Back to the Kitchen

How's that old saying go? "When the going gets tough, the tough order takeout." Something like that.

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been doing much cooking lately. I'm the first to admit that when schedules get hectic with work and family and friends and - bleh - the gym, cooking often slips off my to-do list. But I'm putting a stop to that this week, and reminding myself that cooking isn't just another item to be checked off, but my time to unwind and engage in an activity that I actually enjoy doing. Take last night - risotto, while definitely not difficult, is not just a phone-it-in type of dish. It is, however, some serious gastro-therapy, and just what I needed to remind myself that a little time in the kitchen is always worth the effort.

Risotto with Mushrooms and Prosciutto

2 tablespoons of butter, divided

1 shallot, finely chopped

3 tablespoons dry white wine

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

4-4 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, hot

1 cup sauteed mushrooms (recipe here)

3 strips prosciutto, chopped

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Salt and pepper

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt one tablespoon of butter. Add the shallot and sweat until the shallot is translucent, about 3 minutes (do not brown). Add the white wine, stir to deglaze the pan, and let the wine cook off til the pan is nearly dry. Add another tablespoon of butter, melt, and then add the arborio rice. Stir thoroughly to coat each grain with butter. Add a cup of hot stock and stir often until the stock has soaked into the rice, about 5 minutes. Repeat this process until the rice is soft and creamy and you've used about 4-4 1/2 cups of stock (it should take 20-25 minutes).

Fold in the grated cheese, then add the mushrooms, prosciutto and salt and pepper to taste.

Culinary Epiphanies 101

So I'm taking this cooking class - well, cooking course to be more accurate, seeing as it's every Thursday night for the next 6 months. And come every Thursday, I'm tired, crabby, and don't really feel like hauling myself out to Gaithersburg for 3+ hours of social interaction after a long day at work. But I still go, begrudging my decision and my husband's support of me having an "activity."

And you know what? As soon as I get there, I remember why I decided I needed this activity to begin with. It's not your average sit-and-watch-the-chef-cook demo, or even one of those themed classes with three courses and a bunch of wine (though the wine would be nice). Instead, each week is focused on the techniques around approaching a particular type of food (i.e., stocks, soups, vegetables, grains, poultry). No detailed recipes are shared, and we only get mere tastes of each dish the chef demos before we have a go at them ourselves, but that's the whole point - to try in class, then to go really internalize these techniques by practicing on our own back at home. And the stuff we learn is amazing! Hey, it may not be the sexiest cooking class around, but having weekly culinary epiphanies is pretty darn cool.

Take last week for example: I always wondered why mushrooms at good restaurants always have such a firm, delicious, mushroomy flavor and texture, and why the mushrooms I cook never measure up. And now I know!


1. Clean off your mushrooms with a damp towel to remove any dirt.
2. Chop your mushrooms to the desired size.
3. Heat a saute pan over high heat - DO NOT ADD FAT.
4. When the pan is hot, add your mushrooms; sear for about 5 minutes, until they take on color.
5. Add a few tablespoons of water or wine to the pan - this will help soak up all the browned bits that have stuck to the bottom (called deglazing). You can also just add a few pinches of salt to the mushrooms - the salt leeches out the water in the mushrooms and they deglaze the pan all by themselves.
6. Ta-da! Gorgeous, firm, mushroomy mushrooms.

So, tired and crabby though I am, I'll go tonight, donning my little chef jacket and the knife set they made me buy, looking every bit the Top Chef wannabe I am, and looking forward to more little epiphanies to share.

Love Dish: Soup's On

What with all the chopping and simmering, I admit that making a big pot of beef vegetable soup doesn't really constitute a quick dish. However, if like me, you spend the majority of your Sunday evenings cooking a big meal to last through the week, come Monday and Tuesday you'll be able to enjoy this hearty meal 5 minutes after you walk in the door.

What's better, vegetable-based soups are excellent vehicles for using up any surplus veggies you have on hand, particularly all those wonderful root varieties that are in abundance this time of year. Just take into account their respective cooking times - i.e., potatoes take awhile to cook, mushrooms don't - when tossing into the pot.

Beef Vegetable Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lb. beef (look for "stew meat"), cut into 1-inch cubes

2 lbs. (about 10) small new potatoes, quartered

1 lb. (about 6) carrots, chopped large

2 sweet onions, chopped large

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

Freshly ground black pepper

1 quart beef stock

1-2 cups of water

2 bay leaves

1/2 lb. green beans, ends snipped and cut into 2 inch pieces

6 ounces button mushrooms, cleaned and halved

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil until smoking. Add the beef and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots, and onions; sprinkle with black pepper and stir to combine. Add the peeled tomatoes, squeezing between your fingers to break them up. Add the beef stock, bay leaves, and 1-2 cups of water if necessary so that you have a good amount of broth. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, add the green beans. Ten minutes later, add the mushrooms. Let simmer another 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through but still firm. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Serve with crusty bread for dunking.

Love Dish: Brown Rice with Butternut Squash, Wild Mushrooms and Salami

Don't be fooled by the title. This love dish (i.e., a dish that take a little more time to put together than your standard quick dish) is not your typical, boring, "I guess we should use brown rice to up our fiber intake" health fare.

I buy a particular kind of long grain basmati brown rice that has a wonderfully nutty aroma and flavor and never ever gets gummy. Seriously, I actually like eating it. So when it came to what to mix in, I dug around my fridge for stuff that would work well with that nutty canvas. I knew the earthy wild mushrooms I needed to use up would pair well, plus the salty-smokiness of all things pork was a no brainer (hence the tad overzealous use of it in this recipe). Finally, to really celebrate the beginning of fall properly, I threw in some sweet and creamy roasted butternut squash for good measure.

So like I said, no boring brown rice here - we're talking serious comfort food. And if it happens to help you with your, um, regularity issues, well, that's just an added bonus.

(Note: If you wanted to turn this into a quick dish, you could always use white rice and buy one of those packages of cubed squash, but really, why spoil all the fun?)

Brown Rice with Butternut Squash, Wild Mushrooms and Salami

For the rice:
1 cup long grain basmati brown rice
2 cups water

For the rest:
1 butternut squash, about 2-3 lbs
1 tbsp olive oil
3 slices pancetta, chopped
3 shallots, sliced fine
8 ounces assorted wild mushrooms, such as shitake, crimini and oyster, cleaned and rough chopped
2-3 ounces salami, chopped into small pieces
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Grated parmesan, optional

Combine the rice and the water in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to boil, stir once, then cover tightly and cook on very low heat for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, split the squash in half, place on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender. Remove and let cool.

In a large saute pan, add the olive oil over medium high heat. When hot, and the chopped pancetta and let cook, stirring often, til it starts to get crisp. Add the shallots and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan and cook until tender but still firm, about 3-4 minutes. (You can add a little more olive oil to the pan if the contents starts to look dry). Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and chop the flesh into bite-size cubes. Return the saute pan to the the stove over medium heat and add the squash, salami and rosemary; cook to heat through. Add the rice to the pan and stir to combine. Re-season with salt and pepper if necessary. Sprinkle with parsley and grated parmesan and serve.