Lemon risotto and new saute pan

We love all of our cookware, but since the time we got it about two years ago, one pan has stood out from the rest in terms of utility and frequency of use: our large nonstick deep saute pan.

For almost any dish that requires a saute we use this pan. The size accommodates our medium to large meals (we love having leftovers), the high sides keep us from making a mess and let us toss a pasta dish together, and it's bakeable, which comes in handy every now and then (e.g. fake bake or baked mac and cheese). Unfortunately, due to constant use and maybe some occasional overheating, the nonstick coating was starting to fail in the center of the pan. With the difficulty of washing it and concern about consuming the nonstick coating, we decided to seek out a replacement.

We found that replacement in a Le Creuset deep saute pan! We had been eyeing this pan online, and then Whitney was lucky to get a great deal on a floor model that had been on clearance in our local Williams-Sonoma. We were super excited! We've enjoyed our other Le Creuset cast iron enamel pieces. The enamel comes clean easily and hasn't showed any signs of accumulated wear. The one downside is that it's super heavy, but it's worth it to have a pan we love that will hopefully last forever. We've also decided that it makes sense to store it on the top since it is so heavy and we use it so much!

After we got the pan we used it for nearly five days straight, which only shows how much use we get out of our deep saute pans:
   Thursday - lemon risotto
   Saturday - warm lentil salad
   Sunday - sauteed apples for brunch
   Monday - kale and ricotta pasta bake
   Tuesday - asian pork with soba noodles and cabbage

It was a joy to use each time. Today we'll feature the lemon risotto recipe, which was a new risotto style for us. I probably wouldn't rank it above my favorite lemon spaghetti or some of our other risotto preparations, but it was still quite good.

Lemon Risotto inspiration from 101 Cookbooks
   Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp fine-grain sea salt
2 cups lightly pearled barley or pearled farro - we subbed arborio rice
1 cup good quality dry white wine
6 cups light vegetable stock (or water) - we used chicken stock
Grated zest of 4 lemons
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup crème fraiche (or sour cream) - we used sour cream
3 big handfuls of greens, chopped - we used arugula
Handful of toasted pine nuts, for garnish - we omitted

Directions
   Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, then add the onions, shallots, garlic, and salt and saute, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.
   Add the barley to the pot and stir until coated with a nice sheen, then add the white wine and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes, until the barley has absorbed the liquid a bit. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle, active simmer.
   In increments, add about 6 cups of water or stock, 1 cup at a time, letting the barley absorb most of the liquid between additions; this should take around 40 minutes altogether. Stir regularly so the grains on the bottom of the pan don't scorch. You will know when the barley is cooked because it won't offer up much resistance when chewing (it will, however, be chewier than Arborio rice).
   When the barley is tender remove the pot from heat. Stir in the lemon zest, Parmesan, and crème fraiche. Taste and adjust - add more salt if needed, more lemon zest. Then stir in the greens. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and a dusting of extra Parmesan before serving.

Risotto-orzo Beets

It's no secret that Patrick and I have a thing for beets. Ever since they started showing up on our CSA I think we've gotten them every week. They make appearances for a few weeks on our CSA in the spring and then again in the fall. We do our best to take full advantage of the beets!

Not sure why Whitney wrote an intro and then assigned this post to me, but Patrick here. We also have a thing for risotto, so we're always excited when we can combine them and make beet risotto! So excited that even though we discovered we were out of arborio rice when we started making it, we went ahead and improvised by replacing it with orzo. Using the same cooking technique you actually get surprisingly similar results as the arborio rice, so we were quite pleased (I was skeptical it would work). One thing we have trouble with is allowing enough time for the beets to roast (they always take longer than we expect), so sometimes we end up with not-so-tender beets, but they're still delicious.

We also added swiss chard to this, but thankfully the beets and orzo were good enough to offset one of my least favorite greens. Then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside on the deck with the rest of the wine!

Beet Risotto with Swiss Chard & Brie from Pete's Greens
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 (2 1/2- to 3-inch-diameter) beets, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
4 large leaves chard, stems and leaves chopped separately
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
5 ounce Brie, rind discarded, cut into small pieces

Directions
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add beets, onion and chard stems. Cover; cook until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, heat broth in a small saucepan. Once the onion is soft, mix the rice into the beets and onion. Saute for a minute. Add wine and simmer briskly, stirring, until wine has been absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup hot broth and briskly simmer, stirring, until broth has been absorbed. Continue simmering and adding hot broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and waiting until each addition has been absorbed before adding the next, until rice is just tender and looks creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in chard greens and brie a minute or two before removing from heat.

Margherita Risotto

Patrick and I feel like we've got the technique for risotto making down. In my opinion risotto is a slightly glamorous meal to make so I like to plan it for a relaxing weekend or when we have something to celebrate. On this particular occasion my mom was in town for the weekend and I thought she would would enjoy some risotto!

Basic risotto is almost like a blank slate. You cook the arborio rice with some onion, white wine, and then slowly add chicken stock to the rice as it continues to absorb the liquid throughout the cooking process. Then when it's just about done you can throw in any sort of seasonal vegetable. We also love it served with seafood.

It was almost like we wanted to move past these risottos and add a different dimension. This margherita risotto was just what we were looking for -- there's a tomato base for this risotto! This was quite tasty and worth the experiment. Some fresh hydroponic basil and mozzarella also went into the dish. Read on for the recipe!

Margherita Risotto from Strawberry Plum blog
   Serves 4
Ingredients
1 small white onion, minced
1 c. arborio Rice
1 c. dry white wine
1 14 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
2 c. chicken or vegetable broth (homemade or low-sodium), warm (keep it at a low simmer on an adjacent burner)
1 Tbsp. butter
10 large basil leaves, torn
1 medium ball fresh mozzarella, torn in bite-sized pieces
extra virgin olive oil

Directions
   Heat about 2 tsp. olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, lightly salt, and sauté until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and toast for about a minute until the rice is dry and makes clicking noises as you stir it around the pan. Add the white wine and let the rice absorb almost all of it. Add the crushed tomatoes, let the liquid come up to a bubble, then reduce the heat to a simmer. When the rice has absorbed most of this liquid, add about a third of the warm broth. Simmer, stirring frequently, adding more broth as the rice absorbs the liquid.
   After about 20 minutes, the rice should be cooked (but not mushy!) and you are ready to finish the risotto.
   Remove from heat. Add butter and season to taste. Scatter the mozzarella and basil over the top and gently stir to combine. You want the mozzarella to melt a bit but you still want to be able to see pieces and taste its freshness. The basil will wilt a bit but retain its fresh summery flavor.
   Divide risotto between warm bowls. Drizzle with a touch of good olive oil and garnish with a couple of pretty basil leaves, if desired.

Four Month Anniversary Dinner

In December we celebrated being four months married with crab cakes, parmesan orzo, asparagus, and a chocolate beet cake! We're having so much fun with our monthly anniversary fancier-than-normal meals. In November we had spinach stuffed flank steak, in October we had butternut squash risotto, and in September we had a recreation of our reception buffet.

We're having a lot of our favorite fancier-than-normal meals and, even though we haven't repeated ourselves yet, the inevitable may be coming near. Here's a break down of the four month anniversary meal! And read below for the recipes.

     Entrée: Crab cakes, black pepper – parmesan orzo, sauteed asparagus
     Dessert: Chocolate beet cake
     Wine: I surprised Patrick with a bottle of Biltmore House Merlot; just like last Christmas

Crab Cakes from Food Network & Ellie Krieger
   Prep Time 30 min | Inactive Prep Time 30 min | Cook Time 20 min | Serves 4
Ingredients
1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tsps. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Dash hot sauce 

1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper 

1 scallion, including green top, finely chopped
1 lb. lump crab, picked over for cartilage 

3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. salt Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
   Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
   In a medium bowl mix together the egg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning and hot sauce. Stir in the bell pepper and scallion. Gently fold in the crab, 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste. Put the remaining bread crumbs in a shallow dish.
   Divide the crab mixture into 8 mounds. Shape 1 mound into a round and coat in bread crumbs. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and flatten the crab cake to form a patty about 1-inch high. Repeat to form the remaining crab cakes.
   Bake until golden on the bottom, about 10 minutes. Gently flip the crab cakes and cook until the second side is golden, 5 to 10 minutes longer.

Black Pepper and Parmesan Orzo from www.epicurious.com member recipe community

   Serves 6
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta) 

½-cup chicken broth
¼-cup olive oil 2 tbsps. 

Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter 

1 tbsp. Heavy Cream, or Milk
2 oz. Parmesan, grated fresh 

Salt and Pepper to taste
Basil leaves for garnish
Directions
   In a pot of boiling chicken stock, cook the orzo for 7 to 8 minutes, or until it just al dente, drain it in a sieve with a bowl under it to reserve the liquid. Drain the orzo well and in a separate bowl toss with 1/4 cup of the oil.
   In a small saucepan simmer the reserved liquid. Add black pepper, and Parmesan. Cook until the Parmesan is melted. Add the Orzo back into the cooking liquid, and stir well to make sure everything is mixed well. Add the butter and Cream. Adjust your seasonings

Sautéed Asparagus
A pretty simple preparation: sauteed trimmed asparagus in olive oil for a few minutes until crisp. Topped with salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Moist Chocolate-Beet Cake from David Lebovitz; adapted from Tender by Nigel Slater
Ingredients
8 ounces (240 g) beets, unpeeled, rinsed and scrubbed free of dirt
7 ounces (200 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (70% cacao solids), chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) hot espresso (or water)
7 ounces (200 g) butter, at room temperature, cubed
1 cup (135 g) flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (the darkest you can find, natural or Dutch-process)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 cup (200 g) superfine sugar
Directions
   Butter an 8- or 8 1/2 inch (20 cm) spring form pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
   Boil the beets in salted water with the lid askew until they’re very tender when you stick a knife in them about 45 minutes. Drain then rinse the beets with cold water. When cool enough to handle, slip off the peels, cut the beets into chunks, and grind them in a food processor until you get a coarse, yet cohesive, puree. (If you don’t have a food processor, use a cheese grater.)
   Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
   In a large bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring as little as possible. Once it’s nearly all melted, turn off the heat (but leave the bowl over the warm water), pour in the hot espresso and stir it once. Then add the butter. Press the butter pieces into the chocolate and allow them to soften without stirring.
   Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a separate bowl.
   Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter is melted. Let sit for a few minutes to cool, then stir the egg yolks together and briskly stir them into the melted chocolate mixture. Fold in the beets.
   In a stand mixer, or by hand, whip the egg whites until stiff. Gradually fold the sugar into the whipped egg whites with a spatula, then fold them into the melted chocolate mixture, being careful not to over mix. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.
   Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and reduce the heat of the oven to 325ºF (160ºC), and bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until the sides are just set but the center is still is just a bit wobbly. Do not over bake. Let cake cool completely, then remove it from the pan.

This particular evening is a good example of not letting "busy, everyday lives" prevent you from using a formal place setting and having a nice dinner with your significant other. Patrick had to do some work after dinner and since I had gotten behind with errands this day I made the chocolate beet cake after we had our meal. If you read all the way through the recipe I'm sure you saw that it is quite intense. This is probably the hardest cake I've ever made but it was worth it! Anyway after Patrick had finished working and the cake was ready to be served I had forgotten it was anniversary dinner night and not Merry Christmas dinner night and accidentally served the cake on the holiday dishes! 

Wonder what we will be having tonight?!

Butternut Squash Risotto and Mahi-Mahi

We've already shared some risotto successes here and here, and this post is another in that series. We used the same Sara Foster recipe as before so we won't repeat it here; you just substitute roasted butternut squash as the vegetable. We baked some mahi-mahi as well to add some variety and served it on top. It was a delicious meal!

Salmon with Risotto

We've made risotto a few times now and have really come to enjoy being able to make it at home where we can control everything and make it just to our liking (oftentimes I find that restaurant risotto is overloaded with salt or cream/butter, or not cooked to the consistency I like). We found this recipe in our Weeknight Fresh and Fast cookbook and decided to serve it along some salmon baked with herbs. It was delicious!

Prepping the salmon.

Why am I taking a picture when I should be stirring?

Risotto with leeks and sugar snap peas

5 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (we use less and dilute with water. we had a lot of extra.)
1 lb sugar snap peas
3 oz pancetta
2 leeks
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp fresh tarragon

Bring broth to a boil. Add snap peas and cook 2 minutes. Remove the peas and reduce heat to low. Warm some oil over medium heat. Add pancetta and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add leeks and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add rice and stir until opaque, about 1 minute. Add wine and stir until absorbed. Add broth about 3/4 cup at a time, stirring until absorbed, until rice reaches desired tenderness. Mix snap peas, parmesan, tarragon, and pepper.

Scallops and Risotto

Attention! Attention! After two years of blogging and two hundred posts we finally did it! We made a risotto! It's something we've always aspired to do but never quite followed through. Natalie and Richard both shared a risotto with us during secret ingredient potluck and fall themed potluck so we knew we could do it. We got even more motivation from Sara Foster's Fresh Every Day cookbook which coincidentally spurred us to try red snapper. You can find her basic risotto recipe here. In her cookbook she has the basic risotto recipe and four different variations for the seasons. If you follow the link above, the site also features her variation for winter: wild mushroom and spinach risotto. I'm sure we will be trying this sometime soon but since we had some frozen corn we needed to use in the freezer we skipped ahead and tried the summer Risotto with Summer Corn and Tomatoes.

Basic Risotto from Sara Foster's Fresh Every Day cookbook (online here)
Serves 4 to 6

4 to 5 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil, or more if necessary
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cups Arborio or carnaroli rice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
Seasonal Vegetables (for our variation we needed tomatoes, corn, and basil and for fun we added seared scallops)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

1. Bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet and reduce the heat to medium. When the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute more, being careful not to let it brown. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes, until the rice slides around easily in the pan and each grain of rice is coated with the oil-butter. Add a splash more olive oil if the pan seems too dry and season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir in the white wine and cook until it evaporates. Stir in 1/2 cup of the warm chicken broth and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice absorbs all of the broth. When you hear the rice begin to sizzle in the pan, add another 1/2 cup of broth. Continue cooking the rice this way, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time and waiting until the broth is absorbed and the rice sizzles before adding more, and stirring constantly, until the rice is tender and creamy but not mushy. The process will take 20 to 25 minutes. You may not need the entire 5 cups of broth.

4. When the rice is tender and creamy, stir in the cooked vegetables along with any liquid they have released. Add any remaining uncooked vegetables and fresh herbs and cook until the vegetables are warmed through, about 4 minutes. 

Add a little more broth until the risotto reaches the desired consistency. Stir in half of the Parmesan. Taste for salt and pepper and season with more if necessary. Transfer the risotto to a serving dish. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and serve immediately.

While the risotto finishes, sear scallops.

For Risotto with Summer Corn and Tomatoes
Sara writes "If I can't find good tomatoes, or I want a deeper, smokier flavor, I roast the tomatoes before adding them to the risotto." We did this and, in fact, followed her balsamic-roasted recipe.

In addition to the basic risotto, you will need: 1 tbsp unsalted butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 large tomatoes, cored and chopped (we roasted 3 sliced roma tomatoes), kernels from 2 ears of corn, 6 basil leaves cut into strips (we used our frozen basil and it was perfect)

The vegetables for this are not cooked. Saute the onions and garlic for the risotto with an additional tablespoon of butter and oil in step 2. Add the raw (or roasted) tomatoes, corn, and basil to the risotto in step 4 and proceed with the recipe.

Serve the seared scallops right on top of the risotto with some fresh parmesan.