Corn, Basil, Tomato Risotto

Hello hello hello! When I went home last weekend for fall break, I decided to make a big meal for my family (father, mother, sister, and grandparents). I made my stuffed cabbage recipe, homemade brioche (coming soon!), and a corn, basil, tomato risotto. This risotto is mostly vegetarian (or filly if you use vegetable broth) and healthy, and it has a very gentle flavor. My family, especially my healthy mother and grandmother, really appreciated this dish, and if you’d like something gentle on the stomach, healthy, and filling, give this a try!

Ingredients:

·      1 cup ripe tomatoes, seeded, peeled, diced

·      2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

·      1 tbsp lime juice

·      ¼ tsp salt

·      5 cups chicken, or vegetable, broth

·      2 cups corn kernels

·      2 tbsp butter

·      ½ cup chopped scallions

·      1.5 cups Aborio rice

·      Grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the tomatoes, basil, lime juice, and salt together in a small bowl. Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Puree 1 cup of the corn kernels in a food processor. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the scallions, and stir until translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat in butter. Add 1 cup broth and cook while stirring over medium-low heat until the stock has been fully absorbed. Add the remaining broth, ½ cup at a time, reserving ½ cup broth for a bit later. Cook each addition until the liquid is almost completely absorbed before adding the next addition. Continue to cook until the rice is almost tender. Stir in the pureed corn and last ½ cup stock, and cook until the rice is al dente. Stir in the remaining corn kernels and tomato mixture, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

Kitchen Hacks Part I

It’s Monday! Even though Mondays can get people down, stay positive as much as you can! So I’ve decided to alternate doing recipes and fun kitchen hacks every week; this way the blog posts aren’t always the same format. So today will be the first Kitchen Hack post! I hope this series of posts benefit you! ^_^

1.     If you have lingering food stains on your hands (ie. red beets), rub a bit of whitening toothpaste with peroxide on the stains, and rise clean with hot, soapy water. If you want to avoid the stains altogether, put a bit of vegetable oil on the hand handling the staining food.

2.     If there’s a strong smell lingering on your hands (ie. from garlic, onions, fish), rub your hands with a few tablespoons of mouthwash and lemon juice.

3.     Have a kitchen that stinks after cooking strong-smelling foods? Simmer 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon in 2 cups of water until the bad odor is replaced with the cinnamon smell!

4.     To make sure your kitchen sponges air-dry fully (which they can’t do well lying face-down), create a stand for the sponge by taking a large binder clip, clipping it to the short-end of the sponge, and bring the arms of the clip up and around to the sides of the sponge.

5.     If you want to clean off tough, baked-on good on glass baking dishes, try dishwasher fluid and a crumpled aluminum foil ball!

6.     To ensure you always have clean tools at the ready, even if you’ve used the one you need and it’s dirty, keep a cup of hot, soapy water by your workbench. This way you can put the used utensils in the cup, and if you need to use them again, take them out of the cup and rinse lightly with water, and you’re all set!

7.     If you don’t want to clean your kitchen surfaces with chemical-filled cleaners, fill a spray bottle with equal parts white vinegar and water and use that instead!

8.     To safely remove vacuum-sealed foods from their packaging, cut a large X in the plastic, pull the corners away from the center of the X, and remove the food inside.

9.     No matter what, even if you try to cook it separately for longer, do NOT reuse marinade that’s been with raw meat. If you want to use the same sauce, just save some on the side before you marinade the meat.

10.  If you don’t enjoy scraping burnt muffin remains of the pan, wrap the entire muffin tray in aluminum foil, cutting holes where the muffin indents are. Put paper or foil liners in the indents, and bake away!

Soufflé Omelet – A Fluffy, Airy Omelet with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Being in college with not-so-good food, I decided to make some of my meals while I’m up here! I wanted to come up with something simple with not too many ingredients, and I decided to try something like a soufflé omelet! I had seen this before, but I wanted to try my own version of it. So my soufflé omelet will be paired with a spicy, onion, creamy tomato sauce. I experimented a lot with this recipe, so I’ll give you rough measurements, but as always, adjust the measurements to suit your tastes!

Ingredients:

·      2 eggs, separated

·      1 medium yellow onion

·      1 cup tomato sauce (store-bought is fine, but feel free to make your own!)

·      ½ cup + 3 tbsp whole milk

·      1 tbsp onion powder

·      ½ tsp cayenne

·      1 tsp garlic powder

·      Salt

·      Black pepper

Heat the tomato sauce in a small pan over low heat and add the ½ cup whole milk, onion powder, cayenne, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk the egg yolks, 3 tbsp whole milk, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper together. Whisk the egg whites with a clean beater until stiff peaks form. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the whites while whisking constantly until fully combined. Heat a small frying pan with 1 tbsp oil over medium-low heat. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, cover with a lid, and steam until the top of the soufflé omelet has just set. Fold the omelet in half and slide it onto a plate. Quickly pour the tomato sauce along the side of the omelet, and you’re all done! Make sure you eat it immediately because the omelet will start to deflate quickly!

Juicy Stuffed Cabbage with Pork and Chicken

I. Love. This. Dish. It is juicy, tender, flavorful… Enough said. This is another recipe from my CIA experience, and this one doesn’t need a large introduction because it is just so good!

Ingredients:

·      3 savoy cabbage heads

·      1 tbsp butter

·      1 cup diced onions

·      1 tbsp minced garlic

·      2 eggs

·      2.5 cups (about 22oz) ground pork

·      1.5 cups (about 11oz) ground chicken

·      ¼ cup heavy cream

·      3 tbsp bread crumps

·      3 tbsp chopped rosemary

·      2 tbsp ground caraway seeds

·      2 tbsp salt

·      2 tbsp canola oil

·      1 cup red pearl onions

·      1 cup white pearl onions

·      1 cup diced carrots

·      1 cup diced celery

·      1 cup diced onion

·      4 minced garlic cloves

·      Salt to taste

·      Black pepper to taste

·      1 tbsp tomato paste

·      1 cup red wine

·      4 cups chicken stock

·      2 cups veal stock

·      1 tsp caraway seeds

·      2 bay leaves

·      ½ bushel thyme (about 10 stalks)

·      2 tbsp softened butter

1.     Peel the leaves from the cabbages, discarding the tough dark, outermost leaves and the pale inner yellow leaves, reserving ONLY the pale green middle leaves.

2.     Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the middle leaves until tender, 6-7 minutes, then transfer to an ice bath, shock, and drain.

3.     In a medium-sized sauté pan, melt the 1 tbsp butter over medium-low heat, and add the 1 cup diced onions and 1 tbsp garlic and sweat until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

4.     Remove from the heat and allow to cool on the side.

5.     In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, add the cooled onions and garlic, ground meats, cream, bread crumbs, rosemary, 2 tbsp caraway, and 2 tbsp salt.

6.     Mix thoroughly to combine. Divide the mixture into 8-10 sections, roll each section into a ball, and then wrap each ball in a blanched cabbage leaf.

7.     Refrigerate the balls for an hour.

8.     Heat 2 tbsp canola oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Just before the oil begins to smoke, add the pearl onions, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic, and season with salt.

9.     Sauté for about 3 minutes until the vegetables start to brown, then add the tomato paste and sauté for another couple minutes.

10.  Deglaze with the red wine, cooking until the pan is almost dry, then add the stocks and bring to a boil.

11.  Strain, reserving both the vegetables and the stock.

12.  Return the stock to the pan and add the caraway, bay leaves, and thyme, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

13.  Preheat the oven to 400ºF and brush a roasting pan with the 2 tbsp butter.

14.  Remove the stuffed cabbage from the fridge and place the balls in the roasting pan and scatter the vegetables around them.

15.  Add the reserved liquid, cover with parchment paper, and place in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes.

16.  Remove the parchment paper and return to the oven, basting every 5 minutes for 25 minutes until the stuffing in the cabbage is cooked and the tops are golden.

17.  Serve the stuffed cabbage with the cooking liquid and vegetables, and enjoy! ^_^

Roasted Venison Loin with Wild Huckleberry Sauce

So I’ve definitely done plenty of entrée meals these past couple of weeks, but I will definitely put up a baking/dessert recipe soon! But warning you now, the next few will be cooking-based ones. Sorry in advance! But if you’d like some old dessert recipes, check out some of my older recipes! This recipe is venison with a beautiful huckleberry sauce! Many people are hesitant to eat deer (I am as well most of the time), but I really enjoyed this recipe because the venison we got was high-quality, and its flavor perfectly complimented the huckleberry

Ingredients:

·      1 venison loin

·      Salt

·      Pepper

·      1 small onion, chopped

·      1 carrot, chopped

·      1 small celery stalk, chopped

·      3 cups huckleberries

·      2 tbsp AP flour

·      2 cups apple cider

·      2 tbsp red wine vinegar

·      4 cups brown veal stock

·      Salt

·      Pepper

·      Butter

·      Parsley

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Pat dry and season the venison with salt and pepper. Heat some oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add the venison, and sear for a minute on each side. Remove the pan from the heat, place the venison on a wire rack over a sheet pan, and place the venison in the oven until the internal temperature of the venison reaches 128ºF, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest. While the venison is roasting, pour off all but 2 tbsp of the fat from the pan, add the onions and carrots to the pan over medium-high heat, sauté until caramelized, then add the celery and cook until softened. Add 2 cups huckleberries and 2-4 tbsp butter and cook until soft. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the cider to deglaze the pan and cook while stirring frequently until it has reduced to a thick marmalade. Stir in the vinegar and cook for 2-3 minutes, add the stock, and bring the mixture to a boil until reduced, about 20-30 minutes. Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan, bring the sauce to a boil, skim off any fat/scum, and add salt and pepper to season. Slice the venison and place on a heated platter. Spoon a bit of sauce over the meat and sprinkle the plate with the remaining 1 cup huckleberries and some chopped parsley. Enjoy!!!

Fresh Pasta - Make the Basics!

Hello there! So I’m sure most, if not all of us, have made pasta using those packaged dry pasta and dropping them in a pot of boiling water to cook for 9 minutes. Yeah, we’ve all been there. But there is something wonderful about making even the simplest of ingredients from scratch. I’m definitely a firm believer of that. So here is my Fresh Pasta recipe! You can top this with some herb butter, tomato sauce (homemade of course), cream sauce, or anything you’d like! Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

·      1 lb (3 1/3 cups) of semolina/durum flour

·      Salt

·      4 eggs

·      2 tbsp oil

Combine the flour, a healthy pinch of salt, eggs, and oil in a food processor. Process the mixture until it resembles a coarse meal; if you’re having difficulty reaching this stage, add some water slowly until it forms a dough mass. Knead the dough by hand until very firm, yet pliable. Cover and let the dough rise at room temperature for at least an hour. Roll the pasta into thin sheets and cut into desired shapes either by hand or with a pasta machine. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous amount of salt, and add the pasta. Stir the pasta to prevent the pasta from sticking, and cook until al dente, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander, and there is your fresh pasta!