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12 Step Dinner: Mushroom Risotto & Balsamic Chicken

Risotto with mushrooms and squash

A few years ago I cooked every single day of the week. Not only did I cook meals but I thought about it all the time; I read cookbooks, I surfed the interwebs for new and tasty ideas, I read food blogs. I still cook but not like I used to. I cook food for my always hungry teenage boys: chili, pizza, pasta, chicken pot pies, nachos, cheese-steak sandwiches, burgers, bbq pork sandwiches, calzones…that’s what I cook almost 95 percent of the time. It’s all good food, locally sourced, and made from scratch… but nothing to blog about.

Occasionally I whip up something quick and convenient that might not suit the boys. That’s what we have here today. Some simple chicken and a risotto. I know that everyone says that you have to stir risotto constantly for 30 minutes or so…that’s a lie. Just sayin…they lie!!! Also you don’t have to use stock, or broth, or any other flavored liquid. If you don’t have a good supply of stock you should just use water. Especially if you have a powerful flavor component like mushrooms…they’ll carry the risotto, flavor-wise, along with some seasoning and a handful of grated parmesan added at the end.

Step 1: rehydrate the dried mushrooms. I put a 4 quart pot on the stove, bring some salted water to a boil and then remove the pot from the flame and add 2 handfuls of dried mushrooms. Stir it up and cover with a lid. Set aside.

Step 2: marinate chicken. Mince a couple of cloves of garlic and put the garlic in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Add 1 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, and 2 tablespoons dried rosemary. Squish it all together and add the chicken pieces. I sued 4 thighs and 4 breasts. I but the breasts in half so they would be about the same size as the thighs. Zip the bad shut and squish it around to coat the chicken evenly.

Step 3: My favorite step…Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sit down, drink a glass of wine or whatever and relax…20 to 30 minutes works for me.

Step 4: check out the fridge to see what you can add to the risotto. I had some butternut squash that I peeled and wrapped in saran wrap a week ago. It was still totally viable so I chopped it into 1/2″ dice. I also had some leftover onion and so it too got diced (tiny dice) along with a couple of garlic cloves.

Step 5: Remove the rehydrated mushrooms from the water and squeeze the mushrooms to get rid of any excess water Rough chop the mushrooms. Discard the water, rinse the pot, and fill it with a couple of quarts of water. Generously salt it and put it on a burner with enough heat to bring it to a boil.

Step 6: Heat up your risotto pan; I use a 5 quart Le Creuset chef’s pan. Add some olive oil and saute the onions, garlic, mushrooms, and squash for 5 minutes or so. Add a tablespoon of dried sage, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, and salt. Add more olive oil if necessary. Cover and let cook for another 3 minutes then remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.

Step 7: Remove the chicken from the ziploc bag and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Put it in the oven.

Step 8: Add some olive oil to the risotto pan, heat on a medium flame. Add the arborio rice and stir occasionally to allow all the rice to saute to a nice golden color. Add a 1/2 cup of the boiling water. Stir, occasionally and allow to cook over the medium flame, adding boiling water as necessary.

Step 9: While the risotto is cooking you have plenty of time to prepare a vegetable, salad, or drink another glass of wine…just keep stirring the risotto every little bit, add 1/2 cups of water when the rice absorbs all of the previous dose.

Step 10: After about 15-20 minutes the risotto will have absorbed all the water it can. Give it another good stir, add the mushroom mixture, and a huge handful of grated parmesan. Stir it all in, turn the flame down to a low simmer and cover the risotto pan with a lid.

Chicken marinated in olive, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary

Step 11: Stir the risotto occasionally. Test the doneness of the chicken with a thermometer…185 degrees for the chicken thighs…get a good reading because nothing is worse than a thigh that is raw at the bone. But they should be done by now.

Step 12: Serve it all up and enjoy.

It probably took about an 40 minutes of actual cooking time, 90 minutes total. None of the work was too strenuous and the meal itself is delightful. The risotto does not suffer from lack of stock or constant stirring. I love meals like this because they seem so impressive but really didn’t take much work at all.

November 1, 2009 | Filed Under food | 6 Comments 

Maple-ginger, planked salmon

maple-ginger salmon

Honestly we do not care for fish all that much. Fish always seems to need something, a sauce, a butter, something to oomph the flavor up and generally I’m way too lazy to accomplish a protein and a sauce at the same time time…multi-tasking like that is a bit over my head. Then there’s the whole issue of flipping the fish…it’s always a disaster and ends up looking like a pile of pale mush! Yuck. The texture thing bugs me too.

However, I think I’ve found a fish recipe I can handle. It’s a big piece of salmon cooked, placed on a cedar plank, which is placed over the fire on the grill, and coated with copious amounts of a maple-ginger sauce. The sauce is a simple mixture of fresh ginger, garlic, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a 1/2 cup of maple syrup, and 2 tablespoons of rice-wine vinegar. Place the salmon on the plank, put it on a hot grill, coat it every five or ten minutes with sauce until it’s cooked to about 140F.

maple-ginger salmon

The fish is firm, not too sweet, but smoky and rich flavored. It’s easily the best fish I’ve ever made and the plank makes it so easy…no flipping required. Best of all, the cleanup was a breeze.

October 8, 2009 | Filed Under food | 4 Comments 

Cherry Limeade…for reals

home cherry limeade

I have a big ole weakness in my local food loving heart…I love Sonic’s Cherry Limeade. I would drink a quart of it each and every day if I didn’t harbor deep suspicions about it’s red food dye and other likely unnatural components. Plus I’m cheap, and it seems to me that $2.00 for a non-alcoholic drink is just too much.

Naturally there was only one solution, make my own cherry limeade and boy-oh-boy, I nailed it. All you need is fresh limes, sparkling water, simple syrup*, and Lorann natural cherry flavoring. Squeeze the limes and put the juice in a quart container. Add the 1/2 cup of simple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon of cherry flavoring and top off witht he sparkling water. Stir and serve over ice. I guarantee this beverage will put a smile on your face. If you want a diet version I think you could substitute splenda, equal, or truvia for the simple syrup. Best of all there’s no ugly red food dye to worry about.

We even make our own sparkling water with the Soda Club carbonation system. We’ve been using this for over a year and it has saved us so much money and hassle. If you drink sparkling water this is a product to check out.

*Simple syrup is made with equal parts water and sugar. Heat both up in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until the sugar is totally dissolved. Refrigerate.

September 6, 2009 | Filed Under food | 10 Comments 

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