up a bit. The halves didn’t fit in my glasses nicely.)

In a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream with 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form.

In another bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese and 1/4 cup sugar.

Fold in the whipped cream. (I could just eat this mixture allll day. Mmm.)

Take two wine goblets or Irish coffee glasses and place three cookie halves in the bottom. (I just put two teaspoons of the crumbs in the bottom of mine.) Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture over the cookies and repeat the layers.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours so that the cookies/crumbs can soften.

Add the chocolate mini chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high, stirring until melted. Use a fork to drizzle the melted chocolate over the 2 remaining cookies. (Place the cookies on wax paper before drizzling).

Just before serving, lightly sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa using a fine sieve. Add a chocolate-drizzled cookie to each glass.

How easy was that?

I love how fancy this dessert seems to be with minimal effort.

The whipped cream and mascarpone is so fluffy and flavorful.

The shortbread really soaked up all that coffee-hazelnut flavor, but maintained just enough crunch to keep it satisfying.

The presentation of this dessert is really nice too. The chocolate drizzled cookie is great to dip into the tiramisu to get some of the mascarpone mixture.

I’m aware I should share the second one of these. But um. I think I like it too much! We will see…

Risotto Balls with Marinara Dipping Sauce

I love when you can incorporate leftovers from one meal into a new dinner the next night. I am a huge fan of risotto, but it can get a little old eating reheated risotto after a few nights. Risotto balls are the perfect way to still use those leftovers but have a completely different meal. I used my leftover Mushroom Risotto for this recipe, but feel free to use whatever you might have.

Ingredients:

1 cup risotto

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1 large egg

6 fresh mozzarella balls

1 tablespoon fresh basil, roughly chopped

1 shallot, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup marinara sauce (I used Pomi Tomato Basil sauce)

Oil, for frying

Add the risotto, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, basil, and the egg to a small bowl. Mix to combine.

Form the risotto into palm sized balls, adding a mozzarella ball in the center and forming the risotto around the mozzarella ball. (It should make 6 risotto balls)

Add the remaining bread crumbs to a plate. Roll the balls in the bread crumbs and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. (This will help the risotto balls keep their shape when you fry them.)

While waiting for the 30 minutes to pass, chop the shallot and garlic. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to a saute pan over medium high heat. Add the shallot and garlic.

Cook for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup marinara sauce and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes. Keep warm.

Heat the oil to 350 to 375 degrees. (I was a bit low on canola oil so I actually only ended up putting about an inch depth of oil in the pot. It still turned out fine, but having enough to cover the risotto balls would make this easier/quicker to make.) Add the risotto balls two at a time.

Cook until cooked, turning to cook evenly (about 3-5 minutes). Transfer to a paper towel. Serve while still hot with the marinara sauce.

These are crunchy little balls of deliciousness. I didn’t know risotto could taste better than it already did until now!

The risotto was so yummy I completely forgot about the mozzarella ball in the center, but was more than happy to come upon it!

It didn’t melt all the way, which I would have preferred, but it was still delicious. The marinara sauce was the perfect dipping accompaniment. I love the Pomi Tomato Basil sauce because it really doesn’t need anything to make it taste awesome. (I’ve written two posts in the past about all the positives of Pomi. Check them out here and here)

Is it bad that I might put some risotto to the side from now on just so I can have these the next day?

Mussels in White Wine Garlic Sauce

It’s very rare that I make a meal without some kind of goal in mind. I’m not terribly creative, so I usually do at least some research before making a meal: read a magazine, google a recipe, ask a family member, or have a craving from a restaurant I want to try to make at home.

I guess my subconscious was channeling a craving for Bona Cucina‘s mussels in white wine because I kind of sort of ended up with that at the end of my cooking, so here’s my version of their Mussels in White Wine Garlic Sauce. I was just trying to whip up a quick meal, so I actually didn’t take any photos until the finished product (whoops) but I thought I’d share it anyways. I still had some mussels left over from when I made Angel Hair Pasta with Mussels in a Red Pepper Sauce so I figured I should use them.

Ingredients – serve 2 as an appetizer, multiply as needed (get all ingredients here):

1 dozen mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-4 garlic cloves, minced (depending on how much you want to offend those around you)
1 shallot, minced
Chopped parsley
2 tablespoons butter

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Gnocchi

I have wanted to try to make gnocchi for some time now. Luckily, I am part of a food swap and they were willing to let me experiment on them. Here’s hoping they turned out well! I used this article as a base for my recipe.

Note: I actually made the gnocchi twice because I wasn’t happy with the original result. I used smaller potatoes the first time (see below photo) and I found that the normal Idaho potatoes were much better for this recipe. (Special thanks to my boyfriend for a lot of his help during the making of the gnocchi)

Ingredients:
3 large russet (Idaho) potatoes, scrubbed
1 egg yolk
About 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Begin by pricking each potato all over with a fork. This will allow some of the heat to escape while it is baking in the oven.

Arrange the potatoes on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for about an hour and a half, or until the potatoes are soft.

After removing the potatoes from the oven, cut each potato in half to allow the steam to escape.

While the potatoes are still warm, scoop out the insides into a potato ricer into a bowl.

Place the potatoes onto a clean work surface, like your counter, and form into a rectangle and allow to cool enough that they are not hot to touch.

Season the potatoes generously with pepper. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and drizzle the over the potatoes.

Measure 1 1/2 cups flour and sprinkle a bit of flour over the potatoes as needed (the less flour you use the better). Using a pastry scraper, mix the flour and egg into the potatoes by chopping everything up and folding it in on itself, until well mixed. The dough should sort of resemble coarse crumbs.

Bring the mixture together into a ball.

Sprinkle some on the work surface. Place the dough on top and flatten into a disk.

Dust the dough with more flour. Using your hands, fold and press the dough until the flour is incorporated. Do this two more times, incorporating the flour each time. If the dough still feels sticky, repeat once more.

Divide the dough into four equal parts.

Roll each section into a long thin roll, about 1/2″ thick.

Cut into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces.

Because I was making these for a food swap, I arranged all the pieces on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil and put them in the freezer overnight.

I then divided the gnocchi into freezer bags and popped them back into the freezer.

To cook, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi into the water and cook for approximately 2 to 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon and top with whatever you prefer: tomato sauce, pesto, butter, etc. (I’m a big fan of tomato sauce with some pesto mixed in, yum!)

I tried a few of these and they were pretty good! I hope that they continue to get better as I make them but I thought this recipe turned out well, here’s hoping those in the food swap agree!

Mushroom Risotto

This past weekend, Kennett Square held it’s annual Mushroom Festival. I unfortunately didn’t get to go this year, but my parents dropped off a variety of mushrooms for me. When I have a lot of different types of mushrooms, my go to recipe is a mushroom risotto.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
2 cups assorted mushrooms, sliced (I used oyster, shiitake, portobello & trumpet)
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley, chopped (for garnish)

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Tomato Sauce

My mom and aunts make mean tomato sauce. But sadly, they have not signed on to making sure my freezer is sufficiently filled with their delicious sauce. So I’ve finally broken down and attempted my own. Tomato sauce is quite adaptable, you can really throw in whatever you wish. Here’s my attempt at making a tomato sauce my Italian relatives would be proud of…

Ingredients:
2 cans of crushed tomatoes
1 can of pureed tomatoes
1/3 cup of red wine (whatever you already have opened will do)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons each of parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Begin by preparing the garlic and shallots. I happened to have shallots on hand, so that’s why I used them instead of an onion. Shallots kind of taste like sweet onions with a bit of garlic to them, so I thought that would work well in the sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute.

Add the cans of tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, spices, wine, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and bring to a boil. (Be careful, the tomato sauce pops up). Feel free to add more spices or sub in whatever you’d like.

see?

Lower the heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour. If the sauce seems too thin, add a teaspoon of tomato paste to the sauce. Be sure to remove the bay leaf.

Tomato sauce always tastes better after its been frozen and has had time to meld all the flavors, so I still don’t know how well it turned out. I did have a bit with some spaghetti right after it finished cooking and so far, so good. I can already tell it doesn’t stack up to my family’s sauce, but hey, not to shabby for a girl with freckles if I do say so myself 🙂 I wish I had thought ahead and made meatballs with the sauce too. Meatballs add a nice earthiness to the sauce that really enhance the sauce. Next time…

Asparagus Risotto

I love asparagus. I love risotto. So I thought combining the two would be easy and delicious. I used a recipe from Bon Appétit, just to make sure I knew what I was doing. Well, my poor “asparagus risotto” ended up looking more like asparagus soup with rice. Sigh. It still tasted good though…

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds asparagus

5 cups (about) canned low-salt chicken broth

1 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup whipping cream

Fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)

Begin by prepping your asparagus. Trim off the tough ends from the asparagus and discard. Cut off the asparagus tips and place in a bowl. Cut the stalks into ¾ inch pieces and place in another bowl.

Place 2/3 of stalk pieces, 1 cup broth and 1 cup water in blender (note: I would only use 1 cup broth, no water).

Puree until smooth and set aside. Chop your onion. I used large pieces, but I think the smaller the pieces, the better. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.

Add rice and stir for 1 minute.

Add the wine and cook until absorbed, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add ½ cup broth and the chopped rosemary. Simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Continue to cook for an additional 15 minutes, adding more broth by the ½ cupfuls and allowing liquid to fully absorb before adding more. Stir often.

Add remaining asparagus stalk pieces and reserved asparagus tips and continue cooking rice until it’s tender and creamy, about 10 more minutes. Add extra broth if needed.

Add reserved asparagus puree until absorbed, about 3 minutes. (Note: 3 minutes? Ha. After 12 minutes I just gave up.)

Asparagus soup?

Stir in Parmesan and cream. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with rosemary sprigs if desired.

So, I’m guessing that cutting out the water in the puree may help a bit. I also think it might work to slowly add the puree by the ½ cupfuls versus dumping the whole thing in at once. Despite how ugly it is, it did taste good. If anyone tries this out and manages to make it look aesthetically pleasing, please let me in on your secret!

Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca

I have quite the aversion to pig products (pork, ham, pancetta, etc) and my poor boyfriend usually just has to suffer through dinner without these ingredients. But the January/February issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca that looked delicious, so I decided to finally treat him to a little bit of prosciutto. (I hope he doesn’t get used to this!)

Ingredients:

4 (4-ounce) chicken cutlets
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 fresh sage leaves
Extra dried sage (if you want a bit more sage taste)
2 ounces very thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 8 thin strips
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2/3 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 oz angel hair pasta

Chicken Piccata Over Pasta

Chicken Piccata is one of those meals that I always happen to have the ingredients on hand, making this my go-to dish on a “I forgot to go food shopping” night.

Ingredients: (1 serving, multiply as needed)

1 chicken breast

Salt and pepper

All-purpose flour

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon

¾ cup chicken stock

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup brined capers (optional)

Fresh parsley (optional)

1/2 cup pasta (I used lemon-pepper pappardelle)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions. Set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. While it heats up, combine a small amount of flour (maybe 1/4 cup), paprika, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder in a shallow dish. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge chicken in flour. Shake off excess flour mixture. Reserve the extra flour mixture for later use.

Add chicken to the heated saute pan. Cook for 3 minutes until browned. Flip and cook for 3 more minutes on the other side. Remove from pan and place in a bake safe dish (you want to use the saute pan to make the sauce). Place chicken in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

finished chicken

In the original saute pan, add chicken stock. Before juicing the lemon, use some zest from it and add it to the stock– I used a grater. (Be careful to not to down to the white part inside, that is very bitter). Add lemon juice, and capers (if you’d like) and stir, scraping up the brown bits from the chicken. Bring to a boil. Add white wine and again bring to a boil. Add butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly. Reduce heat. While constantly stirring with a whisk, sprinkle flour into the sauce little by little until thickened to your liking.

thickened sauce

To assemble dish, pour sauce over pasta and chicken. Garnish with fresh parsley and lemon if preferred.

finished dish

So I have no clue how/why the sauce turned brown. BUT it was amazing. The lemon zest enhances the lemon juice without being too sour. I admit, this isn’t a pretty dish at all, so I don’t think it is exactly one to make for company. But it sure did make my stomach happy after a long Monday. Enjoy!