Zucchini Risotto

Zucchini season will soon come to an end, but there’s still time to enjoy this icon of the summer garden. We’ve made salads, pasta, bread, gratins, and all sorts of things with zucchini, even though it was a sad zucchini year for us after losing all our zucchini plants to garden pests.

Risotto is comfort food for me anytime of the year no matter what I put into it, and this one with zucchini and our fresh homegrown basil and garlic does not disappoint. The Grana Padano cheese adds a slightly nutty yet delicate flavor that is worth the search, but you can also substitute Parmigiano Reggiano if you can’t find Grana Padano. The recipe is adapted from My Italian Garden, by Viana La Place (in my personal collection), a lovely little book Read more

The Daring Cooks Make Creamy Rice with Mushrooms, Artichokes, and Shrimp

When I saw this month’s Daring Cooks challenge announcement, my pulse quickened and I envisioned a moist, colorful, flavorful Spanish rice. The sofregit seemed perfect for the season, with fresh tomatoes, peppers, and garlic, and this was a perfect opportunity to test out the paella pan (paellera) Michael gave me for Christmas. That I still had not used. Time to get cracking.

We used our homegrown tomatoes and garlic in the dish, loving the fresh flavor of the tomatoes and the intensity of our garlic. As I studied the instructions, I realized the recipe only used a small amount of the sofregit, but we enjoyed the flavor so much we added more along with a dollop of the allioli to each serving of rice. Each taste was like a game of roulette, not knowing when we would find the sharp bite of the allioli. Read more

Jambalaya with Shrimp, Chicken, Andouille, and Ham and a Giveaway

I don’t have any Creole or Cajun relatives (that I know of), so for authentic recipes I turn to some of my favorite cookbooks. Emeril calls this particular recipe his “Clean Out the Ice Box and Freezer” Jambalaya, my kind of food, particularly now because after the holidays and fall harvest we have a freezer stuffed full of…stuff. After going through it a week ago we renewed our commitment to using up some of the stash and cleaning it out over the next month, which will of course make room for more stuff. The cycle never ends.

The recipe is pretty straight forward, but I made a few modifications as a I went. First of all, I couldn’t believe it had no celery and I added some anyway. The recipe calls for a mix of dark and white meat, but since Michael doesn’t care for dark meat I used only white meat. I also used brown rice instead of white rice and reduced the oil to 1/3 cup. Not much of a difference in the amount of oil, I know, but I think the recipe turned out just fine. And because this was dinner for all of us, I cut back on the cayenne so the boys could enjoy it too. Michael made up for the lack of heat by pouring some hot sauce onto his servings.

This is an easy dish to prepare, and it’s practically a meal in a pot. Add a green salad or other green vegetable and you are set. Read more

Risotto with Onions and Sage

Risotto is creamy, beautiful comfort food, and I can’t think of a better meal to make it for than Thanksgiving. Because it’s not a fix it and walk away kind of dish, I do not make it for weekday meals. The constant stirring and adding liquid demands careful attention, and the usual chaos surrounding our meal times prevents me from tackling anything involved on a weeknight.

This recipe from Marcella Hazan calls for quite a bit of sage, though it’s not overpowering. If you prefer you can make it with half the leaves and still enjoy a hint of sage, which will go beautifully with a turkey dinner. Hazan uses homemade meat stock, though I substituted homemade vegetable stock made with mushrooms for a slightly woodsy undertone. The finishing step, mantecare, gives risotto its characteristic gleam and adds to the natural creaminess. In this case, Hazan adds the sage at the end and finishes with a little butter and some Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Our sage, mint, parsley, oregano, and thyme are still going strong outdoors, amazing considering the cold temperatures we’ve had. Many varieties of sage die off after a frost, but the Woodcote variety that we have in our Zone 7a (but right on the edge of 6b) garden has persisted even with temperatures well below freezing at night, so we will be able to use it on Thanksgiving day as well.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. Rachel of The Crispy Cook is our host for this round, so be sure to visit her blog for more information about submitting your post. If you are new to the event, you can read more about the rules for participating at the Grow Your Own page. Read more

Vegetable Paella

Paella is the pinnacle of rice dishes, though the grand seafood version we often see in the United States would be unrecognizable to the Spanish peasants who invented it. The dish originated in Valencia and traditionally was made with rabbit and land snails, though sometimes chicken and/or duck was used instead. Seafood came later as love for the dish spread, and much later chefs began adding a meatless version to their menus for vegan customers. With so many fresh vegetables in season, summer is a perfect time for this vegan paella, though you can make a winter version with root vegetables and canned tomatoes. Saffron is noticeably absent in this version, replaced with a tomato-based sofrito.

A paella pan, or paellera, is the gear of choice for making paella, though you can use just about any wide skillet. When cooked properly, the rice forms a highly prized crispy crust on the bottom called socarrat. Nonstick pans will not render the socarrat properly, so avoid those if you want that crispy crust. Paella pans can be small enough to make tapas, just 8 inches across, or large enough to feed 50 people and 36 inches across. Make sure the pan you choose will fit on your cooktop or grill before you start cooking! Read more

Arroz Con Pollo

I have a long list of favorite comfort foods, and arroz con pollo is definitely in the top ten, right up there with homemade biscuits, Ajiaco Bogotáno, mashed potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, warm fresh bread, my grandmother’s fried chicken, and…I could go on for a while!

Arroz con pollo is basically a variation on paella, and the recipe varies depending on location, but the basic ingredients and preparation are the same. Chicken is browned and cooked with peppers and onions, then beer, wine, and chicken stock (in varying proportions) are added and brought to a boil, and then rice is cooked in the liquids. Saffron is typically used for color and flavor, though annatto seeds are substituted in some parts of Latin America, which is how I fix it. Many grocery stores now have international foods, and annatto seeds can usually be found in the Hispanic foods section. I hope I’ll have some of my own saffron to try out in the dish next fall. Read more

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