For those who have made risotto, you know how tedious it can be.  The constant stirring and adding in cups of broth makes you understand why you’d rather go out for risotto instead of making it at home.

PureWow sent an email out talking about an easier way to make risotto.  I did a whole…’pffft…that’s not possible’ when I saw it.  But then again, if they found a way to make risotto easier, then it is worth giving it a try.

Low-Maintenance Risotto

This recipe from PureWow is officially Perfectionist Wannabe tested and true.

Low-Maintenance Risotto
A PureWow Original Recipe

Makes 4 main-course servings or 8 side-dish servings
Start to Finish: 45 minutes
Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely minced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 cup arborio rice
⅓ cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Sautéed mushrooms, optional (see Finishing Touches)
Directions

1. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion is translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir to combine, 1 minute. Add the wine and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer until the liquid is nearly absorbed, about 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Add the broth 1 cup at a time. Bring the first cup to a simmer and cook until the rice has nearly absorbed all the liquid, 10 to 12 minutes. Then add another cup of broth and let simmer until nearly absorbed. Repeat a third time so that all the broth has been added and absorbed.
4. Add the butter and stir vigorously until the mixture is combined and the butter is melted. (The vigorous stirring brings out the natural starches in the rice, which makes the risotto creamy.)
5. Add the cheese and mix well to combine. Season the risotto with salt and pepper to taste. To serve, spoon the risotto onto plates and top with sautéed mushrooms, if using. Serve immediately.

Definitely go for the mushrooms on top.  For recipes calling for mushrooms, I like to use dried porcini mushrooms.  Just place the mushrooms in a bowl filled with water to let them re-hydrate.  Usually this takes about 10 minutes.  For added effect, keep them in the water throughout the course of making the risotto.

Because I wasn’t sure if the risotto would actually be cooked all the way through, at the very end, I removed the mushrooms from the bowl, and began sautéeing them in a pan with olive oil.  I used the mushroom water leftover in the bowl as an added cup of broth at the end.  This actually complements the mushrooms with the risotto.

Now, if you really want to up the ante on this dish, I recommend eating this dish with roasted peaches and nectarines.

How do you roast peaches/nectarines?

It’s simple enough.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Slice the peaches/nectarines in quarters and place them on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes.

4. Remove from oven when you start to hear the juice start to sizzle on the pan.  That means they’re soft and ready to eat.

5.  Let cool before serving.

If you’re eating the risotto with the roasted peaches/nectarines on the side, trust me, you will love it.  The roasted peaches/nectarines really make the dish complete and makes you want to keep coming back for more.

EXTRAS: Corndog Casserole

Now, I will admit it.  I love hot dogs and corn dogs.  While I was on Pinterest, I saw a recipe for Corndog Casserole come across and thought, “NO FRIGGIN WAY!”

I used this recipe from The View from 510 over any of the other casserole recipes just because I loved her background story on how her mom used to make this for her and her siblings when she was a kid.  The only thing I did differently was add some of my corn relish I made a few weeks ago (I highly recommend the Food & Wine corn relish recipe.  It is by far the best corn relish I’ve ever had).

The end result?  I think it took my love for cornbread and corndogs to a whole new level.  It was sooo good!  It is so easy to make, too.

If you have kids at home or just want an easy meal to make, this is it.  Just beware…you may want to eat the whole batch in one sitting.  Remember, eat in moderation!

What’s great about Mediterranean food is that the dishes are very simple and focus on fresh ingredients.  I decided to take some inspiration from Heather’s French Press and make my own version of Mediterranean Pasta.  She made hers with chicken, I made mine using only fresh ingredients I picked up from the farmer’s market and the local Italian deli.  I didn’t use any meat.

This is a very tasty and light dish.  It’s perfect for Meatless Mondays, Vegans and Vegetarians.  You can use any type of olives for this dish.  I had Gaeta Olives on hand, so I decided to use those.

Gaeta olives come from Gaeta, Italy, a town on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, between Rome and Naples.  The olives usually come pitted, and are tart to salty, as compared to regular black olives.  These olives are great as appetizers, as a tapenade, or even in a pasta dish, like this one.  

I found these olives in my local Italian grocery store.  

Mediterranean Pasta (Vegan)

2 Tbsps of olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1/2 of a medium-sized onion, diced
4 roma tomatoes, diced (red/yellow)
1/2 jar of gaeta olives (found at Italian grocers)
1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts
1 stem of fresh basil (leaves only)**
salt and pepper, to taste

1 box of tagliatelle noodles (found at Italian grocers) *

1. Prepare the noodles by bringing a pot of water (with salt) to boil.  Add the noodles and cook according to the instructions on the box.
2. Meanwhile, add olive oil to a pan along with the garlic and onions.  Cook until onions are translucent, and garlic is somewhat brown.
3. After onions are translucent, add the tomatoes, olives and artichokes.  Add salt and pepper to your liking.  Cook until tomatoes have softened.  
4. As the sauce mixture is finishing, add the fresh basil leaves.  Cook for a few seconds longer and then turn off the heat.
5. Add the cooked pasta noodles to the mixture, toss and serve.  

* You can use fettuccine noodles if you don’t have tagliatelle noodles.  

** It is important that you add the basil leaves at the very end so that they don’t brown while cooking.

 

For subscribers of PopSugar Must Have, they received a little pouch from the Mason Jar Cookie Company filled with cookie goodness in their box (among other goodies).  All you need is a stick of butter, one egg and vanilla to whip up a batch of cookies in a flash.

They’re very simple to make.  You put the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry ingredients in another bowl, combine, mix and then bake.

I have to say, the cookies were delicious!  Everyone at the office is enjoying them, too.  They’re not too sugary and very light.  Like 90 calories per cookie light.

What I like about this little bag of cookie ingredients is that it makes for the perfect gift.  You can either buy it in a pouch or in the jar from the Mason Jar Cookie Company.  They even have special pancake mixes, brownie mixes, and granola mixes as well.  You can even create your own special mix, which would make for a great wedding favor.

I’m sure some of you are probably thinking: But I can just make this myself and give it away as gifts.  Sure, you can, but this is for those of us who don’t have time (or the patience) to put this stuff together along with all of the added stuff you have to do like shopping for the jars, gathering all the ingredients, and making it look festive.  Mason Jar Cookie Company takes all the added stress and work out of it for you.

The only major downside to the convenience is the price.  I’m not sure how much the pouch is, but the jars run anywhere from $8.99 on up.  You can buy them online at the Mason Jar Cookie Company or at Amazon.com or HSN.com.  {NOTE: You can get a couple of good deals at HSN.}

Personally, I like the pouch option to have around the house when you’re craving something sweet.  The ingredients are already pre-mixed, you just have to add the wet ingredients.

The jars are great to give out as gifts, especially if you need to buy a gift less than $20 (like a secret santa gift).

So that’s what I cooked up this weekend.

I’m still working on the leftovers from last weekend, so it was nice to get in a little bit of a sweet surprise for the weekend.

Speaking of sweet surprises…it’s a boy!

Introducing Matthew. I adopted him last Friday.  Sweetest little man ever!  He’s a little handful right now, especially since the resident alpha (his big sister) is not happy about a new cat on the premises.  He’s the reason why I didn’t cook anything beyond cookies this weekend.

He got in the box and the lid came down.  When I looked over, I saw him like that and just burst out laughing.  Who knows how long he’d been hanging out in the box like that.

Just as long as he’s happy, that’s all that matters.

I personally liked the message on the PopSugar Must Have box.  Surprise. Love. Enjoy!  It was a surprise I found him still in the pet store two weeks after inquiring about him (he was adopted and then returned).  You can’t help but love that cute little guy (well, he’s bigger than his big sister) and enjoy his curiosity, playfulness and youth.  He’s such a sweetheart.

I’m very happy he’s joined our little family.

I was just going over with a friend what I made this weekend and she kept asking me, “Where did you get…” and I would look at her and say, “I got it for free” or “Someone sent it to me.”  Believe it or not, those ingredients are what I worked with to make something sweet this weekend.

There are a few things I bought at our local Jack’s 99 Cent stores like eggs, pita bread, rice, rice noodles and a few Asian ingredients.  Everything else just happened to already be in the pantry or the refrigerator.  Generally, I could spend over $120 for two weeks worth of groceries.  By focusing on using the stuff I already had, the price came to only $33 [but that also means I didn’t buy any meat…I went digging around in my freezer and came up with 2 chicken breasts, a kielbasa and a pork chop.]

So here is what this weekend netted me…

Saturday: I Still Can’t Make Thai Food

For some reason, I have a serious mental block when it comes to making Thai food.  I grew up with this stuff.  My mom tried to teach me how to make my favorite dishes to no avail.  To this day, I still can’t get it right.  But apparently I can make a bad recipe salvageable…as in, I saw the recipe was lacking the correct ingredients 3/4 of the way into it.

I had taken a recipe from a blogger (I’m not going to post it because I don’t want to call them out).  In that recipe, she listed the wrong vinegar.  She used rice vinegar.  My brother had even commented on a few of the pad thai recipes I had sent to him that they were using the wrong vinegar.  Then I saw she put peanut butter in the recipe.  Ummm…not for pad thai, honey.

So I put in the correct vinegar, added some cayenne pepper and called it a day.

It tasted good, even without the bean sprouts, but it wasn’t pad thai.

I may stick to just purchasing the Thai food from the restaurant down the street.  They make it exactly the way mom used to make it.  But I have a feeling I may do a Thai month and I’ll finally figure out how to make Thai food the right way!

Saturday, Take Two: I Made Truffles for the First Time

The grand adventure this weekend was making truffles for the first time.  Talk about an absolutely gooey mess.  But rest assured, the chocolate nastiness dripping off my fingers and causing a huge mess paid off in the end.

The whole reason behind making truffles has a little something to do with Biscoff.  If you have ever tried the Biscoff spread or their cookies, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.  It’s probably the best peanut butter-ish spread I’ve ever had.  My friends and I are addicted to it.  Because I knew I needed to do something with the free Biscoff spread the grocery store gave to me for trying their pick up service, I started to take a look around at Biscoff.com.  I found this recipe for truffles and thought it looked simple enough, so I thought I’d try it since I need to re-learn how to create sweet recipes [I don’t eat sweets very often].

I sort of followed all of the directions…

Here’s what I did differently:

1. I didn’t have chocolate chips.  I had three bars of semi-sweet and dark organic chocolate that someone sent to me (i.e. free) that had been sitting in the freezer for god knows how long.  So I melted two bars down and used that as the chocolate.

2.  After adding in the Biscoff spread and the Biscoff cookies (which I picked up from Jacks for 99 cents per package…normally $2.49 at WalMart), I added some Kraft miniature marshmallows that someone sent to me (i.e. free).  After I mixed it all up, I put it in the refrigerator for more than 10 minutes (maybe 15 minutes).

3.  I decided to coat the chocolate with crushed almonds and Dang Toasted Coconut Chips (another free item, which I highly recommend.  I don’t like coconut, but this stuff was really good.  You can pick them up at Whole Foods).  After I coated the sloppy mess, I dumped it into the powdered sugar and tried to construct the ball.

NOTE: If you make this, I highly recommend using two forks to scoop up the gooey mess.  It makes it easier to manage.  Pick up the gooey mess with the forks and just drop it into the powdered sugar to create the ball.

4. After constructing all of the little balls of truffles, I put them into the refrigerator to harden.  [It’s summertime…I was afraid the chocolate would melt if I left it covered in the kitchen.]

All in all, the end result was sooo good.  I think what really makes the truffles so good are the almonds and the toasted coconut chips from Dang.  Use ONLY Dang toasted coconut chips if you are opting to go the coconut route.  The reason why I say this…you have to try Dang’s coconut chips to understand.  It’s not imitation coconut.  It’s toasted coconut.  Unless you can find an identical substitute (which I don’t think it exists), use Dang.  Just try it, you’ll understand why I’m saying this after you’ve tried it.

Sunday: String Beans and Chicken

One of my favorite Chinese dishes that I can’t seem to get anywhere is Szechuan Chicken and String Beans the way they make it down in a ghetto neighborhood in Washington, DC.  When I was interning for MPDC back in college, we (the cops and I) used to have this once a week.  It was sooo good.

Well, I finally found the friggin recipe!  Chinese Green Beans with Ground Turkey Over Rice

With the majority of Asian dishes out there, you can substitute the meat.  I used chicken, but I may try the ground turkey later this month, because I know that will be just as tasty.

The only thing I didn’t originally have for this recipe was hoisin sauce.  I picked a jar up from Jack’s and I am so glad I did.  It was the secret ingredient I’ve been missing from my pantry all these years!

It’s funny how I can make Chinese food with no problems…Thai?  Fogettaboutit.

 Sunday Casseroles: The Best Thing Ever 

One of the things I love about casseroles is that they are so easy to put together and so tasty when you pull it out of the oven.

When I was going through the meat bin in my freezer, I pulled out a kielbasa and practically leaped with joy.  I thought I had used all of them!  I decided I could make a pasta casserole out of it.

What you need:

1 kielbasa, diced (I had already used 1/4 of it, so I chopped up the remainder and threw it into the casserole)
1/2 box of pasta (use any kind, I used whole wheat penne)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can of milk and 1/2 can of water (use the can from the mushroom soup, add 1/2 can of milk of your choice – I used almond – and then fill the rest of the way with water)
1/2 bag of frozen peas
mushrooms (your choice, I used a handful of dried porcini)
1 small can of green chiles (optional)
1 bag of shredded cheese (your choice, I used a 4 cheese blend)

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Heat the cream of mushroom soup with the milk and water on the stove until it boils, whisking the mixture together.

3. Meanwhile, add the kielbasa, pasta, peas, mushrooms, and can of green chiles to the casserole dish.

4.  When the soup is properly mixed and boiling, pour it over the mixture in the casserole dish.  Top the casserole with a layer of cheese (you will use the entire bag).

5.  Place the casserole into oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Check to make sure the cheese is turning brown.  Before completely removing the dish from the oven after 30 minutes, check to make sure the pasta is thoroughly cooked.  If not, let bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Generally, when the cheese has browned completely on top, the pasta is done.

6.  Remove from oven.  Let sit for 15 minutes to cool before serving.

The best thing about casseroles is that once you get the gist of making one, you can practically throw anything into the casserole dish, layer it with cheese, bake it and then it come out tasting like heaven.

It’s because of the simplicity of making a hearty casserole that I normally keep creamed soup in the cupboard, and my cheese drawer packed with a variety of different shredded cheeses.  Once you get the hang of making a casserole, it will also be your go to meal during the week when you have a handful of ingredients and have no idea what to do with them.

Sunday’s Sweet Tooth: I Made Ice Cream Using Only THREE Ingredients

So I saved the best for last.  While the casserole was baking, I put in a tray of bananas on the top shelf of the oven to roast.

I had been planning on making this dessert for a few weeks now, so when I polished off the Talenti gelato, I kept the container because I knew I’d be making my own ice cream.  [Great way to reuse/recycle…also helps because this recipe turns out to be a pint of ice cream exactly.]

Now, I hate to do this, but because I left the original blogger’s recipe at home and I didn’t tag it to come back to later, I’m just going to have to wing it (and give her credit later).

WHAT YOU NEED:

4 Bananas
2/3 cup of Coconut Milk (Almond Breeze puts this out – you’ll find this with the soy milk in your dairy aisle)
2 Tbsps of peanut butter (optional, I’ll get to this at the end of the post)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  On a baking sheet, put the bananas (in their peels) onto the sheet.  Put into the oven and bake until the peels turn black and juice starts to sputter out.  [Between 10-20 minutes]

3.  Remove from the oven.  Let cool for a couple of minutes before opening up the banana and removing the pulp.  It’s simpler to just put the bananas directly into the blender jar (make sure the blade is already in it if you have a removable blade).

NOTE: The easiest way to remove the pulp is to hold the end of the banana with the stem, and use a knife to cut open the skin.  Generally, the pulp will fall out of the skin with a little bit of prying.

4.  Cover the blender jar with its lid and place the jar into the freezer and let freeze for an hour.

5.  After an hour, take the blender jar out of the freezer and place it in the blender cradle, add the coconut milk and peanut butter* to the jar.

6.  Blend for one minute (or less if you use a powerful blender like the Ninja).  Pour the contents into a small freezer safe container.  Voila…you have ice cream!  If it’s too soft for your liking, just put it back in the freezer and let freeze for a few more hours before serving.

This makes 1 pint of ice cream.

* = You can use any ingredient besides peanut butter for your flavoring.  I’ve seen some recipes where they used strawberries, mango, and even a spiced rum, caramel & cardamom.

****

I definitely plan on making different versions of this kind of ice cream again.  A friend suggested a mango/peach mixture similar to this but without the bananas.  Something to play around with this month.

 

To round off this month, I wanted to add a pasta dish I’ve never tried before.  This one just happened to be one of those recipes where you let the sauce cook for TWO HOURS before you even start the next step.

Trust me…I wouldn’t have done this to myself if the end product wasn’t going to be fantastic!

Sunday Dinner: Tagliatelle all’Amatriciana

I found this great recipe with BACON in it from my new favorite recipe site SAVEUR.  The original recipe called for spaghetti, but I have a thing for tagliatelle noodles, so I went with tagliatelle.

I was introduced to tagliatelle noodles in Venice, Italy.  They served the noodles with a Bolognese sauce.  I absolutely fell in love with the noodles and searched high and low to find a couple of boxes before I left the country.

About three months after my visit to Italy, an Italian market opened up a block away from me.  They sold only authentic Italian ingredients direct from Italy.  Now, I can have tagliatelle whenever I want it.

For this recipe, I followed it to the very last instruction EXCEPT…

I added mushrooms to the sauce.

This, of course, I probably would not have done if I had read all of the instructions before I started, because I had to puree the sauce.  It actually didn’t turn into a disaster.  It actually turned out rather nicely, making the sauce a little thicker.

I also shaved off half an hour on the cooking time.  The sauce (which I was cooking in a cast iron skillet) was becoming too thick, losing a lot of its liquid.  I could add more water or just watch it burn, so I opted to say it was done because it had been cooking for an hour and a half already (not to mention the extra 15-20 minutes of cooking the bacon).  In other words…sometimes you just want to start eating after waiting so long for the food to cook.

You also need to make a judgment call based on what you see happening in front of you when you are cooking.  Sometimes two hours is okay on some stoves.  Other times, it’s not.  In this case, I think two hours would have produced burned sauce and trust me, that is the worst.

The most important part of this recipe is, of course, the BACON.  I think I probably would have liked to have more bacon in it, which I may try to do next time.  It would be nice to be able to sprinkle on a lot of bacon with the parmesan cheese at the end.  I mean…for those who love bacon…more bacon is usually better.

****

So that concludes this month’s recipes for Italian month.  Next month, I’m going to do things a little differently.  I need to clean out my pantry and the refrigerator, so along with my ONE YEAR TO AN ORGANIZED HOME challenge, I’m going to create and share a few recipes that I pull together in the kitchen by using what I have already.

For those of you reading, that means recipes that are not as complicated…or maybe they are, because risotto is on the list and if you’ve made risotto before, you know that’s not an easy thing to make and it takes a lot of attention.

I may also turn on the oven and actually make something sweet for once…producing actual FOOD PORN.  Or I can at least try to.  🙂

After eating Italian leftovers galore, I decided to do something a little different this weekend.  I took the Italian ingredients I had on hand and made something ASIAN.  How is that possible?

When my Thai aunt married an Italian, she became pretty masterful at cooking Italian food because it wasn’t that different from Thai food.  I never understood what she was talking about, but then after looking at this recipe, I realized it has a little something to do with substituting ingredients with Italian ingredients and coming out with the same result.

Weekend Meals (made plenty, ate it at every meal because it was so damn good): Spicy Sriracha Lo Mein

I’m not gonna lie. This was so damn good that I had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it was all gone.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from Baker By Nature for 20-Minute Spicy Sriracha Shrimp and Zucchini Lo Mein.  The good thing about this is that you don’t have to have rice noodles to make this.  I used regular linguine and tagliatelle noodles for the noodles.  It turned out just fine.

What’s also nice about this recipe is that you can a) substitute the meat (beef, chicken, pork) for the shrimp if you don’t have it, and b) use any kind of vegetable.

For this recipe I used chicken, kale (because God knows I never know what to do with kale), green peppers and mushrooms I had picked up at the farmer’s market the week before and needed to use.

The end result…I cannot stress how amazing this was.  This wasn’t very spicy and it really did taste like lo mein.  I’m so glad I found this recipe because now I can make lo mein at home and not order from the Chinese restaurant when I get a craving.  Using regular semolina noodles (linguine and tagliatelle) provided for a great substitute.  I was able to use the ingredients I had on hand without running to the grocery store to pick up anything.

More importantly…I found another use for kale.

The challenge for every foodie or individual that wants to be a master cook is to find a unique recipe that makes you savor the moment of ecstasy when you take that first bite.  The most amazing recipes I uncovered last weekend were a bit of a surprise to me.  As in, I wasn’t expecting much from it because of all of the food I was cooking up.  But it happened in that one moment as I went from one dish to the next, tasting each one…this was beyond amazing.

These recipes I am going to share today were all items that I never made or tried before.  I didn’t know what to expect when I made them.  All I can say was that I was pleasantly surprised.

Saturday Lunch: Tomato, Peach and Burrata Salad

Last week, I shared the Caprese salad.  This week, I’m sharing a new spin on the Caprese salad.  This one is definitely going to be my new summer staple.

The recipe follows almost exactly to the last detail of the Caprese salad, BUT you add peaches and you use Burrata cheese.

Burrata cheese can be found next to the fresh mozzarella in your grocer’s aisle.  It’s almost identical to mozzarella, but more unique.  The outside is like a mozzarella ball, but when you cut it open it oozes out like it was stuffed with ricotta cheese.

For presentation purposes, you may want to put the ball of Burrata on a plate with the salad mixture surrounding it, drizzling the balsamic reduction over it.

Or you can do like I did which was to mix all of the ingredients together.

After I took my first bite, I was surprised at how wonderful, light and refreshing this salad was on a hot summer day.  It’s very simple to make and only requires 5 ingredients.

You can find the recipe HERE.

Saturday’s Dinner: Spicy Linguine with Clams, Sweet and Sour Glazed Pork Chops (Maiale in Agrodolce), Mostarda di Frutta and Broccoli Strascinati

Saturday’s dinner was a bit of a crazy experience.  I usually cook one or two dishes and that’s it.  Try making four dishes simultaneously!

I didn’t want this weekend to be purely about pasta (I still have the pasta leftover from last week).  I wanted to make a few non-pasta dishes.  This weekend, I made only one pasta dish, and I’m glad I made this one.

{From Campania region}

I started off by making the Spicy Linguine with Clams.  I was pleasantly surprised that all of the clams opened up.  That’s usually very rare when I cook for all of the shells to open up!  The more clams to eat!

I was pleasantly surprised at how light the dish was and how good this was.  I wasn’t expecting much out of it, but this makes for a perfect summer pasta dish, especially since this is a great time of year to eat clams.

{I saved all of the shells and washed them out to use for a future DIY summer project.  Most likely a photo frame project.}

{From Rome}

Next up was the Sweet and Sour Glazed Pork Chops (Maiale in Agrodolce).  Before I had started the linguine, I had prepped the marinated chops and put them in the refrigerator.

While the recipe calls for grilling, I don’t have a grill, so I cooked them up in an iron skillet.

While I could say that these were really good on their own, what made them even better was the Mostarda di Frutta (Spicy Mustard and Fruit Preserves).  This little compote or relish was an amazing addition to these sweet and sour pork chops.  {From Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella}  

It’s not really a mustard, nor is it overly sweet.  With the dried cherries, apricots and apples, it’s a pleasant sweet and tart addition to the dish.  It amplifies the flavors when paired with the pork chops.

After having these two together, I can’t imagine this dish without it.

I threw in some greens by adding Broccoli Strascinati (simply, broccoli with garlic and hot peppers) as a side dish.  It was a great way to round off this amazing dinner.  {From Rome}

My favorite?  I can’t pick out any one thing because they were all so uniquely interesting, flavorful and good.  I highly recommend trying all of these dishes at least once.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how good they can be.

Sunday’s Project: Arancini Veneziani (Venetian Rice Fritters)

{From Venice}

I’m calling this a project because it took all afternoon to make this.  I’m going to let you in on a secret…it was well worth every single second.

Now, I’m not one of those that likes to buy chicken stock, especially after I learned how to make my own chicken stock.  I prefer to make my stock more ‘Asian-like’ so that if I want to make a brothlike soup later, all I have to do is add rice noodles and some vegetables.

I usually do my stock in a colander inside of a stock pot so that I can easily lift the chicken and its ingredients out of the stock pot and get straight to the broth afterward.  It’s a very efficient way to separate the ingredients from the broth.

For this stock, I added the chicken to the water, added salt, fish sauce, fresh cilantro, carrots, kaffir lime leaves, bay leaves, star anise, garlic and onions.  I don’t really measure anything.  I just throw it in there.

The reason why I’m sharing this is so you know that you don’t have to stick to the basic chicken broth recipes.  I also think that the reason why the risotto turned out so amazingly tasty has a little something to do with the chicken stock itself.

I have never had rice balls or rice fritters before.  I had no idea how they would turn out or what they would taste like.  I used this version of Venetian Rice Fritters from Saveur.  This is the recipe that instantly made me realize that Saveur was just the magazine I needed to subscribe to.  Why?  Because they understand me and my taste buds, and frankly it’s the type of recipes I want to feature on this blog.

Their recipes are a little complex and multi-faceted, like this recipe.  But the reward at the end…oh, you will never regret a second of making their dishes.

This recipe starts off by making risotto.  For those who have made risotto before, you know that this is a very time consuming process.  Risotto requires 6 cups of chicken stock, poured in at 1/2 a cup increments until the liquid evaporates.  You are constantly stirring for 40 minutes.  This isn’t the type of rice you can just walk away from.

During the last few increments of adding stock, I started to put together the filling (cheese, parsley and prosciutto).  I wanted to make sure it was ready when the risotto was done.

After I added the risotto to the mixture, stirred it up and started to prepare for the next phase (crafting them into logs on a baking sheet), I licked some of the risotto off of my fingers and stopped.

OHMIGAWD!  It was so good.

I had never made risotto before.  I stood there wondering what had taken me so long to make this.  Let’s just say the risotto almost didn’t make it to phase 2.

But I was good.  I started making the little logs and placing them on a baking sheet to put in the refrigerator.  I also put a tray in the freezer (because I didn’t have enough room in the refrigerator).  If you do make this recipe, I highly recommend placing them in the freezer.  It holds together longer when you start the third phase which is adding it to the flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

After all was said and done, I have to say that even though this process had so many steps and took all afternoon to make…it was worth every single second of it.

I realized as I was biting into the risotto and the fritters that what made these little guys so delicious is the fact that I made my stock from scratch.  I really don’t think the quality of the flavor would have been as intense if I had used store bought stock.

While some of you may think making your own stock is tedious and a pain, it’s not really.  You just throw all the ingredients in the stock pot and let it cook until the chicken is done.  Separate the colander from the stockpot…stock in one pot, chicken dinner in the other pot.

I usually just shred up the chicken and use it for other recipes (like enchiladas, soups or salads), but most times, I just shred it up, put it in a little bowl and give it to the cat.  It keeps her from trying to eat my dinner.

Making your own stock is economical.  You know what is going into your stock.  You can determine how much sodium goes into it.  You can even design it where the stock turns into a great broth for soups (the way I make my stock, the broth turns out to be the equivalent of the Pho broth thanks to the star anise).

The most important thing…making your own stock makes your food taste better.  That was the key thing about my risotto.  The chicken stock from scratch was what made this dish the best thing I have eaten in a long time.

Oh, and because this was soooo good…I didn’t make dinner.  I didn’t need dinner after this.

For those that have read the book (or have seen the movie) Julie and Julia, you may be aware that there’s a nice little added benefit to cooking and eating French food all of the time…you gain a little weight.  I decided to keep the French food to a minimum during the week, leaving it for just a few meals a week rather than every other meal (you won’t believe how much Thai food I eat during the week because I’m craving it like crazy).

For this past weekend, I decided to do another pasta dish as well as something a little different for me…wine sausages.

Saturday’s Dinner: Pasta with Artichoke Cream and Chicken

This recipe I found on Food & Wine.  My end result was a little different than what was required in the actual recipe.  I used gluten-free penne and salsa for the tomatoes (although I think the cherry tomatoes would have been better).  I also used leftover shredded chicken I had prepared and frozen a couple of weeks ago and sprinkled a little red pepper on the outside for a little kick.

All in all, it was pretty good.  I used what I had on hand (the rainstorm on Friday night kept me from picking up fresher ingredients from the grocery store).  I think next time, I would add some peas and definitely have cherry tomatoes on hand.

My little French loving foodie feline loved it.  She knows when French food is being cooked up.  She has to have some.

Sunday’s Dinner: Wine Sausages

This recipe I found in French Food at Homeby Laura Calder.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 thin or 4 fat pork sausages
2 onions, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white white
A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Prick the sausages with a fork to prevent them from bursting, and brown them on all sides. Remove. Add the onions and shallots to the pan and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over and stir for 1 minute to combine thoroughly. Whisk in the wine. Return the sausages to the pan, cover, and cook until they are done, about 15 minutes.

Remove the sausages and boil down the sauce if it’s too liquid, which is unlikely. Spoon the sauce over the sausages and sprinkle with parsley to serve.

Ok…so what did I do differently? Calder notes that you need to purchase ‘respectable sausages’ in order for the results to impress you.  I’m going to have to agree wholeheartedly with that.

I used chicken apple sausages from the grocer.  While it tasted fine…it could have been better with a better kind of sausage.  But what can I say?  I was trying to cut some calories and find a healthier version.

I paired the sausages with some brown rice and green beans (cooked in the microwave with olive oil, salt and pepper and shaved almonds).

It was tasty the first night, but the leftovers the next night were even better because the wine started to really soak into the sausages.

EXTRA

One ingredient that I seem to use in almost every recipe are shallots.  I had purchased the dried version in the spice aisle.  After week three of making French food on the weekends, I’m almost completely out.  Shallots are practically a staple in French food, so buy plenty of it if you plan to undertake a few French meals of your own.

I’ll be taking next weekend off from cooking since I’ll be heading on vacation.  Week four of French cooking will commence the final weekend in June.

On July 1, we’ll be switching over to Italy and all things Italian.

Show of hands…how many of you thought the French Dip was a French sandwich?

WRONG!

It is 100% an American sandwich.

It’s okay.  I didn’t know that either.

Lately, I’ve been reading up on the history of different foods.  Yesterday, I researched the origins of the potato knish.  You don’t get anymore New York than a potato knish with some dijon (or honey dijon) mustard.  While most people believe it is predominantly a Jewish snack food, brought to New York by the Jews when they immigrated here, it’s not completely true.

In the 1900s, the knish (the word is actually Russian) was brought to New York when Eastern European immigrants settled here.  It’s a dumpling that was found in Russia, Poland and various other Eastern European countries.  There is no direct connection that the Jews brought it with them when they came to America.

The only known connection to the knish being part of the Jewish culture is the fact that this group is responsible for the knish’s resurgence in the 2000s, especially in urban areas.

The knish appears as variations throughout many different cultures, even in India, where we know it as being a samosa.

How’s that for a food history lesson?

So for today’s non-French history lesson into the French Dip sandwich, we find its origins taking place somewhere during the early part of the 1900s in Los Angeles, California.  There is a battle between two restaurants in LA on who invented the sandwich first.  Was it Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet or Philippe The Original?

No one knows who is responsible for the original French Dip sandwich because both restaurants claim to have invented the original French Dip sandwich at around the same time.  Today, both restaurants are still open and dishing out this classic.  KCET recently did a poll on who had the better Dip sandwich.  You can find the results here.  Believe it or not, in LA, the French Dip sandwich went all the way to the final round of KCET’s poll to discover what was the most iconic dish in LA.  Sadly, it didn’t win.  The Strawberry Donut at Donut Man won out.

The Donut won. 

At any rate, when it comes to HOW the sandwich was invented, no one knows exactly how it came about or who created it first.

But the reason why it’s called the “French” Dip has more to do with the type of bread that was used in the sandwich, not because it came from France.

The story at Cole’s was that the Dip was invented because a customer had some dental work done and needed ‘soft’ food.  Because French bread is so hard, Henry Cole dipped the bread in juice and served up the sandwich that way.  Other customers thought it looked good and requested the same.  They fell in love with the sandwich and the French Dip was born at his restaurant.

As for Philippe The Original…the story is a little different.  Philippe Mathieu opened Philippe the Original in 1908.  In 1918, while making a sandwich for a policeman, Philippe accidentally dropped the bread into the roasting pan with the meat juices (thus the term ‘au jus’).  Instead of wasting the food, the officer said he’d take the sandwich anyway.  He enjoyed it so much, he came back the next day with friends, wanting more of the dipped sandwiches.

Thus the “French Dipped Sandwich” was created.  The restaurant today is not sure why that specific name was selected.  Was it because of Monsieur Mathieu’s French Heritage?  Because of the French roll?  Or was it because the policeman that loved the sandwich so much was named Officer French?  Maybe it was all of the above?

According to the restaurant, “The answer is lost to history.”

You can find Cole’s on your next visit to Los Angeles at 118 E. 6th Street.  Philippe’s is also located in LA at 1001 N. Alameda St.

{Special thanks to Chef Joe and his crew for dishing up this amazing French Dip sandwich (pictured) for today’s post.}

 

 

After week one of figuring out the French method for cooking, I decided to do things a little differently by not sticking to the recipe 100%. I decided to make life just a little bit easier.

Saturday’s Dinner: Dijon Pork Chops

Dijon appears in a lot of French recipes.  Since I had made two chicken dishes last weekend, I decided to modify this Chicken Dijon recipe and use pork chops instead.

As you read through the recipe, I’m just going to let you know that I really simplified it so that anyone could make it without the extra grunt work (like the first step of toasting the coriander seeds…I took that out completely). Here is my revised recipe.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons butter
4 pork chops
Sea salt and freshly ground peper
2 finely chopped shallots
4 garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth (made from scratch)
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons crème fraîche

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the butter.  Season the pork chops with sea salt and ground pepper (go light on the sea salt).  Cook the pork chops over moderately high heat, turning until golden brown on both sides.  Add the scallions and garlic, cooking for a couple of minutes.  Add broth.

2.  In a separate bowl, mix together the dijon mustard, whole grain-mustard, honey and crème fraîche.  Poor mixture over the pork chops and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve with buttery noodles. [For a little extra flavor, add parsley, or Italian seasoning to the noodles.]

I also had some of the green beans with shallots and almonds leftover from last weekend’s meal, so I added that as a side dish.

Sunday’s Dinner: CrockPot Pork in Red Wine Vinegar

This is another adaptation from a Food & Wine recipe.  Instead of Chicken in Red Wine Vinegar, I used sliced pork.  Instead of all the cooking on the stove, I used a crock pot.  Just add all of the ingredients to a crock pot, minus the crème fraîche.

I put the ingredients together and then set the temperature on high.  3 hours later, the pork was cooked through.  I added the crème fraîche and let cook for another half an hour before turning off the crock pot.

As a side dish, I made brussel sprouts with peas (I was craving peas, but this recipe I found for brussel sprouts sounded good, so I added the peas as a filler).

It’s very simple to make if you’ve figured out the French method.

{RECIPE} Heat 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet, fry 8 slices of bacon in it (I used turkey bacon), after the bacon is cooked, add 3 shallots (thinly sliced), after the shallots brown (takes about 20 seconds), add the brussel sprouts and peas (I used frozen).  Cook for 4-5 minutes (or until the sprouts are hot, i.e. not frozen).

I still had some herbed rice leftover from last weekend, so I used that as the bottom layer to my dish, poured the sauce from the red wine vinegar over it and reheated it.  Next, I put the brussel sprouts, bacon and peas mixture in the center and then topped it with a few slices of pork.

All I’m going to say was that this meal was so delish!  The second day (for lunch), it was even better as the juices soaked into the dish even more.

Extra

The key thing to this past weekend was creating French meals without all of the heavy-laden work.  Could a French meal be cooked up in a crock pot (that isn’t the regular French dip sandwiches)?  Yes, it can.  A busy person could put all of the ingredients in a crock pot, walk away for a few hours and come back to a succulent main dish.

And yes, some of these recipes in Food & Wine can be less of a hassle.  Also, the key thing with taking out ingredients and adding new ones lies more in…using what you have already.  I didn’t have coriander seeds, but I did have whole-grain mustard with a seedlike texture that I picked up in Ireland (so it is soaked in Guinness…big deal).  Either way, it went perfectly with the dijon sauce.  I added honey because I liked the thought of having a little bit of honey dijon on my pork chops {note: depending on how sweet you like your honey dijon, just add more honey or use honey dijon mustard instead}.

In other words, I modified these dishes to incorporate the ingredients I had on hand.  If you have the basic French meal down, you could do the exact same with other recipes by modifying them to fit what you have at home already.

One great thing about going to a French restaurant is that you can sample the various dishes out there that you have never tried before.  For this week’s post, I stopped in to Pigalle at 790 8th Avenue in New York City.  It’s just a block away from Times Square, but filled to the max with tourists from different countries.  There was definitely a flood of different languages around me.

For starters, I decided to get the Pigalle Country Pâté.  The service was so quick, I had my first course in less than a few minutes.  The hefty slice of cold pâté came with cornichons, dijon mustard and vinegar infused onions.  All in all, it reminded me of liverwurst.  In other words…I’ve had better pâté.

For the main entrée, I ordered the seared cod which sat on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes, mushrooms (I believe they were porcini, I could be wrong)and artichokes.  The artichokes could have been put to the side, but the mushrooms with the mashed sweet potatoes was divine!  I never thought of eating the two together.  It was so tasty!

The seared cod was very good on its own dipped into the olive oil and seasonings.

Now, the best thing about this meal?  What else? The dessert.

What made Pigalle worthwhile was the Profiteroles Sauce au Chocolat. Basically, this dessert features 3 miniature cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream, covered in chocolate sauce and almonds.  It was so delightful, I was licking my chocolate covered fingers in happiness.

Would I recommend Pigalle?  If you’re looking for a Parisian Bistro type of place with a ‘NY diner’ like atmosphere, but with better food, sure.  Will I go back again?  Probably not, because there is one French restaurant in NYC that has spoiled me, my taste buds and my tummy.  You’ll read about them next week.

I will say this…kudos to Pigalle for the speedy service.  I’ve never seen food service that quick anywhere in Manhattan…not even at McDonalds.

As I’ve been reading through cookbooks and ‘French Entertaining’ books, I’ve had to make a list of items I needed to purchase for this month’s recipes.  For those looking to start French cooking, here’s how to build up your pantry.

1. Wine.  The number one thing I did not have in my arsenal was wine.  I haven’t had alcohol in five years, so bringing alcohol back into my life has been an interesting endeavour.  When it comes to cooking, you want to pick up a basic white wine and a red wine.  Don’t worry about spending a lot in this department.  This is for cooking.  For drinking…that will be a post for next week.

2. Unsalted Butter.  While you can get unsalted butter anywhere, I usually have the stuff I can find at the deli, and then I have French butter.  Generally speaking, I prefer the French butter, especially on baguettes.  Cooking, you can use the regular (or the French).  If you can find French butter at your grocery store (which is generally a little more expensive), pick up a block.  You won’t regret it.

3. Heavy Cream.  Not too many people keep this in their refrigerator, especially in this day and age of Almond Milk, Soy Milk and Greek yogurt.  Many French dishes call for Heavy Cream or even Créme Fraîche.  If you can’t find Créme Fraîche, you can easily make it with some heavy cream and buttermilk (see previous post).

4. Fleur de Sel and Herbes de Provence.  While both of these ingredients are called for in a lot of recipes, I have yet to use them (perhaps later this month).

5. Egg Noodles.  When you need something quick for dinner, egg noodles with heavy cream, lemons and some cheese is your answer (see Sunday’s Dinner in last post).

6. Lemons.  I was a little surprised by how many recipes call for lemon zest or lemon juice (fresh from the lemon, not the bottle).  I’ve gone through so many lemons since I started cooking French food.

 7. Red Wine Vinegar.  Saturday’s dinner of Lyon-Style Chicken in Vinegar Sauce required a vinegar.  Since I had no idea where I was going to find the French vinegar it asked for, it said ‘or red wine vinegar’ which I had.  If you’re like me and have no idea how to find French vinegars unless you stumble upon it in a random store only to pay $18 a bottle…stock up on the red wine vinegar.  It serves the same purpose.

8. Cheese.  If you think I’m going to say stock up on camembert or brie…you’re not going to read that.  Sure, buy it for your aperitif or that time you, the cook, are sitting down to relax with a glass of wine while the food is baking in the oven.  For cooking, though, I found that having plenty of Parmigiano-Reggiano on hand will suit what you are cooking very well.  And woo hoo…it doubles for the Italian food you may make the next night.

9. Dijon Mustard.  Dijon mustard comes from Dijon, France.  It also appears in a lot of recipes.

10. Paté/Caviar.  When all I want is a snack, I have a box of specialty crackers on hand and put some caviar or paté on them.  It’s definitely something I really enjoy and serves as a bit of a filling treat.

11. French Jam.  Almost every grocer has Bonne Maman.  You’ll find it next to the Smuckers and all of the other jams out there.  I love the strawberry jam.  I’m addicted to the apricot jam.  There’s a wide assortment you should be able to find.  Just look for a label that looks French.  You can’t miss it.

Additional Reading

While I could go on and on, there are others that have created their own pantry lists that you may want to review and add to your pantry accordingly.

You don’t have to go out and buy everything on the lists all at once.  Take it recipe by recipe.

The best way to start building up your French pantry is to take a look at the recipes you want to make, and then buy accordingly.  Usually, when I start reviewing recipes, I look at all of the ingredients to make sure I have the majority of the items on hand already.  I also look for common ingredients in the majority of the recipes I’ll be cooking up (like Créme Fraîche, heavy cream, red wine or lemons) so that I can use all of the ingredients up so they won’t spoil or go wasted.

Also for fresher perishable ingredients (dairy, meats, fruits and vegetables) try to only purchase the amount you need.

Here are some suggestions from a few other sites:

PopSugar.
What’s in a French Girl’s Kitchen from Bistro Chic.
From the Food Network “The French Pantry.”

 

Over the weekend, I learned two things: 1) French cooking can be very difficult or it can be relatively simple; and 2) my cat loves French food.

The latter part was a bit of a surprise.

Over the weekend, I made two French meals.  The first menu was rather tedious, long and difficult: Lyon-style chicken with vinegar sauce, herbed rice and green beans with shallots and almonds.  The second menu was simpler: a quick egg pasta with lemon sauce.

Let’s start from the beginning…

1.  Crème Fraîche: Many French recipes require crème fraîche (i.e. fresh cream that has a consistency similar to sour cream).  In the US, crème fraîche is not so easy to come by.  But luckily, it’s not difficult to make.  It just takes several hours to make. 

Before beginning any recipe that requires crème fraîche, I recommend starting 12-16 hours prior to the meal to make your crème fraîche (i.e. start the day before).  Don’t worry…the recipe is very simple.  From Emeril Lagasse (Food Network):

1 cup of heavy cream
2 Tablespoons of buttermilk

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, combine the cream and buttermilk. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth in a warm, draft-free place and let sit until thickened, but still a pourable consistency, 12 to 16 hours. Stir and refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.)

After you’ve made your crème fraîche, refrigerate it so you’re ready for the upcoming meals ahead.

Saturday’s Dinner: Chicken with Vinegar Sauce

1. Lyon-Style Chicken with Vinegar Sauce: I found this recipe from Food & Wine: RECIPE.

Most of the ingredients on this menu should already be in your pantry (including the freshly made crème fraîche if you made the recipe above).

If you’re like me and can’t fit the saucepan into your oven, have a casserole dish handy to transfer the chicken into for the baking portion of the recipe.

While the recipe says the total time was only an hour, this took at least an hour and a half for me to make.  It proved to be a lot of work.

2. Herbed Steamed Rice.  I had to look up this recipe before I started on the chicken.  Herbed Steamed Rice is very simple.  For those who have a rice cooker (which I highly recommend having in your cooking arsenal…you can get small ones for about $20), just add the rice to the pot, add water (for me, I measure the water by placing my hand flat on top of the rice and stopping when the water reaches my knuckles), put in fresh herbs (I used fresh mint, dried cilantro and dried basil), and salt to taste.

I recommend using a rice cooker because it makes your job easier in the kitchen.  While the rice cooks, you can focus on other parts of the meal without worrying that you may burn the rice.

There are many variations of herbed steamed rice, this version is basic, no real overpowering flavors, just basic so that the flavors from the chicken with vinegar sauce takes center stage.

3.  Green Beans with Shallots and Toasted Almonds.  This recipe from Williams-Sonoma is very simple and only takes a few minutes to make after you get the water boiling.  It’s a nice, light side to add to this meal.

I also used dried, pre-sliced shallots instead of fresh shallots.

Wine Pairing: Red Burgundy (I just had a simple Red Wine)

The Result

A little something I picked up about French cooking…the cook needs a moment to take a step back and enjoy the process of making the meal.  After I put the chicken in the oven, I poured a glass of red wine, tore off a piece of baguette, put it on a plate along with a slice of butter and some apricot jam, sat down next to the peonies I had bought earlier in the day and rested for a little bit, absorbing the process of making a good French meal.

After the chicken was done, arranged on a plate with the herbed rice and green beans, I sat down to enjoy my meal.

I had ma petite chat making a huge fuss over what I was eating so I gave her some of the chicken.  Generally, she doesn’t like tart flavors, but she couldn’t get enough.  Ends up her introduction to French food may be a bit of a problem…

Sunday’s Dinner: Pasta in Lemon Sauce

Sunday’s Dinner was a little simpler than the evening before.  This recipe is adapted from Laura Calder’s “French Food at Home.”

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Grated zest of 4 to 5 lemons*
1 cup heavy cream
1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Juice to taste
1/2 pound fresh egg pasta

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta.  While you wait, melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the lemon zest.  Pour over the cream and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and add the cheese, stirring to melt.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add lemon juice to taste.

Cook the pasta.  Drain, return to the pot, and toss with the sauce. Divide among four serving plates, garnish as you like,** and serve immediately.

*(I had 1 lemon and a bunch of limes, so I used the zest of the one lemon with 3 limes)

**(she uses shredded smoked salmon, poppy seeds, shredded basil leaves, chopped dill, to name a few options.  I didn’t use any extras.).

Wine pairing: Riesling (Note: I had an Italian Riesling, which I do not recommend, stick to the German Riesling.)

The Result

This recipe was so much simpler than the dinner before.  It’s also great if you want a very quick, French dinner (yes, this apparently is possible).

I used regular egg noodles for the pasta, substituted in grated limes to make up for the lemons I was missing.  I also sprinkled some cayenne on top of the noodles (on my plate) to give it a little extra kick.  All in all, the meal was fabulous.

During my meal, the cat sat down next to me and was begging for some of the food.  Despite my telling her that I did not have any meat, a few paw swipes into my plate and I decided to just give her a couple pieces of the pasta…which to my astonishment she gobbled up!

The irony to both dinners is this…she doesn’t like vinegar or lemon, yet she would not leave me alone when it came to both dishes.  I guess I have a French loving feline foodie on my hands.