From Scratch, With Love

I took a half day today.  It was very exciting.  I went home, stopping at the store on the way, and was very productive.  I made some pita bread for my lunches (I froze it so that it could last me two weeks of lunches.  I recommend it.  When lunchtime comes around, I just put the almost-thawed pita in the toaster oven and make my sandwich.  It’s delicious.) and then I made risotto.

I love risotto.  It’s so delightfully creamy and comforting.  Usually, I just make “risotto in bianco,” which is just your basic cheese risotto.  But I was feeling adventurous.  So I looked in the White Dog Cafe Cookbook, which is filled with all sorts of interesting recipes, and found a recipe for “Tomato and Sweet Corn Risotto.”  Well, guess what?  I also stopped by our farmer’s market yesterday and bought some corn, with no clear idea in mind of what to do with it.  BAM. Idea.  It’s a great use of summer vegetables.

Another thing: I normally don’t feel like cooking anything all that spectacular when I’m eating alone.  Tonight, John went to a happy hour with his friends from work, so I decided to just make a nice meal for myself.  I’m really glad I did.  Though, I must say, risotto is not the kind of meal that is good left over, so I had to cut the recipe in fourths.  Not an easy task.  But I succeeded. Smiley face!

So, this risotto calls for you to make a simple corn-based stock, so give yourself about an hour and a half for the whole recipe, or make the stock in advance and give yourself half an hour.  Let me know if you want the recipe as it is written, for four, since I had to make some estimations and adjustments and this won’t necessarily multiply well.

Tomato and Sweet Corn Risotto (from the White Dog Cafe Cookbook) (1 main dish or 2 side dishes)

Stock

Cut the kernels off 1 ear of sweet corn.  Set the kernels aside for the risotto later.  Put the corn cob in a pot with 1 clove of garlic, 1 boiling onion (I forgot this ingredient.  It was fine.), 2 basil stems, 2 peppercorns (I didn’t have any so I just ground some pepper into it), 1 bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to a simmer.  Cover and allow to simmer for an hour.

After it simmers, strain the stock into a smaller, clean pot and discard the solids.  Blend 1/4 cup of the stock in a blender with 1/2 cup diced fresh or canned tomato.  Return the puree to the stock and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, covered.

Risotto

It’s a good idea to assemble all your ingredients beforehand with risotto, as it requires you to be close to the stove, stirring, for the majority of the process.

So, before you start, dice 1/4 cup of leek (the white part).  Mince 1 clove of garlic and set aside about 1/4 teaspoon of it (I put the rest of it on my salad).  Measure out a little less than 1/2 cup of arborio rice and 1/8 cup of dry white wine.  Dice 1/4 cup of fresh tomato and add to those kernels of corn that you had reserved from making the stock.  Chop up 1/2 cup of fresh basil and grate a little less than 1/4 cup parmesan or parmesan-like cheese.  You can do all this while the stock is simmering.  What an efficient use of time!

In a large saucepan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until it ripples.  Add the leeks and stir for about 2 minutes until they are translucent but not browned.  Add the garlic and stir for another minute or so until aromatic.  Add the rice and stir for about 1-2 minutes.  Add the white wine.  When the wine is absorbed, add just enough simmering corn stock to cover the rice and cook, stirring, until the liquid is almost absorbed.  Keep adding stock and stirring until absorbed for about 20 minutes.  You probably won’t use up all the stock.  Once twenty minutes are up, taste the risotto and see if the rice is tender, but with a little bit of a “bite”.  If it is a little chewy or starchy, it needs a little more time.  You can still, however, add the corn and the diced tomato at this point.  Continue to cook, stirring, until the rice is the right consistency.  Turn off the flame.  Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and a grind of black pepper.  Fold in the basil, then the cheese.  Decant to a bowl and eat hot, perhaps with a small green salad.

Allow me to begin by saying that I’m not a big seafood person.  I’ve only recently been able to eat seafood, and the seafood I will eat is very limited.  Honestly, the only reason I even want to learn to eat seafood is because I think it will make me a better cook – admirable right?  The sacrifices I make for my art.  I like squid, but only when its batter-fried.  I like shrimp.  And now I will eat salmon but I’m not quite at the point where I will get excited about it.

SO at some point in the last year, John decided he wanted to eat salmon and I said Okay, I’ll make it.  But I won’t eat it.  I looked in my dad’s cookbook and there’s a salmon recipe that he and my brother rave about so I made it and John LOVED it.  So I started making it every so often because even though I don’t eat it, it is very fun to make and tends to be a good accompaniment for pasta.

THEN, as I got more serious about running and a little less squeamish, I started reading more and more than salmon is a superfood for runners, so I tried a little the next time I made it.  It wasn’t bad.  I could handle it.  Now I can make it as a meal, have fun, eat some, and know that I’m doing good things for my body.  So here’s my salmon recipe.  I hope you enjoy making it as much as I do and enjoy eating it as much as John does.

Papa’s Seared Salmon (served 2)

Preheat the oven to 450.

Mince 2 cloves of garlic and thinly slice 2 green onions (or chop some white onion).  Set aside.

Line a broiling pan or other baking pan with foil and grease lightly with some olive oil.  Place 12 oz of your choice of salmon (I use farmed Atlantic salmon) on a plate.  Rub in, one at a time, dried or fresh dill, thyme, black pepper, the minced garlic, and green onion, in that order (from the finest to the coarsest, is the rule).  The amounts are to taste, but probably about a teaspoon of each herb and a few grinds of the pepper.

Next, heat a skillet over high heat.  Add about a tablespoon of olive oil and swirl it around so it’s evenly distributed throughout the pan.  Add the salmon, seasoned-side down (try to get as much of the green onions under the salmon as you can, even though it will tend to fall off when you flip it) and let it sear for about 3-4 minutes.  Once it has seared, and the salmon begins to turn white on the part closest to the pan, transfer to the broiling pan.  Drizzle with any remaining olive oil from the skillet and sprinkle with salt, to taste.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the center of the salmon is pale pink (as opposed to the deep pink you started out with.  Once you remove it from the oven, drizzle the juice from half a lemon on top.

Now, the salmon sort of demands a side dish, and I love making pasta using the same ingredients I used in the salmon sooooo…

Andrea’s Stir-Fried Pasta

Start water boiling for pasta.  I hope you know how much water you need to use for pasta, but if not, look on the box.  I usually stick to 2 oz of pasta per person for this side dish.

Thinly slice 2 green onions.  Mince 2 loves of garlic.  Cut 2 pints of cherry tomatoes in half.

In a large bowl, add 1 tsp dried or 1 Tbs fresh dill, 1 tsp thyme, a few grinds of black pepper, juice from half a lemon, and a pinch of salt.  Once the water starts boiling, add 4 oz of whole wheat pasta (that’s about 2 cups of shapes or 1/4 box of spaghetti).  Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil on a skillet and add the green onions and tomatoes.  After about a minute of stirring, add the garlic and about 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes.  Once the green onions start to soften and the mixture gives off a nice aroma (should only take a couple minutes), take the skillet off the heat (turn off the stove!) and add to the bowl that you’re prepared with herbs.  Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the bowl and give it a toss.  Done!  If you’ve timed everything correctly, the salmon should be ready by now too and you can sprinkle some parmesan cheese on the pasta and serve the delicious meal you’d just created (only took about a half hour, too!).

For my birthday (in February) John’s parents gave me a pasta machine.  Such a good gift.  Making pasta is so satisfying because the result is simple, yet magnificent!  The first time I used it I made simple egg noodles.  The second time I made spinach pasta.  Today is the third time.  I made spinach pasta dough and with that dough I made ravioli.

I am so proud of this dish.  Though I looked up ravioli in Joy of Cooking, for tips, I did not follow a recipe for the filling, and I only sort of followed a recipe for the dough. I decided to make a simple tomato sauce to go with it to complement the flavors without overpowering them.  It was delicious.  And very filling!

Ravioli Filling

In a small bowl, combine

1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
a tablespoon of minced parsley
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
a grating of black pepper

Stir until smooth.

Spinach Pasta Dough (1/2 lb of pasta)

Wilt 5 oz spinach in a small frying pan by heating about 1/4 cup of water over low heat and adding fresh or frozen spinach or baby spinach to the pan.  Stir it occasionally.  It should wilt fairly quickly.  Once wilted (you should be left with about 1/4 cup of spinach), drain thoroughly and mince finely and let cool.

In a small bowl, sift together 1 cup semolina or all-purpose flour and 1/2 tsp salt.

In a large bowl, combine 1 egg, 1/4 cup warm water, 1 tsp olive oil, and the spinach.

Gradually fold the flour mixture into the spinach mixture until it has a dough-like consistency.  If too dry, add a little more water.  If too wet, add a little more flour.  Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a counter, and briefly knead the dough until smooth.  Cut the dough into quarters.

Set up your pasta machine so that the rollers are on the widest setting (“7″ on mine).  Start feeding one of the quarters of dough through, coating with flour after each roll.  It will be very sticky for the first few feeds.  Fold it in half before each feed.  Once the dough is elastic and smooth, switch the machine to the next number (“6″ on mine) and feed it through once, without folding. Continue to narrow the rollers after each feed until you reach your desired thinness (“4″ for me).

Carefully lay the strip of pasta on a lightly floured cutting board and cut in half so that you have two 4 x 8 inch sheets of pasta.

Place about a teaspoon of the Ravioli Filling on the corner of the pasta sheet so that it’s about 1/2 inch from either edge.  Place the next dollop about an inch away from it so that it also has about 1/2 inch of room from the edge.  Repeat until the sheet has about 8 equally spaced dollops of the cheese mixture.

With a pastry brush or your fingers, brush water onto the dough so that each dollop (I like that word) is surrounded.  This will make the top sheet of pasta stick.

Lay the other sheet of pasta on top of the first sheet so that the edges match.  Make sure you don’t lay it so the floured side is down, because then it won’t stick as well.  Use your hands the press the dough down around the cheese mixture to that it sticks, and try to avoid creating air bubbles (I failed at this).  Once the dough has stuck, use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter or sharp knife to cut each piece of ravioli out.  You can also use a biscuit cutter if you want round ravioli.  Lay the ravioli on a lightly floured cookie sheet and let rest for about half an hour before cooking.

Repeat with the other quarters of pasta dough.

Simple Marinara Sauce

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 4 or five thin slices of onion.  Once those begins to soften, add 3 cloves of garlic, sliced.  Stir-fry for a minute or so, then turn the heat to medium-low and add a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes.  Stir so that the ingredients are combined.  Grind some fresh pepper into the mixture and allow the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, roughly chop some fresh basil and parsley (about 2 tablespoons of each).  When the sauce has thickened, add about a teaspoon of salt and the herbs.  Allow to simmer for another minute or two, then decant.

Spinach and Cheese Ravioli

Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Add some salt.  Drop in about half the ravioli and turn the heat down to medium.  Cook with the top off for about 3 or 4 minutes, until the ravioli is floating contentedly at the top.  Scoop the ravioli out with a slotted spoon into a colander to drain and repeat with the other half of the ravioli.

To serve, scoop some ravioli into a bowl or plate, cover with some sauce, and grate a little fresh parmesan (or your choice of cheese) over it.  It seems like it would go well with red wine, but I didn’t have any.