First up, Mushroom Risotto with Peas. I have been working on my risotto skills for about 6 months now and I think I've finally mastered it. It's not that difficult, it's just tedious. All together it should only take about 25-28 minutes to cook, you just have to spend that entire 25-28 minutes standing at your stove, stirring...and stirring...and stirring...and stirring. You want to make sure you heat up all the liquid you will be adding and you want to make sure you cook the risotto at the perfect medium-high heat so that the liquid doesn't absorb too fast leaving you with crunchy risotto. You want it to be tender and creamy.
Ingredients
- 8 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1/2-ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups finely chopped onions
- 10 ounces white mushrooms, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 2/3 cup grated Parmesan
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
Directions
Bring the broth to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the porcini mushrooms. Set aside until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.
Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the white mushroom and garlic. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the porcini mushrooms to a cutting board. Finely chop the mushrooms and add to the saucepan. Saute until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes. Add the wine; cook until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding more broth by cupfuls and stirring often, about 28 minutes (the rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of broth). Stir in the peas. Mix in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.My Changes: I couldn't find dried porcini mushrooms, all my grocery store had was dried chanterelle mushrooms. From what I've read, chanterelle mushrooms have a fruiter flavor than the more robust porcini, but obviously I still enjoyed the end result. My only other change was I added pancetta to the recipe. I knew we would be eating this as an entree and the hubby isn't too fond of meatless dinners. Pancetta is an Italian bacon which is unsmoked pork belly and I was able to find it cubed up already in my grocers deli section. I cooked the pancetta up in a skillet, drained it, then added it in the end with the peas. I topped mine with some more grated Parmesan : )
Next up is Capellini al Forno. This is the recipe I watched Giada make on her show. It's almost like making a lasagna, with all of it's layers. I guess you can say it's a fun alternative for lasagna or a boring baked pasta dish.
The hubby wanted to have a "Presentation Off"...can you tell which one is his?
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing pan
- 1 pound capellini (angel hair) pasta
- 1 cup plus 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 3 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 pound proscuitto, sliced 1/8-inch thick and coarsely chopped
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded smoked mozzarella
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (25-ounce) jar marinara or tomato-basil sauce, warmed
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch diameter nonstick spring form pan. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add 4 tablespoons butter, 1 cup Parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Toss well until coated.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup breadcrumbs in the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread 1/3 of the seasoned pasta on top. Arrange half of the prosciutto in a single layer on top. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella on top. Add 1/3 of the pasta and push down lightly to form an even layer. Repeat the layers with 1/4 cup breacrumbs, the remaining pasta, prosciutto, and mozzarella. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and Parmesan together. Sprinkle over the layers and dot with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until light golden on top, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.
Remove the sides of the pan and cut the pasta into wedges. Serve with warm marianara sauce.
My Changes: First, I didn't have a spring form pan, nor did I care to purchase one, so I chose to just use a 9" cake pan. I also halfed the recipe because this thing is pretty massive and I knew we were not going to eat it all, so I figured the cake pan would be fine. If you choose to do this as well, be sure to cut your baking time to 30 minutes or so because although you're halfing the recipe, you're still putting the ingredients in the same size pan, just not as deep, so it will cook faster. I started checking mine at 20 minutes. Other than that, I followed the recipe. I would encourage you to taste your proscuitto first because some can be rather salty (like mine was) and you will most likely not want to use all the salt the recipe calls for if this is the case. Mine probably could have done without the salt all together. Also, I made mine with the chopped parsley, but I have a feeling it would be so much better if the parsely was replaced with basil. Just a suggestion : )
Lastly is Orzo and Sausage Stuffed Peppers. I love me some stuffed peppers, but the recipe I usually follow for these is getting a little bland. I had some orzo in my pantry so I searched online to see what I could use it for and alas, Giada to the rescue. Her recipe calls for just Orzo Stuffed Peppers, but like I said before, we really aren't a "meatless" dinner kind of family, so I added sweet Italian Sausage to it (I'll give you all my changes at the bottom). These peppers were so moist and flavorful, by far the best I've ever tried.
Ingredients
- 1 (28-ounce) can Italian tomatoes
- 2 zucchini, grated
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
- 6 sweet bell peppers(red or yellow)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and break apart using a pair of kitchen shears or your finger tips. Add the zucchini, mint, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the orzo and cook for 4 minutes. The orzo should be only partially cooked. Use a fine mesh sieve to transfer the orzo to the large bowl with the other vegetables. Stir the orzo into the vegetable mix to combine. Transfer the warm chicken broth to a 3-quart baking dish.
Slice the tops off the peppers and remove all ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice from the base to help the peppers stand up (only if you need to).
Place the peppers in the baking dish with the warm chicken broth. Spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the top of each pepper with cheese and continue baking until the cheese is golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, carefully transfer the orzo stuffed pepper to a serving plate.
My Changes: With the addition of the 1 lbs. sweet Italian sausage, I halfed the amount of orzo and only used 1 zucchini so that I didn't create too much stuffing for the 6 peppers called for. And actually, I bought pretty giant peppers, so I only needed 5 of them. I still cooked the orzo in the 4 cups of chicken broth because you will need all that broth for the bottom of your baking dish. I simply mixed in the raw sausage during the first step with all the other ingrediants, then added the orzo after it finished cooking. If you wanted to use another meat, you definitely could, I just figured Italian sausage has so much flavor in it that it would go nicely. Also, my previous stuffed pepper recipe calls for ground beef and I was getting a little sick of it, so I was looking for something different. I hope you try this recipe my way, it was delicious!
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