oranje.

 Adapted from the wildly successful NYT recipe. 

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carrot risotto. 

INGREDIENTS
600g carrots, peeled
1 and 1/2 tbsp store-bought or homemade chile crisp, plus more for serving

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 tsp ground coriander
½ cup dry white wine

1 cup short grain rice

Parmesan, for serving

METHOD
Same old risotto instructions. 

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pacific, terrific.

I've owned two or three copies of this cookbook over the years, and today I decided that it just might have aged better than almost any other multiple-cuisine cookbook I own. 

Hear me out: I'm not comparing it against bibles like Marcella or Madhur Jaffrey; I'm saying that for a 1990s "Asian fusion" cookbook, most of the recipes are still pretty viable. Here's one: 

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mushroom risotto with snow peas, shiitakes, and crispy ginger. 

INGREDIENTS
7 dried shitake mushrooms
½ cup cold sake
¼ cup light olive oil (do not use virgin or extra-virgin)
1 cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped shallots
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons best-quality curry powder
1½ cups Arborio rice
6 cups mushroom stock

Peanut oil, for deep frying the ginger
2 heaping tablespoons julienned fresh ginger
4 ounces snow peas, trimmed

NOTE: this recipe originally called for 250g shrimp, am rewriting. 

METHOD
1. Soak the dried shiitakes in the cold sake for 1 hour. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid. Remove and discard the stems and cut the caps into thin slices.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions, shitakes, shallots, and minced ginger and cook, stir-ring, for 5 minutes. Add the curry powder and stir for 1 minute. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for another 3 minutes. Add the reserved mushroom-soaking liquid, then raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring continuously, until the liquid evaporates, about 4 minutes.

3. Slowly stir ½ cup of the simmering stock into the rice. Reduce the heat to low and keep at a simmer. Cook the rice, stirring frequently to keep it from sticking to the pan, until the stock is absorbed. Continue adding more stock, ½ cup at a time and stirring frequently until it is absorbed and there is 1 cup of stock remaining, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. While the risotto is cooking, prepare the fried ginger. Pour peanut oil to a depth of 1 inch into a small skillet and heat to 375° F.

Add the ginger and cook until crisp, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels to drain.

5. Stir the shrimp into the risotto, and continue adding the remaining 1 cup stock, ¼ cup at a time, for 10 minutes. Stir in the snow peas and salt to taste. Cook until the shrimp is cooked through and the rice is creamy, but still slightly al dente, about 5 minutes more. Divide among 6 serving bowls and garnish with the fried ginger.

SERVES 6

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ginger risotto.

Recipe in progress. 

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risotto with daikon or sweet potato and miso butter.

INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp sesame oil, separated, possibly less, or actually use this amount 

6 scallions, whites and greens separated
1 tbsp microplaned ginger, possibly twice this? version 1.0 did not taste remotely of ginger
1 cup shortgrain rice
3/4 cup sake or white wine
2 cups porcini or dashi stock (1 cube)

1 tbsp miso
2 tbsp butter

300g daikon or sweet potato, obviously two very different choices
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved or quartered

METHOD
Heat oven to 200°C.

Toss daikon and mushrooms in 1 tbsp sesame oil. Roast daikon and mushrooms for 35 minutes, turning halfway through. 

In a medium ovenproof saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and ginger and cook, stirring until translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Add rice, and stir until grains are shiny and well coated with oil, about 2 minutes more. Add wine, and continue cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add stock, stir to combine. Cover saucepan; transfer to oven. Bake until almost all of the stock is absorbed, about 25 minutes. While it's baking combine miso and butter to make, you guessed it, miso butter. Take the rice out, check for doneness, it should still be barely inedible. Add roasted vegetables, return to oven. After 6-8 minutes, remove from oven, add miso butter. Serve immediately, topped with the scallion greens or your choice of garnish. Furikake? Togarashi-spiced Rice Krispies? Crispy onions is the easy answer. 

Serves 4, sometimes less.

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couple things.

Hi. I am "OK"!
Also, the thing I find myself coming here the most for is, invariably, this, so I'll put it at the top and strip it down to the infinitely-modifiable version I always use these days in my post-shrimp life: 

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baked risotto.

3 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, or one medium onion of your choosing, chopped small
1 cup Arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

up to 1 tsp salt, or possibly no salt, depending on saltiness of your broth
up to 1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano (can also use pecorino romano sometimes)

garnishes: you choose. freshly cracked black pepper, butter, gormas, hot sauce, fresh herbs, pangrattato, furikake, etc.

METHOD
Heat oven to 190°C.

In a medium ovenproof saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring until translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Add rice, and stir until grains are shiny and well coated with oil, about 2 minutes more. Add wine, and continue cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add stock, stir to combine. Cover saucepan; transfer to oven. Bake until almost all of the stock is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Take it out, check for doneness, it should still be barely inedible. Add cheese and return to oven. After 6-8 minutes, remove from oven, check salt level again and adjust if necessary. Serve immediately, topped with grated cheese and your choice of garnish.

Serves 4, sometimes less.

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bietenstamppot.

stamppot of red beets in agrodolce, spinach, potato, gorgonzola, walnut. 

1 kg potatoes
2 handfuls fresh, washed spinach

3 large beets, roasted, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp raw sugar
3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 handful good walnuts, toasted and halved or so
1 tbsp butter

butter or olive oil
freshly grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper

blue cheese, crumbled

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This was also pretty delicious as a red-wine risotto with roasted cauliflower instead of beets. And rice instead of potatoes.

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newniss.

That's one of the nicest things about cooking, wouldn't you say. That you can completely ignore or forget about a concept or ingredient for years and years and then one day, holy shit, something fresh and exciting and thoroughly repeatable. The first is a "chopped salad", the second is the too-fucking-trendy spelt "risotto", both made out of a semi-desperate attempt to use up things in the kitchen.

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nancy's chopped salad with oregano dressing.

4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp dried oregano 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or white beans, drained
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings

100g hard italian cheese (well, I used Parmesan, the original recipe calls for Provolone)
100-200g salami, peeled, sliced thin/small, or this could be tuna, or possibly a hard-boiled egg
4 small pickled pepperoncini, sliced into rings

200-300g cherry tomatoes, halved

Sea salt

1 head iceberg lettuce (see Note about size), halved, cored, and cut in 1/2-inch ribbons

1 head radicchio, halved, cored and cut in 1/4-inch ribbons

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little birds have fast hearts.

Any day now we will go back to unbridled sobriety. If our first fun evening this week was perfect in its restraint, last night was...well, kind of like old times at the OT301: close the doors after the customers leave and attempt to manage an unending assembly line of incoming beers whilst talking all manner of shit until 4 in the morning. Fewer beers would've been wiser.

Tonight: wound-licking and risotto, this time pear/gorgonzola/arugula. Let you know how it goes. It was fine, good, OK, but not amazing. Not sure what would've helped besides bacon.

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pick up the pieces, volume xcvii.

Flipping the Doomsday Rehab reboot switch again, note to self: sleeping better was nice, wasn't it? Let's do that again.

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Excellent Thing Of The Week: Mars made Jamie Oliver's cauliflower risotto Tuesday night and, permission to speak plainly sir, it was like really really awesome? The best thing we've made in a while and totally worth serving to people.

As always, changes were made: our default risotto prep was used, almonds became the basis of the pangrattato instead of bread crumbs, and the cauliflower was unsurprisingly roasted instead of sauteed. No pictures, but it was fannnnntastic.

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roasted cauliflower risotto with anchovy-almond-chile pangrattato.

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baked shrimp and sage risotto.

As I've said before, this is really just a genius recipe, I can't think of anything more comforting I've eaten recently. We have the Mara to thank for this. Well, and a name you don't hear much anymore: Martha Stewart.

I know it breaks some rules: seafood and cheese for one, Parmesan and olive oil for another, hell even sage and shrimp is pushing it. But trust in the Mooperbird.

ETA: As usual, better pictures of the same dish here.

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baked shrimp and sage risotto.

3 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, or one small red onion, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
pinch crumbled saffron threads
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
4 fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped, or 1 tbsp or so dried sage, maybe a little more
up to 1 tsp salt, depending on saltiness of your broth

16-20 medium shrimp, deveined and halved lengthwise
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

up to 1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano (can also use pecorino romano sometimes)
chopped Italian parsley, for garnish

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Heat oven to 190°C.

Put shrimp in a small bowl to marinate with the garlic, 1 tbsp of olive oil, and black pepper.

In a medium ovenproof saucepan, heat the rest of the olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add rice, and stir until grains are shiny and well coated with oil, about 2 minutes more. Add saffron and wine, and continue cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add stock, sage, salt, and pepper. Cover saucepan; transfer to oven. Bake until almost all of the stock is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and stir shrimp into rice, replace back in oven for 6-8 minutes to cook shrimp. Your goal is to leave the shrimp in long enough to mellow the garlic but not overcook the shrimp. Also check the salt level here: if you're not pushing the too-salty boundary, it's possible to stir some of the grated cheese into the rice at this point, that's what the Mara does.

After 6-8 minutes, remove from oven, check salt level again and adjust if necessary. Serve immediately, topped with grated cheese and parsley.

Serves 4, or sometimes less.

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