Risotto ai funghi - Mushroom Risotto

There are innumerable recipes for risotto. The basics are
Use a short rice with high starch content.
Cook it very slowly.
Flavor well.
Easy, right? Well, yes!

It’s not like standard American rice that you measure the exact rice to liquid ratio, set the flame and leave. It takes your eye, judging when to add more liquid a little at a time. Still not difficult. I learned risotto from a sweet lady in the north of italy, where it’s commonly on the table. You can make risotto with just about anything. I love using any veg that i have just a couple cups left of...not enough for a side for my family but perfect for risotto! Just chop and sauté those veggies with a little onion, pair the type of broth you make (veg with veggies, for example) and proceed.

Making mushroom risotto:

Ingredients
2 cups carnaroli or Arborio rice (you can sub long-grain rice but it won’t be as creamy)
Mushrooms: 2 cups of mushrooms comprised of 8 Oz fresh mushrooms, chopped and/or 1 cup dried mushrooms, soaked in 2 cups hot water for 2 hours (save the liquid), chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Optional: 1/2 c small diced salami or prosciutto or ham
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
6 cups mushroom or veg broth (includes the mushroom liquid you made)
2 tbsp herbes de Provence OR 1 each of thyme and oregano
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Optional a pinch of red pepper flakes
Parsley, chopped

Finishing:
1/2 c Parmesan
1/4 c butter cut in 5 pieces

Put your broth in a saucepan and keep hot but not boiling.
In a large wide skillet sauté the onion in the olive oil and butter until soft. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté on medium (if adding salami etc add it with the onions). Then increase heat to medium high and add rice. Stir and toast rice until you see a slight color change. Then reduce heat, level out the mixture flat in the pan and add enough broth until barely submerged. Add spices and mix in. Level out again and add more broth if needed. **If you have puddles your rice isn’t level so adjust it. Adding the broth is key. Rice should not be poking up above the broth line but broth should barely be covering it all. I use a 1/4 c ladle to add it.

Once it boils reduce the flame to barely above low...you want bubbles coming up but not many. I call it a tiny boil lol. DO NOT STIR your risotto. At all. The flame is low and you’ll add liquid gradually so it won’t burn. Every 2-3 minutes add a half cup of hot broth, drizzling it around the skillet. Don’t skip the edges. Rice is well packed in there so if you dump it in the center the other rice will burn.
Keep doing this for 20 minutes. Check by tasting your rice. It will likely have a bit of crunch still.

Start checking for doneness every 5 minutes. When it’s got just a hint of crunch add a ladle of liquid and then no more. Let it absorb most of the liquid, but when it’s still wet turn off the flame, add your Parmesan, parsley and 1/4 c butter and stir in. You’re done! Let the risotto sit for 10 min before serving.

You can serve this with more Parmesan, red pepper oil, and round out your yummy meal with a nice glass of Chardonnay, a fresh salad, maybe some broccoli rabe cooked with garlic and oil. Enjoy!

Note: while I didn’t take pics of the risotto i did take pics of what i did with the leftovers!
Butter a loaf pan. Line with parchment. Line with prosciutto. Mix 4 cups of rice with 2 raw eggs and 1/2 cup Parmesan. Put half the rice packed into the bottom. Make a trench and lay three boiled eggs. Sprinkle with 3/4 c shredded mozzarella and top with the rest of the rice. Top it all with 1/2c seasoned breadcrumbs. Bake at 400 for 30-35 min or till golden.
Meanwhile sauté some chopped onion in half butter and half olive oil till soft. Add 2 cups peas, 1 tbsp herbes de Provence (can you tell i love that stuff?), 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 5 min. Set aside and serve with your beautiful sformato di riso!

When baked just turn out onto a plate, surround with peas, and serve.

Spanikopita

Feeling creative? Try Spanikopita. It’s a finger-licker.

 Dia’s Spanikopita Appetizer

Ingredients:
One roll of phyllo dough, thawed (about 20 sheets)
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, minced
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp each salt pepper
Good pinch cayenne
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 c frozen chopped spinach, thawed, water squeezed out
3-4 sticks melted butter

In a medium saucepan sauté the mushrooms in olive oil till dry, about 5 min. Add spices and spinach and cook through. Off heat, add goat cheese and stir well till smooth. Cool and shape into 20-22 walnut sized balls.

Heat oven to 350 and prep a rimmed sheet pan w parchment. Melt a stick of butter in a small bowl. Melt more as needed. On another rimmed sheet pan (edges are needed to help contain the mess of the abundant butter!) lay out one sheet of phyllo as in pic. With a brush butter it well. Don’t worry about wetting every centimeter but you want a good buttered sheet.

Fold one side a third way onto the sheet as in pic. Butter.

Fold other side onto the first fold and butter again. Now you have a long strip of phyllo 1/3 the size of the sheet. Place a ball of filling at the bottom.

Take bottom left corner and fold over filling to the right edge to make a triangle and mash just a little to be able to fold easily. Don’t worry about tears in the phyllo just put it together and keep folding the triangle right and left up the strip (like when we passed notes in school or made paper ‘footballs’). At the end just fold the left over phyllo up around the triangle. Don’t try to tuck it in.

Make all your triangles and place together on the parchment sheet. Not much space needed between them as they don’t expand.

Bake 25-30 min or till golden brown. Remove w tongs to a paper towel and then to your serving plate. Can serve with a cool sour cream dip if desired (chopped herbs and salt are all that’s needed). Makes 20-22 triangles.
Buon appetito!
Dia

No Knead Half-Day Ciabatta

No Knead Half Day Ciabatta

You’ve heard of NoKnead Bread. Problem is, you have to think of it the night before to have ready by the next afternoon. I still make it, but with a family of more than 2 you probably want to make more than one loaf. What if you want sandwiches? Make ciabatta!

This recipe makes two giant loaves of ciabatta, enough for 8 meal sized sandwiches.

Let’s do it!

Ingredients:
6 cups bread flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
3 cups very HOT water (not scalding-less than 130F)

Tools:
Parchment paper
Three long boxes or tubes for props (I use a rolling pin, a rolled up cutting sheet, and wadded up paper towels or a dish towel)
Either you need a large cookie sheet AND a 13x9 or larger metal pan
OR
You need a large metal serving pan with lid. I use this, actually a buffet serving pan with lid. They make these in aluminum and sometimes come with a lid too.

Total time needed start to finish: 5 hours

Mix all ingredients in a plastic bowl, just enough to blend. Note on the water temp: I use hot water from the faucet. It shouldn’t be unbearably hot but make it as hot as you can stand to the touch.
Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise for 3 hours on the counter. No warm area needed.

After 3 hours, put your pans or pan and lid into the oven and turn on to 450. Then, flour the counter and scrape dough out onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour. Using a scraper divide into two pieces. Then, with floured hands, pick each piece up and gently shape into a kind of ball. Don’t press it or pinch it. Sprinkle with flour and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest 15 minutes.

While it rests place your boxes or rolls on top of a large wood cutting board (for warmth), next to one another and then separate, spacing them parallel but about 5” apart. Now cut a piece of parchment for each space like a hammock for your bread. Make sure it’s about 24” long and wide enough to go past the sides of your boxes a couple of inches (to give space to grab it).  When your dough is rested, gently pick up and let its own weight lengthen the dough to about 24” and lay one in each of the hammocks. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise for an hour.

After the hour, WITH OVEN MITTS, remove the baking sheet or covered pan from the oven. Pick up one bread at a time and place them side by side in/on it. If using a covered pan, put lid on and place in oven. If using a baking sheet, put in the oven and pour 1.5 cups of water in the 13x9 placing pan under the baking sheet. Close the oven quickly.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the parchment and bake another 10-12 minutes or until very golden. Let cool on a rack at least 15 min before cutting.

Don’t waste any leftover bread. This makes wonderful bread pudding!!

Buon appetito! Dia

Fancy French Meringues

I make these like my momma. She called them Forgotten cookies. Like meringues but we do it Texas style. Big, with chocolate and pecans added! And a great way to use up egg whites.

Yesterday I made pastry cream which requires 5 egg yolks. Thus, time to make meringues!
And today, I’m having meringues with my coffee! Mmmm.

You need
5 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/2 c chocolate chips

Let the egg whites come to room temp. Then beat them with an electric mixer or beaters until very foamy. Add in your sugar a tbsp at a time until all added, then add the salt and the vanilla. Keep beating for 5-10 min. It takes awhile to dissolve the sugar and get it to whip up into stiff peaks. Don’t let it beat till the mixture looks dry.

Preheat the oven to 200 and prep a pan or two with parchment paper.
Fold in your pecans and chocolate.
Dollop onto the parchment. Leave a little space. They don’t grow so they can be close.
If you want them chewy inside you can make them giant 3-4” dollops. If you like them all crunchy leave them about 2” size.

Bake at 200 for 2 hours. Then turn off the oven - DONT OPEN IT! - and leave in for another hour.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Store in a sealed ziploc or plastic container and they’ll be good for weeks!

Flan. Creamy, sweet, the caramel flavor coming through leaving a nutty toasted sugar taste in your mouth. Beautiful for company and simple enough for family dinner. Make it in a loaf pan, deep cake pan, soufflé cups...

Ingredients for a 4 cup form (9" round cake pan or loaf pan)
Caramel:
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
In a light colored saucepan on medium hi put sugar and water, and stir only till combined. Cook until caramel color but not too dark, not stirring. If it smokes make it over again. Pour immediately in the form and swirl to coat bottom. Set aside.

Custard:
3 c half and half or 1.5 c cream and 1.5 c milk
3/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs plus 3 extra yolks
1 tsp vanilla
In saucepan on medium add the half n half plus about half of the 3/4 c sugar. Aside, beat to combine the eggs yolks salt and other half of sugar.

Meanwhile heat a large kettle or pan of water for the water bath, and find a casserole your form will fit in. Place an empty casserole in oven and preheat to 325. Must be large enough and y’all enough to set your baking pan in and water come up the sides halfway.

When milk is steaming but before it boils, remove from heat and whisk in the eggs, pouring really slowly in a thin stream and whisking like crazy so it doesn't curdle. When all the eggs are added, add the vanilla, and for extra creaminess pour it thru a sieve to remove egg bits that may have formed.

Open oven,
put the form with caramel in the casserole,
add your milk to the form,
and then add water to the casserole till it’s up the side of the form halfway or so.

Close oven and bake 30-40 min or till the custard jiggles just a tiny bit.
Take form out and Cool on a rack for 30 min, and in fridge 8+ hours more.

To serve, set out for 2 hours (lets the caramel thaw a bit), run a sharp knife around the edges, place a plate w a lip over your form and flip over all at once. It should drop out. If not just tap a little.

Mmmmm ... serve w whipped cream and strawberries if you like.
I make them also in jelly jars to take to lunch at work.
*I always double this and make in a le creuset 12 cup round, or in the ring pictured, and works great. Baked for about an hour or more when doubled!