Risotto!

Luke and I made risotto!  And it was really, REALLY good.  Like take-the-first-bite-and-roll-your-eyes good.

The Finished Product

We opted for asparagus risotto, since Luke doesn't like mushrooms, but really you can put whatever you'd like in it.  I'm thinking of experimenting a bit next time...

But back to the asparagus:  After a little digging on the internet, I found this recipe from The Flourishing Foodie (a blog I really love), which I'll now reproduce for you here:

Ingredients:

10 - 12 asparagus spears

1 cup water

dash salt

6 tbsp butter

2 shallots, diced

1 cup dry Arborio rice (don’t pre-wash it- the starch is what gives risotto it’s awesome creamy texture)

3 cups vegetable stock, warm

1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

(note: prep all ingredients first.  Once started, risotto waits for no man!)

 Directions:

1. Prep the asparagus (wash, snap off the ends). Boil/steam for 5 minutes with 1 cup of water until just tender. Don’t overcook the asparagus; it’ll get plenty of cooking when you add it to the rice later on. Set to the side and save the cooking liquid.  

2. In a large pot or wok, on low heat, saute the diced shallots with 3 tbsp butter until soft and translucent.

3. Add the arborio rice and stir. Toast the rice with the butter and shallots for 5 minutes, stirring to make sure it does not burn.

4. Add the leftover asparagus water, a quarter cup at a time. Cook until the water has been absorbed, and then add the next quarter cup, making sure to stir every minute or so. Turn the heat to medium and add the chopped asparagus.

5. Once you have used all the asparagus water, continue the same process with the vegetable stock until it is all used up. It should take roughly 20 minutes. Remember to continue stirring.  Somewhere in here I seasoned with salt and pepper.

6. Once the rice has cooked, take it off the heat. Add the butter and the cheese, and stir until creamy. Garnish with a little extra cheese. Serve immediately.

(Note: I've since tried this recipe again and used onions instead of shallots, since that's all I had on hand.  Not as good.)

 I highly recommend you try this recipe- you won't be disappointed!  

Beware, though: your kitchen may end up looking like this: 

Mess, mess, messy mess

The Most Delicious Salad

I made a fantastic salad tonight.

You know that feeling when you're sick and nothing sounds good?  Well I had that feeling to the max tonight, and finally (after much putting-off of dinner-time decision-making) settled on a salad.

And boy am I glad I did.

Basically a Salad Nicoise, but without the meat/seafood (because you all know I'm vegetarian), with homemade creamy balsamic vinaigrette and some toast on the side.

My dressing ingredients (recipe below)

My salad ingredients (also listed below)

Alas, I was so excited to eat the dang thing, I forgot to take a picture!  Suffice to say it was beautiful.  And even more beautiful in my belly.

Creamy Balsamic Dressing: 

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tbs. nonfat Greek yogurt, plain

2 tbs. lemon juice

1 tbs. sugar

1 tsp. seasoning (I used Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute)

1 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil

Whisk dry ingredients with the yogurt until well mixed.  Whisk in the balsamic vinegar.  Whisk in the olive oil.  Feel free to play with ingredients and ingredient amounts- next time I'll probably add slightly less vinegar (or a different type of vinegar!)  I know my photo shows mustard, but I ended up not using it since the dressing was already tangy without it.

Salad:

Butter lettuce

Artichoke hearts

Roasted peppers

Roasted asparagus

Roasted potatoes (tossed in a little salt and pepper)

Olives (I like the TJ's olive medley)

Hard boiled egg (my favorite method to hard boil eggs is here)

Feta Cheese

Tomatoes

Avocado

Whatever else you want!

Enjoy!  I know I did...and next time I'll remember to take a picture!