Risotto

Ingredients:

1 cup of arborio rice

3 to 4 cups of heated stock 

1 cup of Parmesan cheese

2 TBS of butter

2 bulbs of shallots (or equal amounts onion)

Use a pan that has a large opening.

Melt the butter (you can add olive oil if you like) and add shallots (or onions) and saute until transparent, not brown.

Add the rice and stir while cooking for a couple minutes until the rice becomes transparent too.

Start to add the heated stock slowly, about one cup at a time and stir. 

You want the rice to release the starch slowly to make it creamy.

You don't need to stir all the time, but at least every time that you add broth…

After the last cup of broth, try the rice to see if it is tender.  

When rice is cooked, add the cheese and check if you need to add salt.

That is the basic risotto, to this you can add anything…

For summer, add zucchini  and fresh tomatoes, or fresh herbs or spinach.

This dish has to be served immediately or the rice will continuing to absorb the liquid and became too thick.

 

Tomatinhos (Roasted Tomatoes)

1 Costco box of grape tomatoes / or cherry tomatoes

2  or 3 TBS of Rock Salt

Sprigs of rosemary (handfull)

6 gloves of garlic unpeeled

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F

Wash the tomatoes and dry them well, (don't use cold tomatoes as the condensation will create too much liquid)

Put tomatoes in baking pan and add salt on top as well as the sprigs of rosemary.

Use something flat to roughly press the unpeeled garlic to release the flavor and distribute the cloves in the tomato pan.

Pour olive oil over the tomatoes until the bottom of the pan is covered

Bake in oven at 350F for about 15 minutes on bottom tray.  Then transfer to the top tray to broil for a few minutes.  

Serve with pasta, toast, crackers… If you want, you can blend the roasted tomatoes to create a sauce.

Broccoli Goat Cheese Frittata

Broccoli Goat Cheese Frittata

serves 2, takes 15 minutes
from Eating For England


Ingredients
"The ingredients list here is very rough. A frittata is not really about precision in my opinion; it’s more about what you have on hand and making adaptations."

• 2 teaspoons olive oil

• 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced

• dash salt

• 1/2 head leftover broccoli (raw asparagus would work well here. snap off the tough ends and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

• dash milk

• 2 tbsp organic chevre (soft goat cheese)

• small handful sharp cheddar, grated (gruyere or swiss works really well here – use what you have on hand!)

Directions
Heat olive oil into a small oven-proof frying pan over medium high heat. Add onions and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 3 minutes.


Whisk eggs with a dash of milk in a small bowl. Whisk in chevre and add salt. Add broccoli to pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until warmed through. Pour in eggs and cook until almost set, but still runny on top, about 2 minutes. While cooking, pre-heat the oven broiler.


Sprinkle cheddar cheese over eggs and put in oven to broil until cheese is melted and browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from oven with oven mitts and slide frittata onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges.


More frittata ideas:
> asparagus and cheddar
> leeks and goat cheese 
> spinach and garlic 
> bacon and cheese 
> mushroom and swiss

Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (65 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) (57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup (120 ml) water

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Optional: for glaze, 1 egg beaten 

Filling of choice (whipped cream, mousse, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter or spray the pan with a non stick vegetable spray.

In a bowl sift or whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.

Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. (Make sure that the butter melts before the water boils to reduce the amount of evaporation.) 

Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined. 

Return saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about 1-2 minutes). 

Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on low speed to release the steam from the dough (about a minute). 

Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs (dough will separate and then come together) and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste (dough will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon). 

Spoon or pipe 12 small mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. 

With a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the dough with a lightly beaten egg. 

Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Continue to bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are almost dry inside. 

Turn the oven off, poke a couple of holes in each puff and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells completely cool (and dry out).

Cut in half and fill with desired filling and assemble back together.

(Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking website: http://www.joyofbaking.com/CreamPuffs.html#ixzz1scbIYVKH)

Cream

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks

1 can of condensed milk

2 cans of milk (use the condensed milk can to measure it)

Pass the yolk to a strainer and add the milk and condensed milk and cook on the stovetop until it becomes thicker. Let it cool off.

You can serve this mixed with meringues, with peaches or use it as a filling between cake.

Meringue

Ingredients:
4 egg whites

3 cup of sugar

Optional: 1 tbs of vanilla or meant extract or lemon juice and zest

Add all ingredients to a mixer and mix well until it can form stiff peaks (around 10 minutes).

Put mixture in a zip lock bag and cut an opening in the corner to pipe out the mixture.

Pipe out small balls on a cooking sheet and take in the oven at 275F with the oven door open a crack for about 45 min to 1 hour (you can stick a chopstick in the oven door to keep it ajar while baking).

Serve alone as a snack or with cream and fruit.

Bread in a Blender

Ingredients:

4 eggs

4 cups of water or 1 liter of milk

1 cup of oil

1 TBS of salt

5 TBS of sugar

50 gr of yeast (about 2 and ½ packets)

1 kg of white flour

How to prepare:

Put flour in a bowl and reserve.

Mix all other ingredients in a blender and pour it over the flour.

Incorporate all ingredients and prepare three loaf pans with butter and flour and add the dough.

Let it rest for 1 ½ hour.

Then, bake at 350F (preheated oven) for about 50 min or until golden brown on top.

(Recipe from Edilene Janotti)