Corn Risotto

Corn Risotto?  Is this another of Kate's funky ideas?  Nope, blame this one on Cat Cora.  We make risotto often.  Well, ofen for us.  Probably once a month.  Why in the world would you combine two starches?  Because it's really good.  Especially if it's drizzled with white truffle oil.  Of course, as Connie says, you could probably drizzle dog poop with white truffle oil and it'd taste good.  I remember the first time he bought the stuff at the grocery store.  He called (this is not unusual - either my list is lacking or his hunting skills are lacking and we need to touch base while he's shopping)  Do you have ANY clue how expensive this stuff is????  No, please tell me.  It's FOURTEEN dollars a can.  Holy COW, really.  Would I be calling you if it was cheap?  No, I guess not but the recipe is pretty specific.  We need the stuff.  So, let's go ahead and spend the money and get it.  We're about to have to buy our second bottle.  This white truffle oil has turned out to be something that can totally make a dish.  And, this one is an example.  It was pretty blah.  We'd both given it a three and were about a third of the way thru our servings.  Then, the light bulb went on.  I dashed in the house and grabbed the truffle oil.  Voila, a four

Corn Risotto

Ingredients:
3-4 cups chicken broth (homemade stock is best)
1 medium onion, diced
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 c Arborio rice
3/4 c dry white wine
3 roasted banana peppers, finely diced
3/4 c roasted corn, cut off the ear
1/2 c finely shredded romano cheese
white truffle oil for drizzling

Directions:

Heat (or in my case, thaw) the chicken broth/stock.  It should just be steaming.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add the olive oil, then the onion. 

Cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the rice and cook until it is just slightly browned.  You just want to get the flavor kicked up a little bit.

Pour in the wine and stir until it's absorbed.  The stirring is really important while making risotto.  It's something about disturbing the grains of rice...

Add the chicken broth/stock about 1/2 c at a time, stirring until it's absorbed before adding any more.

When the rice is the right texture - no more crunchy center, firm and a little bit chewy, not soggy or mushy - remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the corn, peppers and romano. 

Serve drizzled with a little white truffle oil. 

adapted from Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist

In a Hurry

We've been working 80 hours a week and I've not had a day off since early January, so quick is REALLY good.  Well, tonight was quick.  I had a bag of the individually frozen tilapia in the freezer so even though Ina Garten's recipe called for what I would call fishier fish, I used that.  It was fabulous.  Turns out Connie kept his opinions to himself when I described the dishes for the week.  His first reaction was, Mustard?  and Fish?  Not gonna be a good combination.  Fortunately, he was wrong.  We gave the fish a five and would love to have it again tomorrow night!  The bread (brought it home from Eddie Merlot's) was fabulous.  And, the green beans were a four.  Great sauce, but just weren't as good as the fish.

Mustard-Roasted Fish
4- 8 oz fish fillets (we used tilapia)
4 oz sour cream
3 T dijon mustard
1 T whole grain mustard
2 T minced shallots (freezed dried from Penzeys)
1 T drained capers

Preheat the oven to 425.  Combine the last five ingredients. 

Lay the frozen tilapia fillets in an ovenproof baking dish. 

Dollop a tablespoon of the mustard sauce on each and spread it to cover the entire top of the fillet. 

Bake for 10 min or until fish flakes easily.

Adapted from Ina Garten's Back to Basics.

We served this with a crusty loaf of bread slathered with garlic cheese butter (Brady Street cheese sprinkles from Penzeys) and

Roasted Green Beans with Toasted Cashews

16 oz green beans
2 T sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
2 T diced shallots
1/2 t ginger powder
sprinkle of crushed red pepper
1/2 c chopped, lightly roasted cashews

Preheat the oven to 425.  Toss 16 oz of green beans (cut into 1" pieces) with the sauce (made with the next five ingredients.)  Bake 20 min, stirring occasionally.  Serve sprinkled with the cashews.

Last week we tried a pea and parsely pesto on linguine.  Not good.  It was gummy and flavorless even after I doubled the amount of garlic.  Along side that we had some roasted peppers that were fabulous.

Roasted Peppers

Seed and quarter a yellow, orange or red bell pepper
Drizzle it with a bit of olive oil and broil for 6 min on each sice. 
Put the pepper pieces on the serving plate and drizzle them with a mixture of 1 T olive oil, 2 t balsamic vinegar and 1t brown sugar. 
Sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese and top with either fresh or dried basil.