Gizmos and Gadgets...

I love me some Crate and Barrel.  I spent a large portion of Sunday afternoon at the C & B at Galleria in Edina.  They have gizmos and gadgets aplenty.  They've got whozits and whatsits galore.  You want thingamabobs, they have twenty....  Sorry about that.  I get carried away.   I literally cannot leave that store without buying something.  Sunday was no exception.  You can go here to see what I got.  Where is your favorite place to find kitchen gizmos?  What is your favorite kitchen gizmo?   Tell me all about it.

Rainy Day Risotto

I am ready for fresh vegetables and grilling and making salads with lettuce from the farmer's market.  I want to sit outside in the sun and read a good book.  It has been rainy and cold.  Instead of grilling out, I am in the mood for risotto.  Risotto is comfort food.  It is creamy and warm and filling and you can put it in a bowl and eat it with a spoon.  (This last point is how I define comfort food.  Knife and fork are not allowed to be a part of comfort food intake.)  The best part about risotto is how easy it is.  It's time consuming, but that is not to be confused with hard.  Have a pot??  Must make risotto.  It's good with just about anything thrown in, but my favorite way (also my husband's favorite way) to have risotto is at its most basic.  White wine, sage, caramelized onion, and bacon.

As I am sitting out the ingredients the other night, I realize we have no white wine.  This is a horror to be sure.  Dan suggests, you should try using a Corona.  I said, yes, I should.  Later, as we were discussing what might make a beer taste more like white wine, he said, you should add a lemon.  I said, yeah, I should.  And he said, also grate in some Bella Vitano cheese. I said, ok.  The following is the recipe for the new and improved basic recipe.

Risotto - The Improved Basic Recipe

1 large sweet onion (Vidalia), chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, grated (or minced)

3 T. olive oil

1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice

1 bottle of Corona (or similar)

3 cups low sodium chicken stock

1 whole lemon, reserve juices

6-8 fresh sage leaves, chopped

handful grated Bella Vitano cheese (similar to parmesan or white cheddar)

8 strips bacon, cooked and chopped

Add onion, garlic, and oil to heavy pot, saute until transparent and fragrant.  Add rice.  Stir.  Add liquid in 1 cup intervals.  Allow rice to soak up ALL the liquid before adding more.  This process releases the rice's natural starches and gives it a certain creaminess.  In between adding the liquid, you should continue to stir the rice, this makes the dish even creamier.  When the last of the liquid has been added, toss in the chopped sage and pour in the lemon juice, stir to incorporate.

Apparently, risotto does not photograph well. Keep stirring.  Always stirring.  Or get someone to stir for you. Until the liquid is all incorporated.  Then add cheese and bacon.

Stir.  Divide into bowls.  Eat.

Outrageous Roasted Broccoli

I am about to give you all two posts in one day.  Outrageous! you cry.  Yes.  It is outrageous.  But I haven't blogged about anything in more than a week, so I figure, I kind of owe it to you.  This first post is about spicy roasted broccoli.  If you have never roasted broccoli, here is your chance.  I promise you will love it.  I used frozen broccoli for both ease and nutrition.  Broccoli is not in season up here in the great north.  We barely have asparagus and lettuce.  (I think we must be Zone Arctic Circle...) The broccoli in our grocery stores is probably from somewhere warm and sunny all year long, like California, so by the time it hits the produce section here it's already lost a lot of its nutritional value....this is why I use frozen.  I digress. 

Roasted Broccoli

1 bag frozen chopped broccoli OR 1 head chopped broccoli if it is fresh

4 T. olive oil, divided

2 large garlic cloves, grated (or finely minced)

1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450°F.  Pour chopped broccoli on to a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 3 T. olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Roast for 15 minutes.  Stir remaining tablespoon of oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Drizzle over broccoli; toss to coat.  Roast until broccoli is beginning to brown, about 8 minutes more.  Scrape up all the yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan (these are called FOND) and serve immediately!

Jica-what?

Don't you just love birthday dinners?!  I mean, have you ever had a bad birthday dinner?  I never have.  (If you have, please comment below - I want to hear about it!)  Last evening, was my mother-in-law's birthday.  Dan and I spent most of our day in Hastings enjoying good food and good conversation.  If I'm lucky, my mother-in-law will share her recipe for quinoa salad.  Yum!!  I learned last night that I love jicama.  What is jicama, you ask.  I will show you: 

That is jicama.  It would be wierd by itself (unless you had DIP!), but it's great in a green salad. 

I promised in my last post to share my pictures and recipe for spicy roasted broccoli.  Well, I forgot my camera cord when I left Duluth, so you'll have to wait.  On the upside, you know what jicama is :) 

BBQ Pulled Pork

Do you know what makes me feel better when my cookies fail batch after batch?  Pulled pork.  Spicy, meaty, smoky, wonderful pulled pork.  I assume that the healing properties of shredded meat are shared by all.  Here is what I do and it turns out every time.  (Unlike YOU, you stupid bacon cookies.  Whoever thought of bacon cookies?  Stop it right now.)

I have adapted my mother-in-law's method only slightly.  I have a thing with meat on bones, I deal with it when I have to, but mostly I avoid bone-in meat when I can.  I can avoid bone-in meat when making pulled pork because you can make it with tenderloin.  The recipe is easily doubled to serve 8...or yourself 8 times.

1 unflavored pork tenderloin

1 large sweet onion, quartered

a small palmful of coarse sea salt

1 bottle of blue label Famous Dave's BBQ

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1.  Chop tenderloin into 1-2" pieces and quarter your large onion.

2. Place pork in to crockpot or slowcooker, cover with onion chunks and salt.

3. Cook at high until pork is done through.

4. Remove onion chunks (they are mushy now, watch out!) and throw them away.

5. Shred pork with two forks.

6. Stir in one bottle of bbq.  Turn heat down to low and warm through.

7. When ready to serve, mix in chopped onion.  (We like the crunch.)

Serve with jalobeanos (!) and roasted broccoli.  (Pictures tomorrow)

Tomorrow! It's only a day away!

While google-imaging pictures of food.  (Yes. I do this.)  I discovered this picture:

These are bacon chocolate chip cookies with a maple-cinnamon glaze.  I found them at sogoodblog.com and immediately became a subscriber.  I mean, hello, bacon and chocolate cookies?  Who wouldn't subscribe to THAT!?  I will be attempting these tomorrow.  And then giving them away to the people I work with.  And the people Dan works with.  At the risk of sounding like Homer Simpson...Mmmmm bacon!