Risotto with pumpkin and pancetta

Happy belated Halloween everyone! I hope you are not tired of pumpkins and pumpkin recipes because lately I have been cooking a loooooot of pumpkin. I just haven't had time to post any recipes, nor have I had time to visit other people's blogs. I'm not sure why, exactly. Maybe because I have been traveling and when I was home I went out to restaurants a lot. Maybe I've just been lazy. Maybe I was trying to enjoy the last few days of warm fall weather because, so far, we have had the most amazing October I've ever seen. So it was a great time to take walks by the lake and go to outdoor festivals. Next week, though, we are supposed to get some really shitty weather, so I guess I'll have tons of time to dedicate to my blog then.

Back to pumpkin, though. Here's a recipe to make risotto with pumpkin and smoked pancetta which is very, very good. And I'm not just saying so because I invented it. It was truly amazing, perfect for any fall dinner party you might be hosting. Or even for a family dinner, really.

PUMPKIN AND PANCETTA RISOTTO

1/2 cup EVOO

2 cups finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped pancetta

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

About 6 cups of hot vegetable stock

1 pumpkin, one half baked in the oven and then pureed; the other half, peeled, cut into small dice, and sauteed in a little oil and butter until tender

1 cup grated Parmesan

4 tablespoons butter

In a medium-size heavy dutch over, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and a tablespoon of butter. Add the onion and pancetta and saute, stirring continuously, just until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and continue to stir, using a wooden spoon, to coat the rice with the oil.

Add the white wine and continue cooking, stirring often, until it has been absorbed by the rice. Pour two ladles of broth to cover the rice and continue to cook, stirring often, until all the liquid is absorbed.

Pour in 1 cup more of the remaining stock and stir and cook until it has been absorbed. Repeat with 1 more cup. Add the remaining cup and cook, stirring, until the rice is al dente, tender but still very chewy, and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Stir in the pumpkin and reduce the heat to very low so that the risotto doesn't simmer anymore. Stir in the cheese and butter to give the risotto a nice, creamy finish. Spoon it immediately into heated shallow serving bowls.

Spring vegetable risotto

 

Happy first day of spring, everyone! It's a gorgeous sunny day here on Lake Lugano and the forecast calls for more beautiful, warm days ahead. Other than the fact that I'm suffering from pollen allergies —my eyes are so puffy right now it looks like someone has beaten me— I couldn't be happier to enter the new season. While I lived in Florida I missed the winter —real, snowy, cold winters that is— but I have to be honest, this year when February rolled around I had had enough of it. I was ready for spring. So when I woke up today and I saw the sun shining in the sky and felt the air warm on my face, I took a deep breath, sneezed a couple of times and then smiled to myself. Spring is officially here.

And what better way to celebrate than cooking up some delicious spring vegetables? I had bought some wonderful asparagus, baby green peas and spring onions. I had a million ideas going through my mind at once. Savory pies. Pasta. Terrines. Soups. And then I decided. Risotto. I tend to consider risotto a winter dish because of its rich creaminess and comfort-food potential, but then again that's just one of my crazy notions most people don't understand or agree with. So why not make risotto with spring vegetables? I had never tried, but spring is all about rebirths and god knows how much I need a rebirth right now. So here it goes. If you have never made risotto before, make sure you follow the directions very carefully and make sure you have 20 minutes to dedicate to the risotto, because you can't just leave it there, cooking. Risotto is a needy dish, so give it your undivided attention —it's definitely worth it.

SPRING VEGETABLE RISOTTO

Serves 4

11 ounces Arborio or Carnaroli rice (short grain)
a glass of dry white wine
1 spring onion, minced
a pot of piping hot good quality vegetable stock
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of butter

8 ounces asparagus, washed, trimmed and cut into bitesize pieces
2 spring onions, chopped
4 ounces baby green peas
1 package saffron
1/2 cup heavy cream
a dollop of butter
salt and pepper

Prepare the veggies: melt a dollop of butter in a large skillet, add two chopped spring onions, let it saute for 30 seconds, then add asparagus, season with salt and pepper and let cook for 10 minutes, adding a little stock every now and then so that the vegetables don't stick to the pan. Add peas and cook for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix cream with saffron. When the vegetables are cooked, add cream mixture, stir well and cook on high heat for a few seconds, then remove from stove, cover and keep warm.

Prepare the risotto: in a cast iron dutch oven melt one tablespoon of butter, add minced spring onion and cook it until translucent, stirring constantly. Add rice. Let it toast on the bottom of the pan for a few seconds, then add wine and let it evaporate. Add a couple of ladles of stock, stir well and continue cooking it until stock has evaporated. Add one ladle of stock, stir and cook until evaporated. Repeat this step until rice is cooked (but not overcooked!), about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cheese and veggie mixture, stir well, cover and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Serve immediately.

Risotto with porcini mushrooms

Many of you might not know this, but the arctic cold wave that is plaguing the United States has made its way to Florida, where we haven't seen the 70s since 2009. I know, to most of you that's nothing and, to be honest, it's nothing to me as well. I grew up in the cold and enjoy it, so I have a hard time sympathizing with people bitching because they have to put a sweater on. I mean, come on. Ten days of cool weather aren't the end of the world, right?

To tell you the truth, I'm enjoying this cold spell. I like to wake up to a house that is naturally cool (no heating to be had, it's a Florida house!) and I'm having tons of fun wearing all my boots and sweaters and jackets. Lows in the 30s? Bring it on! Highs in the 50s? Great! And you know why? Because it give me the perfect excuse to make my favorite winter dishes, stuff that I would never be making if it were 75 outside. Risotto is a perfect example. Rich, creamy, winter-y. Just the way comfort food should be. We made it at my parents house the other night and, as always when my dad makes risotto, it was amazing. Remember: the key to a great risotto is giving it your undivided attention.

RISOTTO WITH PORCINI

A one-ounce packet dried porcini
1 small onion, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil + 3 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups Arborio or Vialone Nano rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup frehsly grated Parmigiano
A quart of simmering beef broth

Steep the porcini in warm water for fifteen minutes.

Mince the onion and sauté it in oil and butter mixture. When it's translucent, stir the rice into the pot. Sauté the rice for several minutes, until it becomes translucent, stirring constantly.

Stir in the wine, and continue stirring until it has evaporated completely. Then stir in two ladles of broth, and while it's absorbing, chop some of the mushrooms, while leaving some in bigger pieces. Add the mushrooms to the rice, then continue adding broth a ladle at a time, stirring occasionally. As soon as the rice is al dente, turn off the heat, stir in the remaining butter, half the cheese, a little bit of ground pepper, and cover the risotto for two minutes. Serve with the remaining grated cheese.

Paella... my way

When I was ten my family took a brief vacation in Palma de Mallorca, a beautiful, rocky island off the coast of Spain. My primary occupation back in that day was spending as much time as humanly possible in the swimming pool, an activity interrupted only by a few ice cream cones to keep my energy level high.
Everything seemed perfect: the pool was big and surrounded by gorgeous gardens to explore, the sun was high in the sky, the weather was hot but not too hot. Little did we know that we were about to experience what I can only describe as a little culture shock. An insidious problem manifested itself on our first night in Mallorca when, around sunset, all of the sudden I proclaimed I was hungry.
At eight o’clock the two restaurants in the lobby of our hotels were closed. When we asked the concierge at what time they would open he remained vague.
“Soon,” he lied. Two hours later the restaurants were still closed, my parents were enjoying cocktail hour on the hotel terrace and I was passed out on a lounge chair, exhausted by a day of playing in the pool.
When I woke up the next morning my parents were still talking about the delicious paella they had the night before, when the food was finally served around midnight.
I never got to eat this wonderful, authentic paella made in a real Spanish kitchen, but I learned how to make a really good one from my dad who is a paella aficionado like me.

Traditional paella is made with chicken, chorizo and a generous medley of shellfish. My version doesn’t include much shellfish for two reasons: the first one is that I am on a budget and the second one is that I think mussels are slimy, so I opted to use only shrimp.

PAELLA

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pound chicken breast, cubed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme (preferably fresh, but if you want to use the dried kind go ahead)
1 teaspoon marjoram (again: fresh is better, but not a must)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (4-ounce) link hot sausage (Publix sells a hot sausage that is more yummy and less greasy than chorizo)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked Uncle Ben’s rice
1/2 cup diced plum tomato
1 teaspoon Hungarian hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads (a little pricey, but definitely worth it)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chicken broth (canned broth is perfect for this recipe)
3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
First of all pour yourself a glass of wine, a good paella is not something you can rush. I also suggest that you prepare, chop and mince all your ingredients before you start cooking. It will save you time and you won’t have to run to the fridge and chop onions like a maniac halfway through the cooking process.
Sprinkle the cubed chicken with rosemary, thyme and marjoram, add salt and black pepper to taste. Heat the olive oil in the largest skillet you own, over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Remove it from the skillet and set aside.
Now take the sausage and remove the casings: the easiest way to do this is with a sharp small knife, but nails and teeth work as well. Add the sausage to the pan and cook 1 minute, stirring to crumble.
Add the chopped onion and cubed bell pepper and cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Add rice, tomato, paprika, saffron, and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. At this point the rice will look slightly toasted.
Return chicken to pan. Add 1 cup of broth and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Simmer until broth evaporates. Add another cup of broth. Simmer until broth evaporates. Add a third cup of broth. See a pattern here? Repeat until rice looks almost done. Four cups of broth should do the trick: you don’t want an overcooked mess that looks like cafeteria rice. Stir in shrimp and peas. Cover and cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp is done.
WINE PARING: a medium bodied Spanish red or, if you have time, make sangria.

In the beginning there was risotto...

Not all rice is created equal. There is rice and then there is risotto. And although I enjoy rice dishes as much as the next person, risotto is a whole different story. I don’t just ‘like it’. I love it, crave it, dream of it.

Risotto has its origins in northern Italy, where rice paddies are abundant and the inclement winter weather is conductive to a richer, heavier cuisine than in the south. I, also, have my origins in northern Italy. As a child I didn’t enjoy eating, but risotto was one of the few dishes that always made me happy. There was something about the creaminess of the cheese binding the grains, the pungent taste of saffron, the festive yellow color that was so inviting and comforting even my five-year-old self couldn’t help but love it.

Risotto with saffron is one of the pillars of Milanese cuisine and northern Italians take much pride in serving it to their guests. While we enjoy being creative in the kitchen and experimenting with food and ingredients, when it comes to risotto we stick to tradition and we follow the few basic rules that make this dish special. I guess that being born and raised in Milano makes me somewhat of a risotto snob. Growing up in a family where making it is considered an art makes me take it even more seriously. “When you order risotto anywhere but in Northern Italy you’re asking for trouble,” my father used to say as I watched him stirring the rice. Risotto was always –and still is- his thing. My mother would prep the ingredients, but she never made it. It was dad’s specialty and everyone –relatives, neighbors, friends- knew it. We still gather around the kitchen island as he makes it, just like he did when I was a child. The risotto, too, is just the same: creamy, tasty, delicious.

His risotto alla Milanese is an easy, guaranteed to be great recipe that anyone can master. It’s a simplified version that doesn’t require bone marrow, which is delicious, but not always easy to find. Follow a few basic rules and your risotto will turn out a smashing success. And remember: in this recipes NO SUBSTITUTIONS ARE ALLOWED! =)

RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE (Milanese style risotto)

Ingredients for 4:
12 ounces risotto rice
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 cups of beef broth
1 onion, minced
1 tsp saffron
1cup dry white wine
1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Make broth with cubes and keep warm.

In a large, thick Dutch oven (I like to use an extra heavy, enamel coated pot I use exclusively for risotto) melt half the butter with two tablespoons of olive oil on medium high. Add the minced onion and cook until translucent and tender but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Add rice, stir, and toast for about a minute. Add white wine, stir and let it evaporate, then pour two ladles of hot broth to the pot and turn the heat down to medium. Stir and cook until the broth has been absorbed. Every time the liquid is almost gone add another ladle of broth, doing so until the rice is almost done. Stir often.

When the rice is almost cooked (you’ll notice because it looks bigger and thicker or you can taste a grain or two to make sure), melt saffron in one last ladle of broth, add to the rice and stir.
Remove from heat, add butter and ¾ cup of grated parmesan cheese, stir vigorously, cover and let rest for 4 or five minutes. Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and with remaining parmesan on the side.

If you want you can add some crumbled, sauted Italian sausage at the very end (pictured above)