Squash and kale risotto

Hadn’t done a risotto in a while and I was wondering what to do with the winter squash and kale I had around — so there ya go! Recipe was from here and proved pretty nice…

Three recipes thanks to Angelic Organics and Farmer John

I’ve spoken before about Angelic Organics, whose founder, John Peterson, has gained deserved fame as one of the key faces of the CSA movement. A couple of years back my friend Greg gave me a copy of the excellent Farmer John’s Cookbook and I’ve dipped in and out of it many times.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve gone ahead and tried a slew of recipes from the book, all of which were winners. I won’t post them here since I really encourage you to buy the book, but various sample recipes are available through the Angelic Organics site.

That first photo you see is of a simple sauteed kohlrabi — very tasty and a nice difference from the steaming of kohlrabi I’ve done several times before. Rich, but not overly so, and flavored just right.

The other day, meanwhile, I took a pumpkin which hadn’t been sacrificed to Halloween purposes and adapted a recipe in the book to create a pumpkin basil soup that was almost ridiculously good:

And earlier tonight, something I couldn’t imagine existing before I read it in the book — cucumber with risotto. Cooking cucumber seemed counterintuitive but I went ahead and…

Very, very delicious. Now, what to try next…

Risotto Barolo with roasted vegetables

Whew. I’m surprised I went ahead and did this — an exhausting (and somehow utterly boring) day left me feeling like a wreck. But I had already pulled together the ingredients and thought ‘heck with it’ — and I’m glad I did. Very, very delicious, and a great way to start the weekend.

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Vegetables:

8 baby carrots, trimmed
8 baby turnips, trimmed
8 baby beets, trimmed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Risotto:

6 to 7 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 pound sliced pancetta, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 1/2 cups Barolo
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or truffle butter
Freshly ground black pepper
Black truffle shavings or truffle oil for garnish, optional

For the Vegetables: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the carrots, turnips, beets, thyme sprigs and garlic in a roasting pan with the olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 30 minutes. Peel the beets. Keep the vegetables in the turned-off oven until the risotto is ready.

For the Risotto: Bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat so the broth simmers gently.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until slightly crispy, about 3 minutes. Add shallots and cook stirring, until tender, about 1 minute. Add the rice and stir until it is glossy, about 1 minute. Add the salt. Add 1 cup of the Barolo and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it is absorbed by the rice, about 2 minutes, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Ladle in about 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and stir constantly, until the rice again absorbs the liquid, adjusting the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue ladling in about 1/2 cup of broth at a time, stirring between additions and letting the rice absorb the liquid before adding more.

When rice is al dente, after 20 or so minutes of cooking time, stop adding broth. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup wine until just absorbed, then stir in the grated Parmesan and the butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let the risotto rest off the heat for a minute or so before serving. Divide among warm shallow bowls and top with the roasted vegetables. Shave black truffles over the top, or drizzle with a bit of truffle oil, if using.

Risotto with basil and tomato, ready to eat

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, to mention that fine volume once again. What makes a risotto like this handy is its low-fat content — aside from oil used to initially cook some onion and tomato and then coat the rice, that was pretty much it for any sort of fats in this one. No butter and no cheese — there was veggie broth and white wine instead. The purple basil was chopped up and added at the very end.

Beet and beet leaf risotto with horseradish

Made from scratch – and most delicious.

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1 small onion
1 pound red beets with greens (about 3 medium)
4 cups water
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup Arborio or long-grain rice
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 tablespoon bottled horseradish

Preparation:

Finely chop onion and trim stems close to tops of beets. Cut greens into 1/4-inch-wide slices and chop stems. Peel beets and cut into fine dice. In a small saucepan bring water to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat until softened. Add beets and stems and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup simmering water and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a strong simmer, until absorbed. Continue cooking at a strong simmer and adding water, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next. After 10 minutes, stir in greens and continue cooking and adding water, about 1/2 cup at a time, in same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 8 minutes more. (There may be water left over.) Remove pan from heat and stir in Parmesan.

Serve risotto topped with horseradish.