Risotto's Given Me a Second Chance

I remember 3 years ago I wanted to make a risotto. It seemed pretty easy, so why not? 

Well friends, it ended up being a a gluey mess. Even my husband was crazy brave enough to say he didn't like it. Actually when I told him that risotto was on the menu that night, I could literally see the fear in his eyes. We watch a lot of cooking programs together, and one of the dishes that was emphasized as being easy to screw up was risotto, and he kind of hinted that fact- especially as I was very new to the kitchen. But at the time I felt fearless. Though I've only been cooking a month or 2, I was ready to tackle it! With or without his support. Or arborio rice! The recipe said long-grained was fine, and that's all I could find. 

Straight Outta Tuscany. It leans, too!

So I am going through the process; the onions are softening beautifully, the garlic is fragrant, the rice is getting nice and toasty.... I go to the bathroom. Wait, what? I was 8-months pregnant, people! I come back from the bathroom, the onions are dry, the garlic is burning, the rice is scorching! Shit! I had to add some (cooking) wine any way so I went on. Let me tell you, the best thing out of this experience was that steamy chemically fake wine facial. I lower the temp a bit, add the chicken broth and stir. Then wait for the rice to absorb....and wait....come on!!! I stir like mad and increase the temp. Oh crap it's sticky! I add more broth and patiently wait. The rice absorbs nicely, then repeat. I thought it sort of fixed itself. THEN I go on to prepare the main- oops. After all that's done, I call in the guinea pig hubby to try dinner. Of course he tastes first. 

Him: Hmm interesting....ok not good. Babe, this is a difficult dish. Remember Gordon Ramsay said...

Me: *cries* I am never making risotto again! *pregnant wobble/run/gallop away*

That's the embarrassing story. It's the reason I haven't cooked risotto again. However, while on twitter, I asked how I should serve scallops as a main and an awesome twitteree  recommended a risotto. I  got very excited and said to myself, "I must get over this fear" Though I haven't cooked risotto in years, I read and watched many programs on this dish.  I went for it and had an even better result than expected. A little patience, a bit of research, and an empty bladder goes a long way!  It's great learning from mistakes, it hurts when a recipe doesn't work the first or seventh time, but practice truly does make perfect. Even my husband believed in me this time!  And he loved the end result.  I am already planning my next risotto dish! 

Come along with me on my journey to yummy risotto.

Risotto with Peas, Mint and Scallops

Adapted from Tyler Florence 

Ingredients

5T extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup fresh mint

8 cups of chicken stock, heated

1 cup fresh peas, cooked ( or frozen peas, rinse under cool water to thaw)

1/4 cup plus 1T butter, room temp

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

1 pound Sea Scallops

Directions

Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat and pour in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add shallots and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in rice and half of the chopped mint making sure to coat all the rice grains with the oil.

 Add wine and cook until most of the liquid (as well as the alcohol) has evaporated. Season with a little salt and pepper. Ladle in 1 cup of hot stock. Using a wooden spoon, stir gently until most of the stock has been absorbed.

I had a pot of hot chicken broth. We want creamy not glue!

 Keep adding stock a cup at a time and stirring. After about 10 to 15 minutes, test the rice. It should be cooked and creamy but still have a slight bite to it. (You may not need all of the stock.) 

Gently fold in peas and 1/4 cup butter. Stir in the Pecorino Romano and taste for seasoning. Remove from heat and cover while you sear the scallops.

Set a non-stick saute pan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Pat the scallops with paper towels to make sure they are very dry. Season on both sides with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan, making sure not to overcrowd, and cook until they are nicely browned on both sides, about 4 to 8 minutes depending on the size of your scallops.

Want a nice sear? Dry the heck out of those scallops!

Check the risotto and add a bit more stock if it has gotten too thick. In a shallow bowl or plate, make a nice mound of risotto and top with 3 or 4 scallops. Garnish with remaining mint and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately!

Hope you give this a shot!

Butterflied Sweet and Spicy Chicken!

Fellow food bloggers or people photograph food for whatever reason: have you ever gotten seriously hungry editing or going through your food flicks? I do and did this afternoon! I literally ate 15 minutes before editing, and whilst editing, I got a sudden craving for the very food I just prepared last night! Lucky for me I had just enough leftover and now I am very happy.

Hopefully when you look at my photos and read my blog you become hungry, too. More than just appetite-wise, but hungry to get in the kitchen and whip up your own amazing creation. It doesn't have to be some crazy feast, we all know or at least learn the hard way (me!), simple is better most of the time.

So yesterday, I whipped up some chicken and broccoli. Really simple and quite delicious. You can prep the chicken and sauce the night before and grill when you get home. This dinner is done within an hour, and
as my Aunt Ina Garten (ok imaginary aunt) says, "How easy is that?" Even better, you can stick the chicken in the oven!

So what makes this chicken special? It's butterflied.  A butterflied chicken is flattened and grills faster and more evenly. It's great when you're not in the mood to joint a chicken, too.

To butterfly a chicken you must remove the backbone using super sharp kitchen shears or a super sharp knife.

Ok, now remove any excess skin hanging around, and flatten the chicken out a bit. In the center you see a biggol bone. That there is the breast bone. 

With your boning knife, just lightly score around it. Bend the sides backwards to pop it free. You may need to cut it out, but be sure not to cut any flesh! Just around the bone!

Tuck the tips of the wing behind the breast if it already isn't. And there you have a pretty flattened birdy.

 Hey birdy!

Laying back ready for it's tan.

Now what to do with this bird? Grill it.

Honey Barbecue Chicken

Adapted from FineCooking September 2008 Issue

For the Rub

2T olive oil

2.5t kosher salt

1 t chili powder

1 t paprika

1 t brown sugar

1 t thyme

3/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1/4 t chipotle powder

1 t garlic powder

4-lb butterflied chicken (above technique), patted dry

Honey Glaze

1/2 cup honey

1 T soy sauce

1 T ketchup

2 t Dijon mustard

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1 t apple cider vinegar

Asian chili paste to taste (i used 1t!)

Directions

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients for rub (except chicken- just in case you're wondering!).

Now rub the season all over that bird including under the skin!

Using a spoon is the best way for me. But you can use a rubber spatula or your hands! Be careful not to tear the skin!

Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or if you don't have the time, allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes.

Prepare the honey glaze by combining all ingredients. Set aside, reserving 1/4 cup for for drizzling over cooked chicken.

Tinkerbell works her magic

Heat all burners on a gas grill on medium low or prepare a charcoal fire with a hot zone and a cooler zone with the lid down. Or heat your oven or 400F! Lightly oil grates. You should be able to  hold your hand a couple inches above the grill for 2 to 4 seconds. If it's too hot turn it down. It's too cool, wait a lil while. Set meat on grill and sear 5 to 10 minutes. Be sure to sear and not burn. Keep a close eye on  chicken in case of flare-ups.

Flip chicken and move to the cooler side of the fire (charcoal) or adjust burners on gas grills. For 3 burner gas grills, turn the middle burner off, and set the front and back burners to medium low.

Put grill's lid down and brush bird with honey glaze every 5 minutes, until instant read thermometer inserted in the thickes part of the thighs register 165F. Took be about 40 minutes. Depends on the grill, I guess.

Once done, allow to rest for five minutes and drizzle with reserved sauce.

This was so tender, juicy and full of flavor. This a must try at home!

I served this along with some caramelized broccoli with garlic. The children loved everything! Definitely a winner 'round here!

Lazy Sunday? Not over here!

My son started back kindergarten (the equivalent to preschool in America) last week, and boy has it been tiresome! It's great because the children are on a pretty good schedule and my son is back with friends! They're a lot more mellow these days and nap everyday!  Sometimes on me.

Who knew boobies made great pillows? I had to use a webcam, to take the photo because I was afraid to move!

So it was nice to have some adult time with a good friend yesterday. We ate, gossiped, and took photos of our gorgeous city. We even discussed blogs. She's the one who inspired me to try blogging in the first place! Check her out over at http://livingwrighthome.com 

Breakfast buffet. Where the plates were small as saucers. Yet I didn't feel inclined to stuff my face. 

Trashy Butterfly. I saw this while walking down one of the main streets. I said to my friend, "Geez, with the reflection, that looks like a butterfly." We took some photos and were surrounded by curious onlookers.

I like flower shots, yet I know nothing about flowers!

The Heidelberg Castle

I just really love red!

Was a really fun day, however I was exhausted when I got home! And yesterday was also the first NFL Sunday! Though we live in Germany my husband watch and I tweet we watch as many games as we can together.  It's not a family thing as the first game does not start here until at least 6pm and the last ends around 2 or 3am!! It's frustrating because I do miss the full day of football, so I sort of gotten into soccer. USA!

So to celebrate, I prepared a huge spread for the husband! I started later than usual because I wanted the food to be warm for him while he cursed out cheered his team on! Which was perfect as we rarely get to watch our teams play!

This recipe is from my Food and Wine 2009 Cookbook. This is a must buy! It's full of recipes from chefs around the globe. It's has awesome tips and shows you how to make many variations of classic recipes.

So on the menu- Grilled Corn-Mango-Black Bean Salad with Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette, Loaded Potato Skins, Portobello Mushroom Fries, and Green Jalapeno Hot Wings! Also I made my own ranch dressing and blue cheese dressing. Or at least I wanted to make blue cheese! When making the menu last week, I saw blue cheese in our fridge, actually two, so I didn't buy any. When it was time to make the blue cheese dressing, there was none in there!  I nearly cried and it was after 8 so all the commissary was closed and German shops are rarely ever opened on Sundays (I miss Giant!!). I also didn't have panko bread crumbs or cheddar (cries some more)! And you know what, I wasted tears because everything was AMAZING! I didn't take photos throughout because I was quite chaotic in my little kitchen! But, man. I'd do it again- though earlier :) That's what I love about cooking, you can easily improvise and no one will know that you used a different cheese or didn't use a certain sauce. Hell, it may turn into the way you always make a dish!

So I would like to share the recipe for the Green Jalapeño Hot Wings. They were absolutely DELICIOUS! The recipe as is is perfect for children, but if you want some spice, add way more pickled jalapeños! I didn't make the blue cheese with the big blue cheese fiasco, but I did make some great ranch sauce for the portobello mushrooms, and it also went well with the chicken.

Green Jalapeño Hot Wings

5 pounds chicken wings, split at the joints. Reserve tips for stock, or buy the already wings. Usually found in the frozen food section

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup green jalapeño sauce

2 tablespoons of coarsely chopped pickles jalapeños

1 stick of butter

2 large garlic cloves minced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500F and position 2 racks in the middle and upper third. Spread the wings on the baking sheets then season. Roast 40 minutes, turning twice until wings are golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, puree hot sauce and jalapeños in a blender or mini food processor until smooth. In a small saucepan, cook the butter with the garlic over moderate heat just until fragrant, about 2 minutes, Add the puree to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Transfer the sauce to a large bowl.

Carefully transfer chicken to the bowl then toss to coat.  Serve with blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing!

ENJOY!!!

Banana and Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles! Whoa.

Dude(ttes), I am not joking. I first read about this after I clicked Bobby Flay's link on Twitter. It said: "didn't/ see/already recycled yesterday's Parade Mag? (cont)" It made me giggle as there are a lot of jokes about Parade Magazine. But I really miss it, it has some great articles and comics! Along with the awesomeness of Parade Magazine, it had a recipe for the yummy looking Waffle/French toasts! My children's favorite breakfasts are waffles and French toast, so I HAD to give them a shot. My husband was away last night, so what a perfect time to have breakfast for dinner!

I used bananas and cream cheese, because that's what I had on hand. I had peanut butter, but I wanted something a bit different.  I used some bananas I froze, and  it gave the cream a thicker texture than unfrozen bananas would, I believe. And it added the perfect touch of sweetness.

 Biting into one of these is like a present for the soul. You get the sweet crunchiness of the bread, and then you are hit the smooth, sweet cream cheese mixture. I am definitely making this again!

I made this with Bacon, but do what you want. I LOVE Bacon. In fact, I capitalize the "B" in Bacon because Bacon is that important to me. And I put it in the oven for 10 minutes on 400F and it's perfectly crunchy and I am not covered in Bacon grease pop burns (not so sexy).

Recipe

Banana-Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles

or try Bobby Flay's orginal version here!

French Toast Batter:

8 stale slices of whole-wheat bread

4 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 tsp orange extract (or use 1 teaspoon of orange zest)

1/4 tsp of  cinnamon

pinch of salt

Banana -Cream Cheese Filling

1 banana, chopped (i used frozen)

6 tablespoons of cream cheese (full fat or neufchatel) 

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

pinch of cinnamon

a little orange extract

Directions

Heat your waffle iron on medium

Put all ingredients for filling in a blender and blend baby!

Pulse for about 5-10 seconds. don't want it too thin!

Now put that in the fridge and start your French toast batter.

Add all the ingredients for the French toast batter EXCEPT the bread. Stir up nice and gently.

Now, get that cream cheese out of the fridge and slab some cream cheese on the bread and make a cream cheese sandwich. Resist the temptation to eat it right then and there are keep making sandwiches.

Dip a sandwich one at a time into the batter,

then place in waffle iron. 

Cook until waffles/toasts are all cooked. And voila! Easy, yeah?

 I used powdered sugar on mine but the kids preferred maple syrup. Use whatever your heart desire. Bobby used an amazing looking mixed berry sauce. I would have if I had some berries on hand. But this recipe is a great fridge/pantry cleaner upper ;) Hope you all try this or make it your own!