Tag: Vegetables

A Fresh, Summer Risotto with Zucchini and Pesto

Zucchini Pesto Risotto

An easy risotto, with the fresh, summery additions of zucchini and pesto
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 shallots (minced)
  • 1 large garlic clove (minced)
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • 3/4 cup white wine
  • 4 cups turkey broth
  • 1.5 cups arborio rice
  • 1 medium zucchini (spiralized)
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
  • 2 Tbsps pesto
  • fresh basil (chopped, for garnish)

Instructions
 

  • Sauté the shallots and garlic in the olive oil until fragrant, but not yet brown. Add the rice, and stir constantly until the rice has started to become translucent, 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and stir continuously until the liquid has mostly been absorbed. Add the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring regularly between each pour, and waiting until the liquid has been mostly absorbed between adds.
  • Once the rice has reached almost the desired consistency (~3 cups of broth), add the zucchini and stir gently into the risotto. Add the remaining broth in the same manner as the rest, until the desired consistency is reached, then remove from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese.
  • Turn out into a serving platter, top with the basil and pesto, and serve.
Keyword Parmesan, Pesto, Rice, Risotto, Zucchini

And now for the details…

I love risotto. It is one of my favourite dishes. But I don’t make it often. Not because it’s difficult, but because it’s a bit demanding. Seriously, talk about high maintenance. It requires regular attention from the moment you start cooking, needing to add the liquid bit by bit, and stir regularly to ensure you don’t end up with a layer of dried or burnt rice coating the bottom of the pot. And because you add the liquid gradually, the cooking time is usually 20-30 minutes of unceasing hovering like a helicopter mom to ensure the result is as desired. But that result? Pure deliciousness. A creamy, lustrous texture, with tiny “popping” bites of rice grain centres.

Risotto seems to go great with vegetables. And for this particular recipe, I had some nice zucchini in the fridge that seemed to be calling to be added. To bump the flavour up even more, I chose to top this off with some pesto (bought, I regret to say, I got a bit lazy with that one) and some fresh basil.

Let’s get to cooking. We will start by heating the broth. In a small to medium pot, heat your broth on low heat and hold it on low heat for the duration of the cooking. I used turkey broth, since I has some homemade broth in the freezer, and I find that turkey broth adds additional richness to the risotto. But a chicken broth would work, or a vegetable broth if you would like to make this a vegetarian dish.

Once the broth is heating on the stove, mince the garlic and shallots, and spiralize your zucchini. Set the zucchini aside, and add the garlic and shallots to a second pot, with the oil, on medium heat. Stir until fragrant and the shallots have slightly softened. Then, add the arborio rice and stir. Continue to cook and stir until the majority of the rice kernels have turned translucent, with just a bit of opaqueness in the middle of the kernel, about 1-2 minutes. Why do we cook the rice dry before adding our liquid? From the research I have done, it is to end up with a slightly skin around the rice kernel, to ensure the rice maintains a bit of that “bite”, instead of a mushy porridge-like consistency. To be honest, I have never tried risotto without doing this step, so I am not entirely sure the overall effect on the dish if I skipped it.

Next, add the wine and stir until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. After the wine, we will add the broth bit by bit (about 1/2 cup at a time), stirring between each addition. Do not make the next addition until the liquid has been almost completely absorbed by the rice from the previous addition.

Scrape the rice on the sides of the pot down regularly, to ensure all the rice kernels are being cooked rather than dried out. Once you are nearing the end of your broth (around 1 cup left), taste test the rice to check the consistency. I like a bit of bite to my risotto, so I do not add all the liquid. But if you prefer a creamier texture, continue to add more broth until just before your desired consistency. When you are nearing the end of the cooking, with just a bit more bite than you would like, add the zucchini, and stir.

The zucchini will cook and soften quite quickly. Add a bit more broth if needed and pull the risotto off the heat. Add the shredded parmesan and stir well until the parmesan is melted and consistently mixed into the risotto.

Turn the risotto out into a serving platter, and top with you pesto. I was lazy this time around and used a pesto I got from my local Italian grocer. But there are plenty of recipes out there for fairly simple pestos, with basil, garlic, olive oil, parmesan, salt, and pine nuts.

After topping the risotto with the pesto, sprinkle with the fresh, chopped basil, and serve.

Happy eating.

Grilled Apricot Salad with Radicchio and Mint

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Grilled Apricot Salad

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 4 apricots (washed, halved and pitted)
  • 1 head radicchio (cored and sliced)
  • 1/2 cup fresh mint (washed and chopped)
  • 1/2 bulb fresh fennel (cored and sliced thin)
  • 2 Tbsps bleu cheese (crumbled)
  • 4 Tbsps pecans (toasted and chopped)
  • 2 Tbsps dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsps white wine vinegar
  • 2+4 Tbsps olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Cut apricots in half and remove pits. Coat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Place on a bbq at medium-high heat, turning halfway through until cooked through (about 4-5 minutes total). Remove from grill and set aside. Place radicchio and fennel on a plate. Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and 4 Tbsp oil until emulsified. Pour over the vegetables. Top with apricots. Sprinkle with mint, cheese and pecans, and serve.
Keyword Apricot, BBQ, Bleu Cheese, Grill, Mint, Salad, Salad Dressing

And now for the details…

I have a radicculous love for radicchio (oh yes, I went that cheesy). As I get older, I have come to enjoy more and more the bitter element that many foods provide that I could not appreciate when I was younger. Coffee, strong tea, dark chocolate, grapefruit, red wine and, of course: radicchio. There is something about bringing the bitterness together with sweet, sour, and creamy that amps all those flavours up a notch and creates a taste explosion.

A favourite salad we had in France was incredibly simple: endive, crumbled bleu cheese and mustard dressing. This recipe is taking that super simple salad and giving it a tiny bump up. We are adding in the sweet and sour of the grilled apricots, not to mention the earthiness that comes out of those grill marks. We are pulling in the freshness and sweetness of the mint and fennel. And we are adding a bit of crunch with the toasted pecans. Plus, the slight bitter note of the pecan skins matches so wonderfully with the bitterness of the radicchio. And the creamy, salty bleu cheese? Yes, thank you.

So with that: let’s get to making this salad a reality.

Start by prepping your veggies. Wash and dry the radicchio. Cut it into halves, and core the hard centre out before slicing the rest of it into strips.

Next, wash and core your fennel, and slice it into very thin strips. Raw fennel is quite crunchy, so you want those nice thin pieces to bring forward the juiciness and sweetness of the fennel while not being the focus of the bite when you are trying to chew. Add the fennel to the radicchio in your plate and toss to mix the two.

Next, cut the apricots into halves and pull them off their pits. Add the olive oil and toss to coat the apricots lightly with some olive oil so they do not stick to the grill. Place them on a medium-high grill, allowing them to brown slightly on the one side before turning and browning on the other side. Remove them from the grill and set them to the side while you prep the rest of the salad.

Mix the vinegar and the mustard together. Slowly add the oil, whisking the entire time, so that the mixture emulsifies.

Emulsify: what does this mean? It is mixing liquids together (e.g. oil and vinegar), which normally separate, but mixing them with another ingredient so they mix together and stay fairly stable as a homogeneous mix, instead of separating the moment after you have swished them together. In other words, the emulsifier is your facilitator to make sure the vinegar and oil continue to get along. In this case, mustard is our emulsifier. We mix the mustard and vinegar together first, to allow the mustard and vinegar to get to know each other and build a relationship. Then, we add the oil while whisking, and the whole blend comes together beautifully, while remaining a stable mix. Y’see, mustard introduces itself to oil all slick-like, and mustard pulls in vinegar and makes sure oil and vinegar get to be best friends too, without wanting to be apart from each other the moment they come together. Oh wow. Mustard is basically the world’s best wing (wo)man. Yes this sounds hokey. And of course there is a scientific explanation. In fact this article speaks much more to the emulsifying qualities of mustard.

Finally, we can finish off our salad. Place the apricots over the radicchio and fennel. Sprinkle the mint overtop and crumble the bleu cheese over the salad. The easiest method for crumbling the bleu cheese? Fingies. Make sure you take the cheese out straight out of the fridge, which will make it a bit easier to crumble, then squish the sh*t out of it between your fingers as you sprinkle it over your salad. Finish the salad off with some toasted pecans and drizzle with your dressing, then serve.

Happy eating.

Quick, Easy Zucchini and Enoki Mushrooms with Caramelized Shallots

Zucchini and Enoki Mushrooms

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium zucchini sliced
  • 1 package enoki mushrooms
  • 1.5 Tbsp mirin
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 shallot (thinly sliced)
  • 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Slice the shallots thin and dry on paper towels. Heat oil in a wok on medium to high heat and add the shallots. Cook, stirring regularly, until the shallots have caramelized. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels.
  • Mix together the mirin, soy and fish sauce and set aside. Drain most of the oil except for a small coating in the bottom of the wok. Add the garlic, stir frying until fragrant. Add the zucchini and cook until browned slightly, then add the enoki mushrooms. Stir until the mushroom have just started to soften, then add the sauce. Cook until the sauce is almost completely reduced.
  • Top with the shallots and serve.
Keyword Enoki Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Zucchini

And now for the details…

I love mushrooms. No seriously, I do. All kinds of mushrooms. I love cremini mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms. Matsutake’s. Shimeji’s. Portobello’s… *drool* Deeeeelicious. I love them so much so that a friend of mine suggested that “Mushrooms for Emily” sounds like it would be a great band name. The hilarious part of this is that when I was younger, I hated mushrooms. It wasn’t until my late teens/early twenties (*ahem* which aren’t THAT far behind me…) that I started to appreciate them. And that appreciation grew at logarithmic levels. Yep. Nerd joke. My love for mushroom was fast and hard, so much so that I really don’t think it can increase much more over time.

Enoki mushroom (full name enokitake, and also known as straw or golden needle mushrooms) are such a fun mushroom option. Long and thin, but with that slightly springy, spongy texture, they are almost like a noodle replacement, but way better.

Fun fact, a study done in Japan demonstrated that regular consumption of enoki mushroom resulted in reduced cancer death rates. So eating enoki mushrooms isn’t only delicious, it’s good for your health! 😛

We are going to cook this dish in a wok. Because we are going to be cooking at high heat, mix the sauce together in advance, because once cooking starts, things are going to move quite quickly.

Prepare your veggies by slicing the zucchini, and slicing off the base of your mushrooms. once the base is cut, the mushrooms should separate quite easily.

Heat the oil in your wok on a heat just below high, until a drop of water sizzles. Okay, so maybe my job has infiltrated my home life, but safety first here. Any time I am cooking with a mass of hot oil, I make sure I am wearing my glasses and not my contacts. Safety first, and PPE (personal protective equipment) where possible!

Add your shallots, and cook, stirring regularly, until they have turned a nice golden brown. Remove the shallots with a slotted spoon to a dish lined with paper towels to allow the shallots to cool. Drain the oil into a container, you can reserve this for future cooking where you need a savoury, shallot-y flavour, it keeps very well in the fridge. There should be a bit of oil left in the pan for the next part.

Are those giant chopsticks for stir frying? You bet they are.

Keeping the temperature high, add the garlic, and stir until fragrant. Immediately add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini pieces have started to soften, and have a glassy surface (2-3 minutes).

Add your mushrooms and continue to stir, with a bit of a light touch at first to avoid breaking the mushrooms into pieces. As they cook and soften, they will become more malleable and will not break as easily.

Once the mushrooms have become soft, add your sauce and stir, allowing the sauce to cook down. This should not take very long at high heat, likely less than 60 seconds.

Turn out onto your serving platter and top with the shallots. Serve and enjoy!

Happy eating.

Fennel, Carrot and Radicchio Salad with Lime Leaf Dressing

Fennel, Carrot and Radicchio Salad with Lime Leaf Dressing

Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups kale (stalks removed, thinly sliced)
  • 5 carrots (shredded)
  • 1 fennel bulb (thinly sliced)
  • 1 small radicchio (thinly sliced)
  • 2 green onions (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk (high fat)
  • 6-8 makrut lime leaves
  • 1 lime (juiced and zested)
  • 1/4 lemon (juiced)
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • Prep the veggies. Heat the coconut milk with the lime leaves over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Let cool, and mix with the rest of the dressing ingredients. Pour over the veggies and mix.

And now for the details…

I have a bit of an obsession with makrut lime leaves. They are also known by the name kaffir lime leaves, but this title is now considered defunct due to the offensive nature of the k-word. Some use makrut, or simply lime leaves to describe these items of deliciousness. These leaves impart the fabulously floral, tropical, and citrusy flavour to many Thai curries, and offer a great flavour to many other items as well. Plus, when you store them in your fridge, you are welcomed by their amazing aroma every time you open the door.

I had a salad very similar to this once and thought it was a brilliant blend of veggies. The fennel offers its freshness, with a hint of liquorice. The carrot is earthy and sweet. And the radicchio provides a slight bitterness to balance the flavours. But to up the ante on the tropical look of the salad with all the colours, I wanted to impart an exotic flavour to add to the experience. Enter lime leaves. Their delicate flavour adds an air of mystery to the salad. The taste being somewhat familiar, but at the same time foreign or indeterminate compared to most western flavours.

Let’s get to cooking. To start ourselves off, we are going to cook the lime leaves in the coconut milk. Try and use a “premium” coconut milk, as these will be higher fat, and will provide you with a creamier and less watery dressing. Place the lime leaves in the milk and cook over low heat until the milk is infused, about 20-30 minutes.

I drool now at the memory.

I actually cooked too much, using the entire can of coconut milk. I saved and froze the leftovers, which could be used for a smoothie, a delicious addition to a cocktail in place of ice, or even melted into a curry for an added punch of flavour. Tasting it frozen, it does inspire me to make an attempt at a makrut lime ice cream sometime in my near future. A forthcoming blog post, you ask? I would say likely.

Now that we have the base of our dressing ready, and we are waiting for it to cool, we will prep our veggies. Wash everything and set on a a towel to dry. Have a large bowl ready for the veggies as they are ready. Removing the core, slice the fennel very thin, either using mandolin or a very sharp knife. If you want, you can reserve some of the fennel greens to add some visual pop to the presentation of the salad at the end. De-stalk the kale and slice thinly. Slice the radicchio. Peel and shred the carrots. Slice the green onions, including part of the white. Add everything into the bowl.

This balance of colours and flavours excites all elements of the palate!

Whisk all the dressing ingredients well together (make sure you have removed and discarded the lime leaves), then drench your veggies with the delicious mix and stir all together. Serve with some of the fennel greens as adornment.

Happy eating.

A Prairies attempt at cuisine Québécoise in three parts… Part III: Haricots Verts (Green Beans) with crispy shallots and caramelized nuts

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Haricot Verts with Crispy Shallots and Caramelized Nuts

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb greens beans/haricots verts (cleaned and trimmed)
  • 4-6 shallots sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 + 3 Tbsps butter
  • 3 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp kosher or Maldon salt
  • 1/2 cup pecans chopped in large pieces

Instructions
 

  • Slice the shallots thin (approximately 2mm) and lay them on paper towels to dry. Heat the vegetable oil in a large shallow pan at medium to medium-high heat. Lay the shallots out in the oil and allow them to turn gold brown. Stir regularly to allow them to brown on all sides. Once golden brown, transfer to a dish with a paper towel to drain any excess oil and allow to cool. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add the sugar. Add the pecans and stir, allowing the sugar to melt in the butter. Continue to cook until the sugar is completely melted and browns slightly. Lay the cooked nuts out onto a plate covered in parchment paper, sprinkle with the salt and allow to cool completely. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan, add the beans, a bit of salt, and sauté until cooked through. Top with the crispy shallots and lightly chopped pecans.
Keyword Caramelized Nuts, Green Beans, Shallots, Vegetables


And now for the details…

So to “finish off” our Quebequoise night, we added a vegetable dish, being haricot verts, or green beans, with crispy shallots and caramelized nuts. Now… for our actual evening, we used walnuts, but when I recreated the recipe (since I kinda forgot to take enough photos the first go ’round), I had no walnuts in the house and used pecans instead. Both were delicious, and I feel filberts and almonds would be equally delicious with this recipe. However, if using the filberts or almonds, it would be a good idea to chop the nuts slightly before cooking, because they are quite a bit thicker and they would not toast through as well.

If you want additional accoutrements to your dinner besides the recipes listed, the suggestions that came from Krystal’s boyfriend, Philipe, was to add pickled beets and… pickles. Apparently sweet pickles are the traditional side dish, and he teased us that it would not be the same with garlic pickles… But… ummm… I am not the biggest fan of sweet pickles, so we settled for pickled beets and garlic pickles and left it at that. (Sorry Philipe!)

Right… the cooking… Let’s start by slicing the shallots nice and thin and laying them out on a paper towel to dry. Drying the shallots will allow them to crisp up nice and easy once they hit the oil, without steaming themselves first.

Heat the oil in a pan on medium to medium-high heat until adding a drop of water pops. Add the shallots to the pan, trying to keep them as spread out as possible, in a single layer. Let them cook, stirring regularly, to allow them to crisp up and get golden on all sides. As they cook, they will soften and break apart, but continue to push and pseudo flip them so that they brown on all sides. Once they have browned, use a slotted spoon to remove them and transfer onto a paper towel on a plate to allow them to drain any excess oil and to cool. If they are soft-ish when you remove them, fret not! As they cool, they will crisp up and be delicious little morsels of shalloty goodness.

Next, let’s caramelize the nuts. Like I said, I didn’t have any walnuts in the house and made this with pecans instead. Equally as delicious, and I made them the same way.

Start by adding the three tablespoons of butter and sugar to your pan. I used brown sugar, but you could replace this with cane or even white sugar instead, since the sugar will brown and caramelize. Allow the butter to fully melt and the sugar should start to kinda stick together in a paste. Add the nuts, and continue to cook until the sugar looks like it is melting into the butter and around your nuts.

Pour everything out onto a large plate lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with your salt, and allow to cool completely. As they cool, the sugar will harden, leaving a nice buttery, sweet crust, and the salt gives that sweet with savoury crunch. I have made these for salads as well, and added a wee sprinkle of cayenne pepper while the nuts were cooking. This led to a deliciously sweet, savoury and spicy topping that was so good, but the cayenne didn’t seem very French, so I left it out of this recipe 😉

Lastly is to cook your beans. The good news: have you noticed how all these steps can be done in one pan?? My husband loves my cooking, but points out that I seem to need to use every dish in our kitchen while I’m preparing meals… luckily, this is all in one dish!

Start by trimming the ends off the beans. Next, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in your pan, then add your beans and little (or… a lot) of salt to the pan.

Cook until the beans have changed to a vibrant green and are cooked to your preferred level of doneness.Personally, I like a bit of bite, so that the beans are still a bit crisp, but feel free to cook as much or as little as you prefer. I also chose to cook my beans at a slightly higher temperature so I would get the level of doneness I prefer, as well as a tiny bit of char. It doesn’t add much flavour, but I like how it looks.

Turn the beans out into your serving dish of choice, top with the nuts and shallots and enjoy.

Now that we have gone through all three parts, I hope you enjoyed your Québecois-inspired meal! Until next time… happy eating!