Back to Cooking- Risotto with Portabella Mushrooms and Onions

Getting back to some cooking, I thought I'd try to make something I had never made before- Risotto. Sounds easy enough and while it is an interactive recipe (labor intensive with all the stirring and watching), it was fun to watch chemistry work through cooking at its best!

Chop a container of baby portabellos and one large white onion. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy pot over medium-high. Add onions and mushrooms and stir until onions are softened, 3-5 minutes.





Stir in two cups of rice and a teaspoon of salt. Add three cups of broth (I used both chicken and vegetable broth) and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat so that the contents simmer until the broth is absorbed, 8-10 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup dry white wine and stir frequently until absorbed. Add additional broth in 1/2 cup increments, stirring somewhere in between frequently and constantly until absorbed. Do this until the rice is creamy but still a little firm in the center. According to the recipe, this should have taken 30-45 minutes, but it took mine longer- just over an hour to reach the perfect consistency.

After adding third 1/2 cup of broth.

Close-up of the delicious creaminess!

When the risotto has cooked, you will know it- first of all, it has tripled in volume. The rice is cooked through but has not lost its firmness. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 or more grated Parmesan cheese. Serve warm! This works for a main dish or a side dish. I just go ahead and make it a main dish- and it would make a good vegetarian main dish, too. So if you have been afraid to try risotto at home, don't be- it's easy, and all that stirring gives your arms a nice workout...and the eggs.

Pierogies with Onions

If you are in or around Pittsburgh, stop by Pierogies Plus in McKees Rocks for a huge variety of homemade, old school pierogies. See how they're made here.  Then click on "Walk-In Menu" to see all the varieties they offer!  In the rest of the country (and for those of us who don't have time to make them ourselves) frozen pierogies will do fine. We use Mrs. T's, which are so good you can barely tell that they aren't homemade. You can cook them using many different methods, including deep frying and grilling, but we like ours sauteed in butter with onions. Any type of pierogies will work with this recipe- we used ones with potato filling.



Saute one roughly chopped large onion in 1/2 stick of salted butter over medium high heat.



Meanwhile, boil water for pierogies. Cook them for only a few minutes (not more than 5) until the dough softens- they will be cooked in the butter and onions so you don't want to cook them for the full amount of time on the package.



After onion just starts to caramelize, add drained pierogies with another 1/2 stick butter.



Continue cooking, flipping after a few minutes, so both sides of the pierogie brown.

That's it. After they become dark-ish golden brown and the onions are caramelized, they're ready. We garnish ours with a dollop of sour cream. This dish is so good for many reasons- it's delicious because the flavors all melt together and simply compliment each other. It's a fast and easy weeknight dinner. You can easily adjust the quantity to fit your family's taste.

A couple of years ago I was in Pittsburgh and went to Butya's, a neighborhood bar, to watch the Philadelphia Eagles play the New Orleans Saints. The place was packed with fans watching the Steelers play Kansas City. I noticed small appetizer portions of fried pierogies in front of many of the locals, so I figured they must go well with beer and suggested we order one. A couple of plates of pierogies later, the goodness of the dough, the potato and the crunchy onions helped ease the pain of the Eagles' impending loss. They were that good...and the eggs.

Savory Polenta!

I love polenta any way you slice it (or not)! This recipe was a great accompaniment to the pork belly I made last week. It was easy, I only had to use the oven in our guest apartment since the main oven was being used for the pork (which is why some of the photos don't look like the ones that are taken in my regular kitchen). The recipe is Emeril's. As much as I hate to admit it, I have noticed over the years that some of the recipes on the Food Network's website work out better for me than others, and those that do are overwhelmingly Emeril's recipes. So here's to Emeril!

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for grilling or sauteing if desired
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 quart chicken stock or broth
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large, oven-safe saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the red onion and salt and sweat until the onions begin to turn translucent, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and saute for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure the garlic does not burn.



Turn the heat up to high, add the chicken stock, bring to a boil.

Gradually add the cornmeal while continually whisking. Once you have added all of the cornmeal, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring every
10 minutes to prevent lumps.

Once the mixture is creamy, remove from the oven and add the butter, salt, and pepper. Once they are incorporated, gradually add the Parmesan.

Serve as is, or pour the polenta into 9 by 13-inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator to cool completely.



Once set, turn the polenta out onto a cutting board and cut into squares, rounds, or triangles. Brush each side with olive oil and saute in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, or grill.

You can add herbs and spices more or less to your liking. I would add a little less garlic next time. I have plenty of coarse ground corn meal left and will be making polenta again soon. This was different for us, we've had polenta at restaurants but never at home. After reading Bill Buford's book, Heat, I have been thinking about polenta a lot. I'm glad Emeril had this simple recipe, it sure beats what Mr. Buford went through...and the eggs.

If I could pick anything I wanted for lunch!

When I was 7 years old and lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, my parents took me to spend the day with a friend of theirs, an older woman who was the wife of a retired rabbi. She enjoyed children and, I suppose, had set up a play date for us. Her name was Bibbi Wolf- I never knew her real first name because my parents just called her Bibbi. I don’t remember what we did together, but I do remember lunch. Bibbi told me that I could have anything I wanted for lunch. Looking back on the day, I suppose she expected that I would ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or maybe even grilled cheese--but I didn’t. I asked Bibbi for an artichoke with hollandaise sauce, and told her that it was my number one favorite food. She said, with a wink, that it was hers, too. As luck would have it, Bibbi had artichokes, and prepared them for lunch for the two of us. Later, I remember her telling my mother about the events of the day, both of them chuckling. I never understood what was funny about our lunch, not until several years later. Bibbi didn’t know who she was messing with, but I can pretty much guarantee you that she never again asked a young friend what she would like to have for lunch if she could have anything she wanted. 

This isn't Bibbi's recipe, I have made that for this blog before, but it's a great recipe for artichokes. It also works with the frozen hearts- just thaw them out and cook them this way for great flavor without any sauce.

Artichokes, Infused with Herbs

2 globe artichokes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
olive oil to coat bottom of pan
1/2 stick butter

Slice pointy tops of leaves off of artichokes.



Place them stem up and slice them in half.





Scoop out the choke with a spoon.



Wash well and pat dry.  Now they're ready for cooking!



Coat bottom of saute pan with olive oil, add the garlic and spices and heat to medium-high.



After just a couple of minutes, you will notice the spices have become fragrant. Place the artichokes, inside down, in the pan.



Leave the heat on medium high for 2 more minutes, then squeeze lemon juice in and pour 1/4 cup of water in and cover tightly. Turn heat down enough for the water to simmer and don't touch it for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check to see if the leaves pull off easily. If they do, they're done. If they don't, and if the water has evaporated, add a little more water and check after 5 minutes. When the leaves do pull off easily, toss 1/2 stick of butter, and replace lid until you are ready to eat.



What makes these artichokes different from steamed artichokes is that the thyme and tarragon flavors have been infused throughout the artichoke meat. These are delicious eaten as they are, no other sauce necessary. To serve, place artichokes halves on plate and spoon some of the pan juices over them. These make a delicious appetizer, and, even as a side dish, are always fun to eat!

There are dozens of ways to cook artichokes, my next attempt will be the grill- so if you have any suggestions for grilling methods or advice about grilling artichokes, lay them on me.

I wish Bibbi was still here, so I could make lunch for her, anything she wanted, of course. I wonder what she would choose. I have a sneaking suspicion it might just be artichokes, and I would be honored to make them for her...and the eggs.

Added June 2, 2008: I found a fascinating article which discusses Rabbi Sidney Wolf, and well into the article, his wife, Bebe, and their life. I didn't know most of this. My father was Rabbi Wolf's replacement in 1972. Click here for the article.

Bethenny Frankel's Ratatouille

One of my guilty pleasures is a little addiction to reality television. I'm not so much into Idol and Dancing as I am into getting to "know" people and seeing human interaction as caught (and edited) on tape. My favorite Real Housewife of New York City is, of course, Bethenny. Bethenny likes to cook, bet on the ponies, play with her dog and tell it like it is. She has a website here- Bethenny Bakes. I recently clicked on the recipe link and decided on ratatouille, with a few minor adjustments based on the vegetables I had on hand.



1 large eggplant (I used 3 small), cubed
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 spring onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
3 small ripe tomatoes
toasted pine nuts (as many as you like)
pinch of basil and crushed red pepper (if you like heat)
salt to taste
pepper to taste (I used white pepper)
olive oil

Coat high heat pan with olive oil and add onions. When that gets going and the onions start to turn opaque, add eggplant. Add garlic and zucchini, let it cook for awhile until everything begins to soften. Add tomatoes, and basil, red pepper, salt and pepper.



Let it cook over medium high heat for about 8 more minutes until everything just starts to carmelize. If the ratatouille is your main course, you're finished! It's ready to serve.

I had a pork loin roast to use- and was in the mood for mustard sauce.

1 pork loin roast sliced in half (or two pork tenderloins which they didn't have at Publix)
olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper



Season pork with kosher salt and pepper, and place in pan coated with olive oil over high heat. Sear on all sides- about 10 minutes.



Cover and turn heat to medium-low and set timer for 20 minutes. Turn a few times during the 20 minutes. Meat should be cooked to an internal temp of 150. Remove from pan and cover loosely with foil.

Reserve juices in pan, and after 5 minutes, add any additional juices from the plate where you put the pork. Heat juices in pan to medium. Add 1/4 cup whole-grain mustard, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of sour cream. Whisk until heated through but do not let it boil.



Slice pork and spoon mustard sauce on top!

The flavor and texture of the pork was perfect- the mustard sauce had zing and spice-exactly what we like. The sauce would also be tasty on beef (if you like mustard, which I happen to love).

Back to Bethenny-- her recipes are tweaked to be healthier versions of classics and to be realisitic recipes we can all make with our busy schedules and available ingredients. The ratatouille was delicious, full flavor and satisfying enough to be a vegetarian main dish. Her recipe did not include highly specific instructions (the recipe calls for 1 large eggplant but does not tell you how to slice it), but that works for some recipes because it gives you the opportunity to tweak things the way your family likes them. For example, I added white pepper and spring onions. I think I will test her lychee martinis next...and the eggs.

Pasta, Garlic, Oil, Asparagus and Red Pepper

Saturday night was one of those nights - we looked through the pantry to see what caught our eye, and defrosted some thick pork loin chops. We decided on pasta, but without the red sauce. A quick search of the internet yielded hundreds of simple recipes, so I got an idea of the amount of oil and garlic to use, and went to work on my own version.

Blanch a handful of thin asparagus for 2 minutes by placing them in boiling water, and then draining and covering in ice water to prevent further cooking. Dry on paper towels. Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil (for the pasta). I add a pinch of salt and a few drops of olive oil to the pasta water. In a saute pan, place 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and over medium or medium low, depending on your stove, add 5 minced garlic cloves. You don't want the garlic to brown too quickly, instead, you want it to infuse the oil with flavor.
When the garlic is just starting to turn brown, add a few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes to taste. When your pasta water boils, add a box of thin spaghetti, and cook as directed. This recipe is better with dry pasta as opposed to fresh, because of the way the oil will coat the dry pasta. When the pasta is al dente, drain and return to pot. Add oil, garlic and pepper and stir. Add asparagus, and it's ready to eat.

Grilling the pork chops was a quick and easy way to get a fantastic result. Salt and pepper generously, and then put on a hot grill for 2 minutes per side, and turn the flame to low for 8 minutes. Easy! They looked and smelled so good, I thought I would slice them just for fun. The flavor of the grilled pork, along with the garlic and oil was so good, it was as though I had planned that all along. Take a peek in the pantry and the freezer and see what you can create. Sometimes those meals you throw together will be so good they'll surprise you...and the eggs.

Fettuccine ai Funghi Porcini! (Grazie, Amelia!)

I'm not sure if it was the Chianti, the Il Postino soundtrack, the pasta or the warm fuzzy feeling of reuniting with a childhood friend who just happens to be a foodie. An Italian foodie! Let's just say it was a combination of all of the above. This was one of those meals where you take your time, enjoying the flavors, the music, the wine and the company. The flavors were right-on- I waited all week to have the time to attempt my first real Italian meal, and this was worth the wait. Here is the recipe, in Amelia's words:

Fettuccine ai Funghi Porcini

500 gr. of porcini mushrooms - if you have no access to porcini you can use portobello mushrooms. (note: I used baby portobello)
500 gr. of good pasta - fettuccine, or large macaroni will do
four cloves of garlic (note: A standard package is 454 gr. and is what I used)
50 gr. fresh chopped parsley (note: I used flat-leaf Italian parsley)
1 crumbled red hot chili pepper (note: I used 4 good pinches of crushed and it was hot!)
olive oil
salt
1 dab of vinegar
50/80 gr. grated Parmesan cheese

Clean the mushrooms - use no water, just rub the dirt off with a knife. Cut them in thin slices. Pour a slight veil of olive oil into a large pan. Take the skin off the garlic and press the cloves with palm of hand using the wide part of the knife. Put the garlic in the oil and add the chili pepper. Add the mushrooms and turn the fire down. Add half a glass of water, bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer and turn repeatedly for half an hour/40 minutes. At mid cooking time add a small dab of vinegar, let it evaporate. At the end of the cooking time add the chopped parsley. Meanwhile, put a pot of water on the stove for the pasta. Bring it to a boil, add a small fist full of salt, and put the pasta in to cook. Read instructions on the pasta box for cooking time. when it is cooked, drain the pasta and put it back into the pot. Add the mushrooms, the grated Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Serves 4 people. Enjoy, and tell me how it went!

The garlic and hot pepper.



The mushrooms!



I added toasted pine nuts because I love them.



Fettuccine- oh yeah!

Well, Amelia, it went quite well :). I would have liked to use porcinis, but couldn't find them fresh. Could I have used dried? The baby portobellos were delicious- the juice they cooked in with the garlic, hot peppers and olive oil coated the pasta, and the taste was amazing. When I added the cheese at the end, it got a tiny bit clumpy, but didn't hurt the overall dish. It was a lovely dinner, and is now one of our favorites. I would be happy to hear your comments- was it sac religious to add pine nuts? I hope not :) We look forward to the day that we share a meal with you and Giulio. In the meantime, I am ready for my next assignment...and the eggs.

Put a Little Crunch in Your Life

I have loved lettuce-less salads since spending a year in Israel in the late 1980's. The produce there is flawless, and we made these salads daily with whichever ingredients were the freshest. I haven't made one in years, but have really been craving one. I used the following veggies:

1/2 Pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 bag broccoli slaw, found in produce area of supermarket
1 red bell pepper, diced
6 spring onions, diced thinly
1 cucumber, diced

Toss together and add salt and pepper to taste. You can use any cheese you like- I used feta this time. I took a small block and made mini cubes out of half of it and put it on top of the veggies. Coat everything lightly with extra virgin olive oil and the juice of half a lemon and toss again. This salad has such great texture! It is much more hearty than a salad made with lettuce.

At the supermarket, I noticed they were selling rib eye steaks sliced to just under 1/2" and were charging $4 or $5 a pound more than the regular thicker rib eyes. I decided to buy the regular ones and slice them myself- it was getting late and there wasn't time to grill, but there was time to quick pan fry a couple of steaks. This was so easy and fast, and the meat was melt-in-your-mouth perfect. I sliced them, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and coated them in a tiny bit of olive oil. I threw them in a preheated pan (hot!) and seared them for a couple of minutes on each side. I took them off the heat and covered them loosely with aluminum foil for five minutes and they were ready to eat. This impromptu meal ended up being one of our favorites, and will become part of our repeat list.

The salad was also good left over! So take a walk down your produce aisle and grab the most beautiful, ripe veggies and give this a try. You'll be rewarded with the freshest of fresh tastes, and a very nice crunch to boot...and the eggs.

Artichoke Pie? Look No Further!

If you are like me, a sucker for anything artichoke, this recipe is for you.

I was intimidated by the inclusion of bechamel sauce, but it was a breeze. I can't take credit for the recipe, it is Mario Batali's- but it was very easy despite the medium difficulty rating at the Food Network's website.

Saute small chopped onion and quartered artichoke hearts in olive oil. When the onions start to carmelize, cover w/a little water and simmer for 10 minutes until hearts are very tender. In another pot, make bechamel sauce. Fresh chopped italian parsley goes into the cooked and drained artichoke hearts and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg into the finished bechamel.

The artichoke mixture is folded into the sauce and put in a pie crust (I used Pillsbury ready-made). Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, until top turns golden brown. Let it cool because it's best to eat it at room temperature.

We had this along with grilled ribeye steaks with crabmeat stuffing. The pie would be a fantastic vegetarian main course- it's definitely hearty enough to stand alone...and the eggs.