Risi e Bisi served with Caprese salad

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 2 ounces pancetta, cut into small cubes
• 1 1/2 cups of small grain brown rice parboiled for 13 minutes or arborio rice
• 8 cups of water or chicken stock, heated until hot
• 1 1/2 cups of shelled peas
• 3 garlic scapes, finely chopped
• 1 cup of cava or dry white wine
• 2-3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
• salt & fresh ground black pepper

1. Add the olive oil 10- to 12- inch heated sauté pan and cook the pancetta for a minute or two. Combine the onions, celery, and garlic scapes and cook over medium heat until they are softened but not browned.

2. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, until it is amost opaque. Add 1 cup of cava or wine and stir until the wine has evaporated. Add enough water to barely cover the rice (about 1 cup) and cook, stirring until the water is absorbed. Keep adding water, one ladleful at a time, and stirring constantly. After about 15 minutes taste the rice; it should still be al-dente but getting close to being done.

3. Add the peas and continue to cook for about 4 more minutes, adding a bit more water, until the rice is tender and creamy yet still al dente. The risotto should be quite moist.

4. Add the butter and Parmigiano, mix quickly and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

I was feeling overwhelmed by work this evening and not at all inspired to cook. Since I haven’t made rice for a while, my immediate thought was to make a simple risotto. Alas, I had neither butter nor parmesan cheese but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. I did find some gruyère cheese in the fridge so I grated about 1/4 cup of it.  My first thought was to make a butternut squash risotto but once I opened the squash, I realized I had let it sit on the counter way too long. It was all porous and dark inside so I had to discard it. Luckily, I had bought some mushrooms at the market this morning so a mushroom risotto it was. But first I prepped the short grain brown rice to render it risotto-ready: I simply parboiled 1 cup of rice for 12 minutes, drained, and set it aside.  I had made a batch of a simple vegetable stock (just onions, carrots, celerey, parsley stems boiled for an hour) so I mixed 1 cup stock, 1 cup water, and 1 cup white wine to a small pot and let it simmer.

I pulled out my paella pan and stir fried 1 small onion and 3 garlic cloves in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. When the onions were soft, I added 1 tsp dried oregano, some salt & pepper and 250g of mushrooms, cleaned and chopped. I stir fried the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, incorporated the rice and then added 1/2 cup of the sock mixture. While the rice cooked (I stirred every once in a while), I felt something was missing in it so I roasted about 1/3 cup of walnuts, chopped them and set them aside. I continued to cook the rice, adding more liquid whenever it dried. Half way through (about 10 minutes in), I mixed in the walnuts and 1 tbsp tamari sauce. My vegetable stock had no salt, you might want to skip either the tamari sauce or the salt at the beginning if you use a commercial vegetable or chicken stock. Once all the liquid had been absorbed, I added 1/3 cup chopped parsley, the gruyère cheese, adjusted the salt and pepper and served it immediately. It was the best risotto I have made so far. It would probably serve 2-3 people so you might want to double it to serve more.

Tonight’s meal was inspired by some wild leeks I found at the market. At the fishmonger’s I came across some wild scallops and bought them without really knowing how I’d make them. Once I got home, a quick search at The Google got me some tasty suggestions: Wild Leek and Parsley Risotto and Pan-seared Scallops with Butter Herb sauce. The ingredients were simple enough and I had most of them at hand: scallops, parsley, a good white wine, vegetable stock, unsalted butter… The result?

The picture was terribly over-exposed but you get the idea. It was simply divine. Alan moaned throughout the meal and we speculated that something like this would probably cost about a hundred dollars for the two of us (with wine) at a nice restaurant. Oh, the wine was a nice Wolf Blass Sauvignon Blanc. Now we’re off for an ice cream…