Red Beet Risotto

BLOGGERS: KATELYN AND TONY

My grandma and grandpa have a prolific garden and they are always generous with their bounty, especially to me, their favorite vegetarian.  This year I have had some excellent sweet corn, green beans, peas, tomatoes and carrots.  I was a bit hesitant to accept beets this time but I couldn’t refuse. For a while, they sat in my fridge and I feared they would go unused until Tony and I found this great recipe for Red Beet Risotto.

Red Beet Risotto, adapted from an Epicurious recipe

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 medium beets (about 1 lb), diced

1/4 cup butter

1 cup Arborio rice

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Finely chop onion and trim stems close to tops of beets. Cut greens into 1/4-inch-wide slices and chop stems. Peel beets and cut into fine dice. In a small saucepan bring water to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat until softened. Add beets and stems and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup simmering water and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a strong simmer, until absorbed. Continue cooking at a strong simmer and adding water, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next. After 10 minutes, stir in greens and continue cooking and adding water, about 1/2 cup at a time, in same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 8 minutes more. (There may be water left over.) Remove pan from heat and stir in Parmesan.

We found this recipe to be a visually stunning dish with deep reds and violets swirling about the pot.  The flavors were equally intense.  The rice was perfectly chewy with just the right amount of bite.  The beets added a little bit of texture and a whole lot of sophisticated sweetness.  The Parmesan cheese rounded out the dish with its nutty, salty flavor.  This dish was great as a vegetarian entree but would be fabulous alongside a nice piece of beef as well.

Smoke Roasted Potatoes

BLOGGER:  TONY

Here’s an easy way to get your potato fix during the summer months:

Smoke Roasted Potatoes

Russet potatoes

Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

Pepper

Wash and dry potatoes.  Brush with oil and then aggressively season with salt and pepper.  Put on a grill set up for smoking* and smoke for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Serve immediately. 

*  This method is for a 22 1/2 inch kettle style grill.  Light about 30 charcaol briquettes.  When grey, divide the coals equally between the two sides of the grill (using metal dividers or the sides of a disposable aluminum pan, if you’re using a drip pan).  Place soaked wood chips in aluminum foil, wrap and put a few small holes in the top.  Place the wood chip packets over the coals, put on the grate and place the food in the middle of grill.  Cover the grill and let it cook low and slow.

Of course, you can make as many potatoes as you want.  The result is a delicately smoked and fluffy baked potato.  It was really quite delicious.  It’s just a great way to bake potatoes without turning on the oven in the summer heat.  It’s a great side (even if non-traditional) to a quick pulled pork I made:

Chunky Guacamole with homemade Tortilla Chips

BLOGGER: KATELYN

Chunky Guacamole, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

• 4 ripe Haas avocados
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 8 dashes Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and finely chopped

directions

1. Halve and pit the avocados, then scoop the flesh into a bowl. Add the lemon juice, Tabasco, onion, garlic and salt and pepper; toss with a wooden spoon.
2. Using a sharp knife, slice through the avocados in the bowl until they are finely diced. Add the tomatoes and toss to combine. Adjust the seasonings as needed.

Another insprational woman is food network personality and owner of Barefoot Contessa specialty food store, Ina Garten. Everything she makes utilizes the freshest ingredients and the simplicity of it all takes cooking back to simpler times when all you need is some garden veggies, fresh herbs, and a sharp knife.  This guacamole is a great way to make use of those tomatoes that are best this time of year and of course cilantro, that didn’t do too well on my patio this summer, unfortunately.  Anyway, what is special about this, like many things I love, is the great texture. I love creating and eating things that are a little undone. See gazpacho or Katelyn’s Corn Salad. We scooped the guacamole with homemade tortilla chips which were worth the extra effort. Just wedge corn tortillas and drop them in a big pot of hot oil, fry them for a minute or two, set on paper towels to cool and then salt.  Eat up already, and eat lots… this doesn’t keep well!

Mint & Pea Hummus with Pita Bread

BLOGGER: KATELYN

Mint & Pea Hummus with Pita Bread, from the Oprah Magazine Cookbook

Chef: Rori Trovato

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

1 TBL olive oil

3 small leeks, thoroughly washed and chopped, green parts removed

4 cups shelled peas (fresh or frozen)

3/4 cup vegetable broth

2 TBL tahini

2 TBL chopped mint

1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

6 pitas, cut into wedges and toasted

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over med-low heat. Add leeks, cover, and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add peas and cook uncovered 8 minutes (5 minutes if using frozen peas.) Add broth and cook 3 more minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in tahini and mint, and spoon mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Process until fairly smooth. Add salt and pepper, seasoning if desired. Place in a bowl and serve with toasted pita wedges.

 

When I create a recipe, I look at the primary ingredient and try to think outside the box, but I also think about how I would eat that particular food. I put the two together and decide how I might get someone else to try it.  – Chef Rori Trovato

I am a huge fan of miss Oprah Winfrey and was delighted to find the Oprah Magazine Cookbook at the library this summer. Filled with delicious recipes and mouthwatering pictures of food that I trust would top the list of Oprah’s Favorite Things, I couldn’t resist trying a few. The Mint & Pea Hummus caught my eye immediately. I wanted to use fresh peas but it was a bit too early in the summer for fresh garden peas. I opted for frozen, and was not dissapointed. The color was wonderful, a vibrant summery green that reinstated the freshenss. Traditionally hummus is served at room teperature however this was great cold. We served the hummus with grilled pita bread. Yumm!!

Grilled Spice Rubbed Flank Steak with Marinated Tomatoes

This recipe is another nice way to make a cheap cut of beef taste really, really nice.  The spice “rub” in this recipe is actually more of a paste in which the moisture binding together all the spices is provide by fresh garlic and ginger.  The result is a strongly concentrated rub that translates into very big flavor in the end product.  It’s a bit hot but so much more than that.  There’s the slightly smokiness from the cumin, the exoticness of the coriander and the “hmmm” ingredient of cinnamon.  It’s really quite brilliant, especially with the anise, honey, and balsamic vinegar flavors in the marinated tomatoes.  Here’s the recipe:

Grilled Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak with Marinated Tomatoes, from this recipe at Epicurious.

 2 large garlic cloves

1 1/2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 lbs steak (skirt or flank steak would be perfect)

Mash together the garlic, ginger and spices in a mortar and pestle.  (Or, cut the ginger and garlic as small as possible and mix with the spices.)  Rub the mixture all over the meat, wrap with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours.

Prepare a hot grill.

Bring the meat to room temperature by taking it out of the refrigerator about an hour before you grill.  Cook till it reaches your desired doneness.  Take it off the heat, cover with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.  Slice the meat thinly across the grain and serve with the marinated tomatoes.

Marinated Tomatoes

1/2 tsp cumin seed

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp mild honey

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 cups chopped tomatoes

Toast the cumin and fennel seeds in a dry saute pan.  Then crush in a mortar and pestle or process in a spice grinder.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together and let rest at room temperature for about an hour. 

There’s just a nice synergy between the tomatoes and the steak here.  Definitely a tomato season keeper.  Enjoy!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

 

Now that corn season has descended upon North Dakota, I feel the uncontrollable urge to eat corn at every possible moment.  It is a particular summertime treat (only second to really great tomatoes) whose season is far too short. 

Previous to trying to grill corn, my philosophy in cooking corn (and I refer only to really fresh, really tender sweet corn) was to husk and then just dip in boiling water for about a minute; just enough to heat the corn so butter would melt on it.  My feeling was that it was already sweet and tender, so I should try to do as little to it as possible. 

I realize now that cooking fresh corn can add some flavor-especially if you use the grill.  Here’s one method:

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Using only fresh, tender corn, carefully peel away the outer layers of the husk but do not separate the layers from the cob.  Just strip them down so they hang down from the cob; you’ll use them to cover up the corn later on.  Continue to take the layers off until the corn is exposed.  Then take all the silk off the cob and package the corn back up with the layers that you were so careful with before.  You can take a stringy part of the green to make a tie around the cob if you wish.  (Kudos to Katelyn for thinking that up.)  Then place the corn on a fairly hot grill.  Keep turning the corn until the husks are charred and the corn is heated through.  Serve immediately.

The result is a smoky, tender cob of corn.  Really good, especially with lots of butter and salt.  Here’s a few pictures:

Enjoy!

Short Review and Pictures from Dinner at Buca di Beppo

A group of us had dinner at Buca di Beppo last week.   The idea there is to serve Italian dishes “family style” in which diners can share entrees with each other.  I like the concept; it’s sort of a homey, informal style that’s pretty comforting and reinforced by the hokey old-school Italian trinkety wall decorations.  For food, we didn’t try much but I thought the Bruschetta was actually really good.  Here’s a picture:

What made it so tasty was the really garlicy and crunchy ciabatta bread.  It provided a superb base for a tomato topping that really should have been better in August.  The basil and olive oil were fine but the tomatoes were just tasteless.  Which is not to say they were terrible. . . they just could have been so much better with tomatoes from the farm stand down the street.  Oh well.  On to the entree; Katelyn and I shared the Penne Campofiore.  Here’s a look:

It was a nice combination of zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and spinach.  The sauce was a light vegetable broth-based concoction with Romano cheese and garlic.  The vegetables were all well-cooked (by which I mean not overcooked) and the artichoke hearts were really delightful.  The sun-dried tomatoes were an “eh” ingredient.  They just have no power to excite me anymore.  The penne was perfectly al dente and really matched well structurally with the rest of the dish.  I thought it was a fine dish. 

Dessert was sort of an insipid affair.  We ordered the tiramisu which tasted more like rum than anything else.  Not recommended!  But the restaurant has enough good graces (like a BYOB policy) that I wouldn’t be opposed to going back sometime.  Here’s some more pictures from the experience:

Pan-Fried Kohlrabi with Mustard

This is a dish I learned from Jim Fullin (who has been mentioned before on this blog here).  It’s a fabulous and unique way to cook an outside the mainstream vegetable. 

Pan-Fried Kohlrabi with Mustard, recipe by Jim Fullin

Kohlrabi, peeled, and sliced into about 1/2 inch thick slices

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Grainy mustard

Place the kolhrabi in a large saucepan (preferably big enough to accomodate all of your kohlrabi in a single layer).  Just cover with water and put it over high heat until it comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat so the water simmers and let the kohlrabi cook, turning once, until it becomes slightly tender.  Remove the kohlrabi and discard the water.  Wipe out any excess water from in the pan. 

Put the pan over medium-low heat.  Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Add the kohlrabi and season with salt.  Cook until one side takes on some color.  Flip and cook until that side browns up.  Add a dollop of grainy mustard to each piece of kohlrabi and serve immediately. 

You should end up with a slightly crisp, slightly sweet, and perfectly tender-crisp vegetable that marries perfectly with the spiciness of the mustard.  Enjoy!  Here’s a picture:

Vegetarian Tater Tot Hotdish

I grew up in North Dakota and that means I ate a lot of hotdish.  It was simply inescapable.  It showed up at funerals, potlucks, family gatherings, school lunch, and home.  I define hotdish as a baked mixture of a starch, meat, vegetable, and at least one condensed soup.  Here’s a typical recipe from an old cookbook I inherited from my late grandmother:

Tater Tot Hotdish, from Home Cooking Secrets of Mayville (1981)

Recipe authored by Gladys Fyre

2 lb hamburger

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can whole kernel or cream style corn

1 pkg. frozen tater tots

Brown hamburger and put in cake pan.  Mix onion soup, chicken soup and corn and pour over meat.  Top with frozen tater tots.  Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until tater tos are nice and brown.

All the elements are there, especially the condensed soup.  I suppose it probably tasted alright but I, at Katelyn’s request, thought I could do better.  Here’s my recipe for Vegetarian Tater Tot Hotdish:

Vegetarian Tater Tot Hotdish

3/4 cups milk

3/4 cups vegetable broth

2 T butter

2 T all-purpose flour

Kosher salt and pepper

4 oz colby jack cheese, shredded

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1 onion, chopped

8 oz button mushrooms, sliced

2 T sherry

Most of a 24 oz package of frozen tater tots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan in preparation of making a roux.  When the butter has melted and the water from the butter has evaporated, add the flour and whisk constantly for about 2 minutes or until the mixture no longer smells like raw flour.  Add the milk and let the mixture thicken and then add the vegetable broth.  Let the mixture thicken again and then taste it and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper.  Then, whisk in the cheese until melted.  Set the sauce aside, off the heat, until ready to use.

Meanwhile, heat a saute pan with a bit of olive oil.  Add the onions, season, and let them cook until they just are beginning to show some color.  Then add the mushrooms.  Season the mushrooms.  Cook until the mushrooms have softened.  Add the sherry and cook until almost all of the sherry has evaporated, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan as it cooks.

Now mix the beans, onions, and mushrooms together.  (Use your baking dish if you like or a large bowl.)  Then add about half of the sauce.  Keep adding sauce until the mixture look fairly wet but there isn’t a large amount of sauce in the bottom of the bowl.  If you end up adding too much sauce, just add some tater tots to the mix to thicken it up again.  Place the mixture in a 9X13 baking pan and then spread a layer of tater tots over the top.  Bake for about 30 minutes and then, if the tater tots aren’t crisp, turn on the broiler and get them nice and crispy.  Serve immediately.

This was actually really, really good.  Of course, the tater tots are king in this dish and if you don’t like them, well, you’re not going to dig this dish.  There’s just enough creaminess and cheesiness in the sauce to make it a great mate for the tots and the onions and mushrooms added a nice depth of flavor.  I might not shy away from hotdish as much as I used to if it turns out this well.

A few notes:  1)  If you really want to up the “tater totness” of the dish or if you end up needing to thicken up the sauce, just add some tater tots to the sauce and vegetable mixture.  They taste fine there and work great as a filler.  And since there’s probably going to be some tater tots left over in the package anyway. . . well, you might just want to do it everytime.   2)  Really care about the crispness of the tots.  This dish is not good unless the tots are really, really crispy and good.  3)  Of course you could you chicken broth instead of vegetable broth and if you needed to add meat, ground beef would work as would diced cooked chicken.  Make/add more sauce as needed.  Enjoy!  Here’s a picture:

Pictures from a camping trip

I went camping with my friend Ryan this past weekend.  We hit up Willow River State Park and Kinnickinnic State Park in western Wisconsin.  There was a lot of natural beauty to be found.  The St. Croix River is quite beautiful and very clean.    You can see the rest of the pictures from the trip here.

First, our initial campfire meal:

Next, a view of the St. Croix River.

Snacks for a bike ride:

A statue near the St. Croix River in St. Croix Falls:

Haystacks seen from the Gandy Dancer Bike Trail:

A view of the St. Croix from the vantage point at Kinnickinnic State Park :

And some hamburgers for campfire cooking:

Corn cooked right on the embers:

A snapshot from an early morning hike:

And two pictures of the falls at Willow River State Park: