End of the month roundup, part two…savory
Risotto is a great weeknight winter food. You come home from work, tired and cold, right? First put on your comfy clothes, you know…those sweat pants that are like 12 years old but are so soft and so droopy you barely even know their there…the fluffy socks, the warm, soft shirt. Now pour a glass of wine, put on some music…I recommend The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed or Radiohead’s In Rainbows, and make risotto. You’ll be warm and toasty all over by the time you serve it up.
I made this risotto with the liquid I drained off the tomatoes for last week’s pizzas. I call it tomato water because it’s practically clear but it’s incredibly tomatoey…perfect for risotto. I sauteed some onion and garlic, then added some wood-hen mushroom and sauteed that. When that was tender I removed it and lightly sauteed the arborio rice until it turned light gold, then I added about a cup of white wine, and when that cooked down I began adding the tomato water mixed with about a cup of chicken stock. When it was finished cooking I added a lot of grated Parmesan, and freshly ground black pepper…it was the best risotto ever.
This is a white bean and fresh ham hock stew. Seasoned with garlic, a few crushed whole roma tomatoes, onions, thyme, and apple cider vinegar it was a great meal that got better each time it was reheated…in the spirit of a cassoulet. I trimmed the fat from the ham hocks before throwing them in the pot and they certainly contributed quite a bit of tender, tasty pork.
Since all the good potatoes are gone and I’ve been too busy to go see what’s at the winter farmers’ market, I’m stuck eating russets from another state (yikes!!!). But every once in awhile a baked potato is what you want. Maybe a simple one with butter, salt, and pepper, or…
maybe a piggish extravaganza stuffed with extras like yogurt, bacon, and cheese…it was another simple meal but we all loved it.
My post this weekend over at Accidental Hedonist is about food and film…go take a look.
End of the month round-up, part one…pastries, bread, and cookies
The canolli came from Fraboni’s and it was a mid-afternoon snack that follwed a Fraboni’s crazy-tasty sandwich called The Otto…I swear that sandwich is so good it defies logic…of course it’s filled with porky products. The canolli, consumed with a double espresso was heavenly…sweet, creamy, crunchy…mmmm!
Snickerdoodles have to be my all-time favorite cookie in the category of cookie that contains no chocolate. They somehow manage to have a tangy flavor that accents their sweet, cinnamon goodness, and their texture is so toothsome…I get addicted to the texture when I eat them and I can barely stop myself.
Madison Sourdough Company makes a reliable and flavorful baquette…if they would just make one with seeds like a Semifreddi’s seed baquette (fennel, sesame, and poppyseeds) I’d be blissed out.
I’m a sucker for lemon curd and poppyseeds. Scott’s Pastry Shoppe here in Middleton had the audacity to combine the two and cradle it in a buttery, almost brioche like pastry…I confess this pastry left me speechless. The frosting on top was more than gilding the lily…it was slitting the wrists. Woohoo good.
A cherry scone is good…not as good as a strawberry scone but it’ll do. I made these using jarred morello cherries from TJ’s and they were pretty good. Just take any one of the many strawberry scone recipes I’ve posted and substitute cherries.
We’ll move on to savory food next.
More tongue
Check out my post over at Accidental Hedonist, it’s about beef tongue. That sandwich is a classic combination of beef and cheese. As I researched beef tongue I discovered that it’s used in cuisines all over the world, including asian cuisine. This sandwich wrap was supposed to be a riff on the classic Thai Vietnamese (duh!) sandwich, Banh Mi. But I was wretchedly lazy…too lazy to pickle the carrots, shred the daikon, or even go down to the freezer for a baguette. In the end it was just meh. I’m not a wrap person and about once a year I give it a try and I’m never impressed…they lack texture…there’s no crunch, no chewy bread. Its like a pitiful, tough, burrito. But then I was too lazy to make a good sandwich so I have no one to blame but myself.
The good thing about the wrap was that it was part of my nose-to-tail eating experience, it was not our typical fare, and it is always good to be an adventurous eater. As a girl I went to the sale barn with my grandfather a few times and they had a lunch counter that served calf brain sandwiches, tongue sandwiches, and the the like. My reaction then, typical for a child, was “you’re gonna eat that? Eewwww!”. Now I’d be happy to dig in, eager to give the offal a try. I admit I’m not planning on eating tongue often, it is heavily marbled with fat, especially near the end that connects to the head. But the tip is very lean, the flavor is beefy, the texture is different but not bad.It was really easy to prepare and I liked it, so did GH. Another plus…I can chase the boys around the house with it and make them scream like girly-girls!!!! Ha Ha!
Leena over at Leena Eats is getting her Masters in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, she’s from Chicago…so obviously she knows good food. I love Leena because she has a deeply special relationship with bacon and a cool blog. As part of her masters work Leena is conducting a survey that explores how consumers use U.S. print food journalism and food blogs, and briefly touches on a few ethical issues in the world of food blogs. Please note this survey is only for people who live in the U.S. and is open until January 28th. Take a few minutes to help out a fellow foodie by completing her survey.
Here at the geek house we’ve switched out all our incandescent light bulbs with curly compact fluorescent bulbs. I even swapped out my incandescent spots in the kitchen and replaced them with CFL spots that are supposed to provide a natural light. I’m also trying to hunt down a new camera since my Kodak v530 is held together with duct tape and is pretty unreliable lately (flakey battery and flakey processor). All this change makes me cranky.
