one last taste of summer

Spring Pea Risotto with Poached Egg and Basil

Summertime is blissful: long lazy nights, dips in the ocean, guilt-free monstrous consumption of Blue Bell ice cream, air conditioning.  But don't tell summer, fall's my favorite season: cooler temperatures that make walks outside bearable, hearty food, cinnamon in my coffee, that scent in the air, curling up with a wee cuppa.  Before that autumnal elation begins, I thought I'd have one last hurrah to summer with this risotto.  I adore risotto (and once butternut squash starts appearing, you'll have my favorite risotto recipe).  Risotto tends to intimidate folks, but it's really not difficult.  And there's something cathartic about the process of making it, stirring it gently until it turns creamy and tossing in whatever strikes your fancy.  

Finely chop one onion and two cloves of garlic.  Risotto always begins with onion and garlic, sauteed in olive oil and butter (just 1 tablespoon) in a deep, heavy-bottomed pan.  As always, season the onions and garlic with a little s&p.


You can't make risotto with any old rice: you'll need Arborio rice.  You can find it in any grocery store.  It's Italian short-grained rice (because short things are wonderful).  Something about that growth-challenged grain becomes creamy and decadent when stirred with warm chicken stock.  You'll love it.  I used one cup of arborio rice: it makes four servings.

Take one carton (16 oz. I think) of chicken stock and heat in a deep saucepan until gently simmering.  You'll want it to keep simmering while making risotto, so it's nice and warm when you add it a bit at a time.  I recommend low-sodium so you can control how salty it is.

After cooking the onions and garlic for a few minutes, add the rice and cook on medium-low for a few minutes until the rice turns translucent.  At this point you can add 1/3 cup of white wine and let it reduce for a couple of minutes.  All I had was red wine, and though it would taste good, I didn't fancy pink risotto so I didn't add any.  

 Add chicken stock by the ladleful (or using a measuring cup like I did) and stir until almost all of the liquid is absorbed.

It'll look like this when it's ready for more stock.  Keep adding stock and stirring so it doesn't stick, until the rice is al dente and creamy, about 20 minutes.  I know this seems like a long time to stand by a pot stirring it, but in our non-stop society, a bit of a slowdown isn't a bad thing.  Risotto as counter-cultural act!  (Okay, perhaps not, but it's just delicious.)

Here's how it looks when it's done.  Now you get to add all sorts of wonderful things:

 

I added fresh basil,

frozen petite garden peas (note that taking a picture while pouring in peas leads to a proliferous pea situation, which I don't mind),

freshly grated parmesan, one tablespoon of butter and the zest of one lemon.  Stir together and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Now onto that delicate little poached egg to top your summery risotto.  Fill a deep pan with water, add a splash of vinegar and bring to a boil.

 Crack an egg into a cup (or that handy cup measure of mine)...

...and place it in the boiling water by quickly turning the cup measure over with a flick of your wrist.  The quick motion of the egg hitting the water will help the whites envelop the yolk and the vinegar (which you won't taste) will keep it from falling apart.  For a soft-poached egg, cook for 4 minutes.

 Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Top that resplendent risotto with the egg and a little cracked pepper.

Break open the yolk and enjoy a creamy, fresh taste of summer.  Fall's on its way!

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef

Made a wee bit of banoffee, so I did!

If you're not from that lovely, brilliant, verdant place called Norn Iron (pronounced Northern Ireland by those of us not lucky enough to be from there), then you probably have no idea what the title of this post means.  

    

But this picture should give you (& your stomach) a healthy curiosity!  Banoffee is the sublime pairing of bananas and toffee, layered on a crunchy biscuit (graham cracker for us Americans) crust, topped with fluffy whipped cream and chocolate.  It's a very popular pudding (dessert for us Americans) that I was fortunate enough to have several times while living in Belfast.  And it's really very easy to make.   

Take one can of sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) and peel the label off of it.  Resist the urge to open the can, grab a spoon and go to town...if you wait 'til later, it gets even better.  I promise.

Place the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pan covered with water and boil gently for 2 hours.  I know it's a long time, but you could use that time to clean your closet.  Or watch back to back episodes of NCIS.  (I'll let you guess which I prefer.)  You do need to be sure that water is always covering the top of the can, though.

During a NCIS commercial break, ahem, I mean a break from cleaning your closet of course, you can make the simple graham cracker/biscuit crust.  Across the pond, they don't tend to bake theirs, but just let it chill well to firm up.  I like mine really crispy, so I bake it.  Preheat the oven to 350ºF/176ºC.  Take one sleeve of graham crackers (or one sleeve of biscuits I suppose)...

 ...break into pieces, put in a food processor...

 ...and pulse until finely ground.

Add 1 T of sugar. (Because clearly there's not enough sugar in this recipe.)

Melt about 5 T of butter in a microwave for 20 seconds or so and mix well into the crumbs.

I'm making mini banoffee pies, so I used a non-stick (mmm hmm...you'll see later) muffin tin and used about 2T of the crumb mixture for each pie base.  I also used an old rubber wine cork to press the bottom and sides into place.  That is, of course, the only reason I happen to have wine corks around.

I made nine mini pies in total, but if you wanted to make one large one, just press the crumbs into a large pie tin.  Bake for 10 minutes, then let cool.

Has it been two hours yet?  Got that closet looking resplendent?  Time to check out that terrific toffee.  Take your pan of water and pour out the hot water and then let cold water flow over the toffee can to cool it down.  Open carefully, and you'll see that golden, sweet caramelized toffee.  (If you need to grab a spoon at this point, I won't judge.)

Take one large banana and put three slices of banana in each little pie crust.  (If making a large pie, just put one even layer of banana on the crust.)  I like to put the bananas down first because the toffee covers them completely and they don't turn brown.

Spoon that amazing toffee into each little pie.

I had a small amount of toffee left over...which of course I saved in the fridge to become phenomenal ice cream topping or fruit dip when I need it (and I imagine, at some point, I will!).  Put the little pies, still in the muffin tin, in the fridge and cool for 45 minutes to an hour.  The longer you chill it, the more they will stay together.

 Once they're chilled, whip some cream and add a bit of sugar (because again...not enough sugar going on.)

Use a butter knife to loosen the pies from the tin and ease them out.  No pretension here, folks.  This did not go so well for me.  But, as they say in Belfast, no worries, love.  (I just wondered why I didn't use paper muffin liners.  That would be a great idea.)  I added a generous dollop of whipped cream on top and topped that with shavings from a bonafide Cadbury bar from my mates Neil and Ruth who keep me well supplied with proper tea and chocolate.  I only add the whipped cream and chocolate right before I'm going to eat it, so any leftover pies (and no, I did not eat all 9 myself) can be put in the fridge without the cream and chocolate on them.

Gooey, decadent, sweet, crunchy, creamy.

Well moreish, so it was.

spectacular Swedish spuds

Potatoes are apparently much fancier in Sweden.  These are known as Hasselback potatoes, named after the Swedish restaurant that first made them.  Gorgeous, huh?  I came across this recipe on a new but addicting phenomenon, Pinterest.  I haven't figured it all out yet, but it's a website that lets you gather things you enjoy that you come across online and categorize them and then see what others are drawn to.  My "recipe" section's getting pretty full!

Steak was on the menu last night, so I thought it deserved something a little fancy (though it's hard to beat potatoes cubed and roasted with onions, garlic, s&p and evoo).  These took a bit of work, and so aren't something that will become, say, my Wednesday dinner routine, but for something special they're just the ticket.  I used 6 medium-to-small-sized Yukon gold potatoes, which I like because of the rich flavor, thin peel and creaminess.  (And to me they're closest to my beloved Irish potatoes.)

To get started, go ahead and preheat your oven to 425ºF/220ºC.  Unless of course you live in Texas, and can just open your door to reach the desired temperature in your house.  Sigh.  I dream of the day I can wear a scarf again, I really do.  I digress...back to those spectacular spuds:

Cut a small slice off the bottom of each potato, allowing it to lay flat on your board. Unless you're Edward Scissorhands, there's no way you can make the delicate cuts needed on a potato that's rolling all over the place.

Make thin slices (bout 3-4mm in size...but if you bother to measure, you're taking me too seriously ha!) into the potato, cutting almost all the way through.  This is tricky...just go slowly and you'll get the hang of it.  If you accidentally cut all the way through, there are bigger problems in the world.  Don't sweat it, cook it anyway.

Take 4 cloves of garlic...

...and smash 'em with the flat part of your knife, otherwise known as Free Therapy.  This will help the skins come off easily.

Finely slice the garlic.

Now place the garlic slices between each layer of the potatoes.  If you have an album you've been wanting to listen to, say the new Bon Iver, this is a good time to do that, because it takes a little while to get that garlic good-n-stuck inside them taters.

Dot butter on top...

...drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil...

...and salt and pepper those terrific tubers.  Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes, until golden on top and tender when you poke them with a fork.  

In the meantime, chop some parsley.  (Not that I expect this to take you 45-60 minutes!  Grab a book and a glass of chianti while you wait, or prepare whatever else you're having with your potatoes.)

Here's that handsome Hasselback again.  I scattered the parsley on top once they were out of the oven and paired them with simple sides of...

...salad, steak and grilled corn.  Just phenomenal.  Thank you, Sweden!

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef

chocolate, vegetable, miracle

I know what you're thinking: "Zucchini (or courgette as some folks say) and chocolate?  Lilrevchef, you must be confused.  Zucchini: that's a vegetable.  Therefore, it has no place with chocolate!" (Did anyone see The Next Food Network Star this season?  Chocolate-dipped asparagus made an appearance. *shudder*)

I hear ya, people.  But when my friend Emily mentioned baking chocolate chip cookies with zucchini in them, I was intrigued.  Zucchini chocolate chip cookies.  Hmm.  That's just a hop, skip and a jump away from sweet zucchini bread, right?  The recipe is originally from Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Mineral and you can find it here.   I'll walk you through it, though, with plenty of pictures for you people who are as visual as I am.

You need to finely grate a zucchini, until you have a cup.  I'm going to be honest with you: it doesn't look lovely.  It actually gets a bit gooey and slimy (words you may prefer not to hear in a cookie recipe).  But, trust me, it makes super moist, soft cookies.  And you don't taste the zucchini a bit.

Start with a big bowl and beat one egg (room temperature for baking).

Add in 1 stick (4 oz) of butter, also softened at room temperature.

Add in 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 1/3 cup of honey.

Lastly, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla.

Whisk together until everything's incorporated.

Grab a second (smaller) bowl and put 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.

Add 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  Use a fork to blend it all together.

Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and mix well.

Toss in that 1 cup of grated zucchini/courgette and 12 ounces of chocolate chips, stirring together.

Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and flatten a bit on top.  Bake in a preheated 350ºF/176ºC for 20 minutes.  Barbara's recipe says 10-15 minutes, but mine took 20.  So, of course, adjust as needed for your oven.  They don't get a lot of color on them, but will just begin to brown at the edges.

It made 3 dozen cookies for me (though the recipe says only 2).

Let cool on a cookie rack.

They're SO tasty.  And I like to think good for you (at least better than regular cookies).  You certainly see the zucchini in them (which I don't mind) but you don't taste it.

The zucchini gives these cookies a moist, cakey texture and the hint of cinnamon and nutmeg adds an interesting depth.  And the chocolate, well, it does its thing and makes them divine.  Who knew veggies and chocolate got along so well?  Though, I don't think I'll be making chocolate asparagus anytime soon!

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef