Italian night at Cafe Canyon - Artichoke/Mint Risotto
I think I like cooking Italian food mainly because saying names like Arrabbiata and Amtriciano and Carbonara sounds as good as the dishes actually taste. Italian food is romantic and what calls for romance more insistently than a warm Summer night?
Pasta both tomato and pesto and otherwise is a beast I own to the point of recipes be gone! and creating them is now a matter of sight and smell and taste - and a pure pleasure to do, anytime.
But there has been this specter of a food lurking around the corner taunting and challenging me; something I've been avoiding trying to do because I just thought it one of those foods made possible only by Gods in crisp white aprons behind swinging doors in a spotless, twee restaurant kitchen. I was sure it would be impossible for me in my cramped workspace and barely functioning stove.
The scary name? Risotto.
Yeah, that creamy, luscious, fragrant, sometimes side, sometimes main course that I knew eventually I'd have to confront if I wanted to say I had any grasp at all of Italian cooking.
Some good friends were coming over for dinner on a Saturday night and they seemed like an excellent test subject. I knew they wouldn't yell at me if it came out more like warm oatmeal than the real deal -- Friends are great for experiments, and I also figured I could ply them with Prosecco as well. A win/win situation.
Risotto is actually very simple as it turns out. It merely, like most things worthwhile in life requires a bit of attention be paid.
And the ingredients consist largely of stuff I always have around at all times.
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbps butter
6-8 cloves of garlic, pounded in a morter.pestle
2 cups of arborio rice
1/2 - 2/3 cup of white wine
5 cups of stock - pork, chicken, corn. your choice, but my fav is pork.
2 tsps crushed fennel seads
a fistful of fresh mint leaves (chopped
salt, pepper
8 artichoke hearts, large dice
I started by putting the oil and 2 tsps of butter in a hot skillet, then adding a diced onions and leeks and of course some garlic (on the advice of another friend of mine who is the best cook I know and who says leeks are her secret weapon). After about 4-5 mins when pale and wilted (the veggies, not me), I added 2 cups of Arborio rice and stir/blended to coat with the oil and butter. In about 3-4 mins they started to toast. Perfetto.
In goes a glug and a half of white wine and the juice of one fat lemon, the fennel and a pinch of salt - and the burners down to med until the wine is absorbed by the rice.
Next comes about 5 cups of stock* added a bit at a time (about a 1/2 to 1 cup) to stir and simmer and cook the rice over about 30 to 40 mins. Slowly (this is the attention focusing part as you must stir and patiently add a ladle at a time to let the rice take its sweet time) so you don't drown the dish and when done you end up with a very creamy yet structurally sound mountain of rice.
*a word about the stock. Make your own. I'll repeat: make. your. own. It's a super easy way to ramp up anything you cook from soups to sauces to well, everything. Never, ever buy a carton from the store and avoid a bouillon cube like you would Ebola. Making a few quarts of veggie or chicken or any kind of stock from you leftovers is should be a weekly ta-doo. It's about the easiest thing to do imaginable.
About 3/4 through this process I added a fist bump to the now amazing smelling skillet: artichoke hearts, diced, and the mint,
When it hits that creamy al dento level at about the 40 minute mark (it should be fairly liquidy, so add stock as needed for texture) turn off the burner, toss in a fisful of fresh grated Assiago cheese, though Parmesan or Romano will work as well. Use whatever cheese floats your boat. You really cannot make a mistake as long as it's grated on the spot from a fresh block of your favorite cheese, and 2 more tbsps of butter.
stir fvigorusously to blend well and then cover to let it think about itself for 10 to15 minutes.
Crack some black pepper onto it at serving and there you have it, a near perfect Risotto made over the course of two peach Bellinis.
Bellissima!
Pasta both tomato and pesto and otherwise is a beast I own to the point of recipes be gone! and creating them is now a matter of sight and smell and taste - and a pure pleasure to do, anytime.
But there has been this specter of a food lurking around the corner taunting and challenging me; something I've been avoiding trying to do because I just thought it one of those foods made possible only by Gods in crisp white aprons behind swinging doors in a spotless, twee restaurant kitchen. I was sure it would be impossible for me in my cramped workspace and barely functioning stove.
The scary name? Risotto.
Yeah, that creamy, luscious, fragrant, sometimes side, sometimes main course that I knew eventually I'd have to confront if I wanted to say I had any grasp at all of Italian cooking.
Some good friends were coming over for dinner on a Saturday night and they seemed like an excellent test subject. I knew they wouldn't yell at me if it came out more like warm oatmeal than the real deal -- Friends are great for experiments, and I also figured I could ply them with Prosecco as well. A win/win situation.
Risotto is actually very simple as it turns out. It merely, like most things worthwhile in life requires a bit of attention be paid.
And the ingredients consist largely of stuff I always have around at all times.
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbps butter
6-8 cloves of garlic, pounded in a morter.pestle
2 cups of arborio rice
1/2 - 2/3 cup of white wine
5 cups of stock - pork, chicken, corn. your choice, but my fav is pork.
2 tsps crushed fennel seads
a fistful of fresh mint leaves (chopped
salt, pepper
8 artichoke hearts, large dice
I started by putting the oil and 2 tsps of butter in a hot skillet, then adding a diced onions and leeks and of course some garlic (on the advice of another friend of mine who is the best cook I know and who says leeks are her secret weapon). After about 4-5 mins when pale and wilted (the veggies, not me), I added 2 cups of Arborio rice and stir/blended to coat with the oil and butter. In about 3-4 mins they started to toast. Perfetto.
In goes a glug and a half of white wine and the juice of one fat lemon, the fennel and a pinch of salt - and the burners down to med until the wine is absorbed by the rice.
Next comes about 5 cups of stock* added a bit at a time (about a 1/2 to 1 cup) to stir and simmer and cook the rice over about 30 to 40 mins. Slowly (this is the attention focusing part as you must stir and patiently add a ladle at a time to let the rice take its sweet time) so you don't drown the dish and when done you end up with a very creamy yet structurally sound mountain of rice.
*a word about the stock. Make your own. I'll repeat: make. your. own. It's a super easy way to ramp up anything you cook from soups to sauces to well, everything. Never, ever buy a carton from the store and avoid a bouillon cube like you would Ebola. Making a few quarts of veggie or chicken or any kind of stock from you leftovers is should be a weekly ta-doo. It's about the easiest thing to do imaginable.
About 3/4 through this process I added a fist bump to the now amazing smelling skillet: artichoke hearts, diced, and the mint,
When it hits that creamy al dento level at about the 40 minute mark (it should be fairly liquidy, so add stock as needed for texture) turn off the burner, toss in a fisful of fresh grated Assiago cheese, though Parmesan or Romano will work as well. Use whatever cheese floats your boat. You really cannot make a mistake as long as it's grated on the spot from a fresh block of your favorite cheese, and 2 more tbsps of butter.
stir fvigorusously to blend well and then cover to let it think about itself for 10 to15 minutes.
Crack some black pepper onto it at serving and there you have it, a near perfect Risotto made over the course of two peach Bellinis.
Bellissima!
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