No Foolin’ Here: Mushroom Risotto with Peas

While it’s April Fools Day, today was anything but foolish. We have temps in the high 70’s, bright sunny skies, and a sunset that just filled the sky with majestic pinks and purples. I love food, and I also love to be outside. Not the get down in the dirt kind of outside, but the sipping a glass of white wine while eating a Salmon Caesar Salad kind of outside. My husband and I dined alfresco this evening and even stopped at his favorite ice cream shop for a cone on their opening day. Today is also my dear friend “J”’s birthday, and I would like to wish her a fabulous day and a happy year ahead!

Yesterday was just as exciting when my new Giada cookbook came in the mail! My husband ordered Giada at Home off Amazon for me on Sunday evening. After paying the price for regular shipping, the cookbook made it to our house by the time I returned home from work yesterday! I flipped through it late last night and am already overwhelmed with which recipe to try first! In honor of her new book’s release this week, I’d like to provide you with one of my favorite recipes of hers. (Yes, I know, all of her recipes are my favorites!)

This risotto is from her first book, Everyday Italian. It is a deliciously hearty vegetarian risotto. The recipe makes a lot and can work as an accompaniment or an entrée. Risotto needs some TLC, so make sure you take your time when adding broth and stirring. You’ll be very satisfied with the end result! Your risotto will likely turn out darker than the one in the pictures. The porcini mushrooms I used were lighter than I’ve seen before, but my risotto usually turns out a medium-brown color. Enjoy!

Mushroom Risotto with Peas
(From Everyday Italian)
Ingredients
8 cups canned low-salt chicken broth (Kate uses vegetable broth)
½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
¼ cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
10 ounces white mushrooms, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups Arborio rice or short-grain white rice
2/3 cup white wine
¾ cup frozen peas, thawed
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

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 mushrooms 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.

Sunset Magazine: Miso-Glazed Eggplant

As a way to use up some frequent flyer miles, an airline provided my mother with subscriptions to a variety of different magazines. Lucky for me, she passes them on once she and my father have read them. Last week I was thumbing through her most recent stack and began to read through a magazine I had never seen before, Sunset ("the ultimate Western lifestyle"). The magazine covers food, wine, home, gardening, travel, and traveling for thirteen western states. After realizing the focus of the magazine, I quickly became engrossed. You may have noticed I’ve been posting a lot about our time in California. The past couple years have provided my first -of several- trips to the previously unexplored west coast – and I find it to be a rather fascinating place. Although I have only read one issue of Sunset Magazine to date, I am anticipating that this will become a new favorite read for me.

I read through several recipes in the September issue which I quickly flagged. I took advantage of the ripe eggplant at the farmers’ market last weekend to make their miso-glazed eggplant. This recipe is fairly easy, however it may require some ingredients that you don’t typically keep on hand (such as miso, sesame seeds, and sake). I opted to use white wine instead of sake (per their suggestion), yellow miso, and Italian eggplant (at the market they looked better than the Japanese eggplant). The recipe calls for you to broil the eggplant, however we grilled them on both sides, then coated them with the miso mixture, popped them under the broiler for about 3 minutes to caramelize the glaze. We served this on top of steamed white rice.


Miso-Glazed Eggplant (Nasu Miso)
Submitted by Scott Lorenz, Scotts Valley, CA, Sunset, September 2009
Ingredients
* 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 4 Japanese eggplant (about 1 1/2 lbs. total), cut in half lengthwise and flesh scored 1/4 in. deep
* 1/3 cup yellow or red miso*
* 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons sake or white wine
* 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
* 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
* 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Preparation
1. Preheat broiler with a rack 4 in. from heat source. Heat oil in an ovenproof frying pan over high heat. Add eggplant, flesh side down, and cook until flesh starts to brown and soften, about 4 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, combine miso, sugar, sake, and chile flakes. Turn eggplant flesh side up and brush mixture over it. Broil eggplant in pan until glaze starts to brown, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and sesame seeds.

*Look for miso, a fermented soybean paste, in the refrigerator aisle of your produce section.