fried risotto

confession: I have to google a lot of these fancy names so I'm not calling things 'fried risotto' or 'pasta with ___'.

risotto doesn't exactly heat up well, unless you crank up the heat and fry it. then it's good.

quick and dirty arancini

olive oil

leftover risotto

bread crumbs

cheese (if you're so inclined)

• heat your olive oil in a pan. make it hot.
• scoop out risotto and form little patties (put some cheese in the middle if you want)
• dredge the patties in bread crumbs
• thow it in the oil till golden brown and crispy on both sides

easy.

margherita risotto

bought a bunch of arborio rice just for kicks, since I've now got time to spare. risotto is an odd animal, creamy, rich, and very labor intensive. except it wasn't that hard to make.

I know mushrooms are the normal thing for this, but I dont like mushrooms, so I'm trying other variants. this one's based on margherita pizza.


4 servings of margherita risotto

1 cup arborio rice
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine/ginger ale
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp butter
1 shallot
4 cloves garlic
1/2 serrano pepper
3 tblsp tomato paste
1 cup mozzarella 
parmesan for garnish
rosemary
basil
pepper

• pour chicken stock and white wine into a pot, put on low-medium heat. you'll be keeping it wamr until you use it all
• melt butter and oil in a pan, saute shallots, garlic, and serrano peppers on med-high heat until soft. add spices
• drop heat to medium, pour in rice
• stir constantly for roughly 2 minutes. rice should be coated in oil and butter and getting translucent on edges.
• pour in 1 cup on the broth/wine. 
• add tomato paste.
• stir constantly, add broth in 1/2 cup increments when the rice has absorbed the liquid in the pan. make sure the last batch is fully absorbed before adding more. this takes damn near half an hour, but you'll know when it's done. rice should be tender, no grit. if you need more liquid after the broth is gone, add 1/4 cup increments of water
• once it's done, add your cheese and any extra seasonings for taste.

it's one of those dishes you have to eat when it's done, saving it results in mush. it's rich, and delicious though. totally worth the energy expenditure.

spicy cheese bread

make no mistake, this isn't real bread. I dont know how to do that yeast stuff, and by the time I realize I want to have a snack, I don't want to wait for it to rise. So here's a variant on the traditional quick bread.

one 9x5 pan of spicy cheese bread


3 cups flour
1tblsp baking powder
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cup milk
half a block of cheese, diced super small 
(smaller cheese chunks means more cheese distributed through bread)
at least a cup of parmesan, shredded
3 thai peppers, diced
1tsp salt
1tblsp pepper
1/4tsp cayenne
however much rosemary you want
3tblsp butter, melted
1 egg, beaten

• preheat your over to 350, grease baking pan
• while that's going, mix flour, baking powder, cheese (save some parmesan), and spices
• in another bowl, mix milk, sour cream, butter, and egg
• add wet ingredients into dry, knead with your hand.
• fold in peppers
• put the dough in baking pan, cover top with parmesan cheese
• bake for 45-50 minutes
• let it rest for 15. don't pick at it.

you can eat this hot, room temperature, whatever. I sliced mine after it cooled and put it in tupperware to help it retain moisture. this recipe is really spicy, tone it down if you'd like. probably for the best, actually.

too cold for homework

this weather doe

what happens when trying new things

when I'm trying to seduce my boyfriend

when I bake

lemon garlic pasta

too cold to go to the store, have no meat, hungry

1 big bowl of lemon-garlic pasta

1 egg yolk
splash of ginger ale
salt
pepper
rosemary
cayenne
parmesan cheese
2-3 tblsp lemon juice
5 cloves garlic
1/2 shallot

cook pasta, save 1/3 cup water
beat egg yolk into reserved water
saute garlic and shallot on med-high heat
add pasta, spices, lemon juice, ginger ale, and 1/3-1/2 of the egg yolk mix

the goal is for it to be saucy, but not runny or liquidy. eyeball how much liquid you add.

pink alfredo

no intro necessary

it's heavy though

2 bowls of pink alfredo pasta with chicken

1/2 chicken breast 

1tblsp tomato paste

lots of parmesan cheese

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 cloves garlic

1/2 shallot

salt

pepper

rosemary

cayenne

cook your chicken however you want, then set aside

saute shallots and garlic, add chicken and spices

add cooked pasta

in seperate bowl, mix tomato paste and heavy cream

add tomato-cream mix to pasta

add cheese

mmm potato

because of our upcoming camping trip, I'm trying to figure out food I can either make beforehand and freeze to eat at camp, or foods that are super basic and easy that I can make at the site. first on the list, potato soup. I'm not a big soup person, but it's quick, simple, and filling, so I'm trying to make do.

add and substitute to your hearts content. 

2-3 bowls potato soup
half a pack of bacon (diced)
1 large potato (peeled, diced)
1 large shallot (diced)
3 cloves garlic (diced)
2.5 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup milk
1tblsp white flour
1/6 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
cayenne
ground mustard
rosemary

• cook your bacon. set it aside, keep a good amount of the grease in the pan.
• crank it up to medium-high, throw in your potato, garlic, shallots and seasoning. 5 minutes baby.
• pour in the broth and drop the heat to medium. let it simmer/gently boil for 10. 
• whisk together flour and milk until there are no clumps. pour it in with everything else. boil for another 5. 
• add heavy cream, bacon, and cheese (I add it now and mix it in, if you want to garnish with it, do it)

now, you can either be done here, or make it super delicious and creamy and take 2/3 of the soup to the blender. when you pour it back in, it'll be majority creamy with some chunks at the bottom. yum.