Jazzed Beans and Rice

I loved the light on those red kidney beans when I dumped them in with the jasmine rice. What can I say? Added spices and diced vegetables to the mix and we had us a big old bowl of spicy red beans and rice the other evening. Our neighbors made shrimp tacos, margaritas, and a hot cheesy salsa dip to start things out. And then? We whiled the evening away on their deck sipping drinks and Coronas and knoshing the best Tex-Mex meal ! There is NOTHING like having good neighbors ... just sayin'.

Sautéed Chard Arancini

This time of year, the cusp of the new growing season, is always a time that I go hog wild over the fresh greens, the first shoots of asparagus, the new crisp radishes that are showing up, bundles of fresh herbs. It's intoxicating to see these fresh Spring greens after all that orange of squash, white taters, and turnips, and the colors of winter vegetables! This week, when I saw bundles of fresh chard, it was too much for me to resist. I snapped up two bunches - one fresh green chard and the other red rainbow chard. The other evening we had wilted greens, wild rice with asparagus bites and roasted game hens and now, today, this small plate lunch of sautéed chard arancini.  This is a fussy fun dish to make. What a great way to putter around with my morning!

One Sick Mama, Risotto, and the Tree ...

Well, I could make one more cookie cutter Christmas. I'm good at that ... making cookies, pulling all the same stuff out of the closet and sorting through it meticulously. This year, though, things are a bit different. The kids will be making Christmas Eve dinner. We are attending a different church. I am sick with a horrid cold and don't feel great. I need comfort food, a slow approach to all the decorating and hub-bub. I have been doing a series of home made gifts that I really want to concentrate on and damn the commercial end of things. Thank goodness, I got most of the foodie gifts made before I turned into Typhoid Mary ... now I can sit around on my ass and stitch the rest of the presents ... and hopefully, ditch this sickness!

Re-Fried Bean Stuffed Poblanos with Queso

Need an easy dish to share at a summertime patio party? These peppers were a cinch to make and travelled nicely to the pool party we hung at over the weekend. The colors are great in this dish. I didn't photograph the finished dish, as we all know what a cheesy topping looks like, but at this point in the prep, I had to snap a photo because the peppers were so pretty and perfect. 

Cooking With Nigel ... Rice and Grains

The constant push to get away from pasta products has made me branch out and look for more rice and grain recipes to sub in for my beloved noodles. Nigel has been so helpful ... he does like a good bowl of rice, a good rice pudding, a nice side of pearled barley, stewed lentils ... et cetera !

Beer Braised Shrimp and Sausage with Louisiana Salsa and Rice

... Cajun 'holy trinity' is the base for a chilly fresh salsa ...

Starting with a chop of celery, green pepper, and red onion, one can put together a nice little shrimp and sausage slurry that sure makes for a nice spicy supper ... meal made in thirty minutes while listening to pre-game chatter, ball game on at first pitch,  and feet up with bowls of Beer Braised Shrimp with Louisiana Salsa and Rice sitting in our laps ...  go Red Sox !!!

IHCC - Pan Seared Scallops with Spinach and Lemon Zested Risotto

... dinner in about 30 minutes ... no kidding! ...

Roasted Cauliflower, Sage, and Almond Risotto - IHCC

Do you ever fold the corner down on a page when you just have to remember where you left off ? I try really hard not to, but I'll admit that sometimes I will dog-ear a page ...

I Heart Cooking Club - Donna Hay In Season

This week, the I Heart Cooking Club is concentrating on ingredients that are 'in season' where ever we are in the world. Well, here in New England the potato crop is mounded up in cool storage for the winter. It's getting colder by the day and we are settling in for warm 'stick to your ribs' suppers. Potatoes will be getting full treatment in the weeks and months ahead.

               Last night, sweet potatoes got the royal treatment in a beautiful Italian supper.

One classic dish that makes its way into my kitchen at this time of year is risotto. With little cubes of sweet potato and some jazzy bits of pancetta and crispy sage leaves, Donna Hay has tempted me to make her version of this Italian classic. It fits beautifully with this week's theme, as my pantry drawer is filled with both sweet and white potatoes and I have a sage bush out the back door that must have its branches snipped before the hard frosts finally 'do it in' for the season.

Virtual Supper Club - Arroz con Dulce and a Cool Havana Loco Cocktail

This is the prettiest dish of rice that I have ever seen. It is a dessert dish meant for a Cuban feast that the members of  The Virtual Supper Club are sharing this month. When I first came across the recipe, I was a bit turned off, as I have never cared for the conventional rice pudding served by my grandmother and mother. But life's for experimenting, so I set aside my prejudice and made this jazzed up version ... and I'm very glad I did !!

Risotto with a Crown of Green Beans and Mushrooms

Classic Risotto a la Marcella Hazan  ... this is a simple summer supper ... after a day of making and canning pizza sauce for our weekly pizza pies. A glass of chilled white wine and big bowls of this beautiful dish ... feet up for a ball game on the television ... and the day ended well.

Marcella Hazan gives us such a nice little tutorial on making risotto in her classic cookbook called Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. She makes a distinction between the firmer and stickier risottos of the Piedmont, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna regions of Italy and the smoother, looser and runny versions of the Veneto region in northeastern Italy. This looser, gooey, saucier version is my preferred risotto. Hazan calls it 'wavy' or all'onda. I call it gluten free comfort food.

Cold Weather Food ... Apple and Ham Risotto

What is it about really cold weather that makes me crave carbohydrates?  I swear to God, I woke this morning huddled beneath the down comforter and my nose was cold - cold, like I'd been out on the rink skating or tossing wood into the woodbox for half an hour or walking the dog briskly down our dirt road! No ambient heat in the house, the baseboards creeking to life as warm water made its way on the circuit, frost feathers decorating every window in the upper story of the house, the sunrise a lovely reddish-orange stain making its way from the corner of the bedroom window toward the curtain. And what did I think of ? No sigh of shivering frustration. No blissful adoration of the beauty of Mother Nature. Nope. I thought of a warm steamy bowl of risotto ... seriously.

Middle Eastern Lentils and Peppers with a Side of Rice

My sweetheart has been gone for two weeks ... he's a long-distance bike riding maniac. My brother, Rich is his cronie and partner in insanity. They took a big loop of a trip from New Hampshire to Boston to Cape Cod to the Rhode Island and Connecticut coasts to Long Island to New York City to the Hudson Valley to western Massachusetts and back to New Hampshire. The weather has been less than stellar for the past couple weeks, so I wanted their welcome home meal to be hot, comforting and simple. I thought they would be wet, hungry, and tired ... and I was correct. Last evening, the guys dragged themselves and all their gear into the house at around 6 PM. They'd been riding since 7 AM. Boy, did they look haggard, but lo and behold ... dinner was just being placed on the platter! It was piping hot and so comforting! When I grinned and chortled, " Just in time for dinner !", they  asked, "Are you clairvoyant? How did you do this?" There was no clairvoyance. It was luck, folks. Pure luck.

Chicken Biryani for Two

When I have this dish, I think about the Iranian traders who traveled the ancient trade routes, bringing cooking methods along with them as they made their way toward Pakistan and India ... oh, the spices and goods that passed to and fro along those hidden trails. Biryani is a Persian cooking method that means 'fried' and 'roasted'. That's just what this dish is ... fried chicken and aromatics with roasted rice. I love its spicy heat with cool side dishes and a large dollop of yogurt ...

Turkey Fried Rice

Making your own fried rice will spoil you ... it is so easy to put in more of what you like and less of what you don't. It's fresher than what you get in most Asian eateries and it's really not that hard to make if you just sharpen your knife and get chopping! Get yourself a good wok and some wooden or silicon spoons for stir frying and away you go!

An easy lunch that is nutritious and not too over the top ... turkey fried rice and a pot of tea ...

Farmers, CSA's, and Severine von Tscharner Fleming

                                                                                                

 Photo Credit - Rich Pomerantz Photography

SvTF is the way I'm going to refer to her. I'm sure she must have a nickname that she goes by ... perhaps Madame Greenhorn ? She's worked very hard to bring organization and support to young farmers nation-wide through her efforts in forming The Greenhorns. The homesteading and CSA movements have blossomed while she has been recruiting the most enthusiastic of supporters in the fields of agriculture, film, art, technology, and marketing to jump on board the Greenhorns advocacy group and help promote its mission to recruit and support young farmers as they go up against the large agribusiness complex that threatens small scale farming. The organization's blog,  the irresistible fleet of bicycles , is a wealth of information on finding available farm land, farming issues, seminars for learning farming practices and business strategies, ways to advocate for the small farmer in the political arena, and celebrations of successes. This is grassroots organization in a 21st century world and technology is helping a lot! The Greenhorns organization, with SvTF as its director, has its hands in the worlds of on-line communication, independent film production, and radio.

SvTF is an eloquent advocate. Yes, she's on a mission. Sounds a little daunting, doesn't it?  Well, it is when you really think about it, but there are so many small farms struggling to grow good food and raise healthy animals to supply the American public with healthy local foodstuffs. CSA's are just the tip of the iceberg. Local farmer's markets are the place to really see what small farmers can provide. The networks that are formed through those markets and regional food festivals are the backbone of the locavore movement  ... and I'm sure SvTF is cheering the little explosions of enthusiastic support that are occurring all over this country (and the world!). Yup, she must be ... and giving small farmers a place to connect and collaborate ... and THAT's game changing. Period. Peace.

As an aside - For a really great look at SvTF and other young farmers who are jumping headlong into this resurging agricultural renaissance, see Rich Pomerantz's blog and, in particular, his Young Farmers series at Rich Pomerantz Photography . He's taken some amazing pictures and has given  great write-ups on all these young people.

Ella Brennan Inspired ...

Sometimes you just have to go to a place where the food and the atmosphere pull you in, wrap around you, and make you settle back in total comfort - a place of happy people, happy food, and happy music.  Ella Brennan has played her game on that premise for many, many years! She has been a signature presence in the restaurant business for most of her life, starting young in her brother's New Orleans restaurant as a kitchen grunt and working her way up to menu development and front house management. When his restaurant ran into financial trouble, she took over and as they say, ''the rest is history". She has spent her years creating just the kinds of places of which I speak!

                                                                                                               photo by Steven Forster of the Times-Picayune

Okay, so that's the back story ... let's come forward. She is considered the grande dame of New Orleans haute creole/cajun, has worked with the likes of Prudhomme and Lagasse, has a chain of successful restaurants that the family runs, has stepped back because of age and family factors but still keeps a presence in the New Orleans Restaurant, Commander's Palace. Her awards are many, but when all is said and done, she is really just an excellent hostess with impeccable taste in food and style ... and a great business sense! What a lady!

50 Woman Game-Changers ... and Betty Fussell's Risi e Bisi

When I got out of college, I didn't want to read anything that was required ever again. I didn't want to read anything at all, in fact, for a good while. When I finally settled down to a job and an apartment, I didn't have a lot of disposable cash for outside entertainment. No more partying on my parent's dollar ... no more eating out. So, I stayed in and I started reading again. I joined a book club, but I only read what I wanted ... and one of the first freebie cookbooks that I got when I joined the book club was Betty Fussell's Eating In.

It's a neat and narrow little paperback, designed to fit nicely in your purse or the top drawer of your desk at work ... perfect for referring to when you want to shop for something good on the way home from work. Most of the recipes are pretty basic and easy to accomplish with fresh basic meats and vegetables. Plus, good old Betty gives advice on what to serve with the dish and what wine to sip alongside. It was pretty perfect inspiration for this girl!

Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and White Truffle Oil

Paula Wolfert and I go back a ways ... I first heard of her when I began using clay-pot techniques and pottery to make fish stews and tagine recipes a couple years back. I bought her cookbook Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking and never looked back. She has good solid instincts on writing recipes so that they are clear and sequenced nicely. I have read somewhere that that is one of her claims to fame ... that, and her encyclopedic knowledge of the rustic cuisines of the Mediterranean cultures.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

I found this recipe for risotto a couple years ago on one of the foodblogs. I honestly think it might have been Heidi Swanson's blog... but maybe not. I really can't remember! Suffice it to say, the recipe is not mine, but I wish it was and I will keep it in my recipe book forever!