Shrimp Mushroom Risotto

I absolutely love risotto (just ask my husband). I have been trying to perfect this recipe for a while. I think that I finally got it. Risotto requires TLC and some patience to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup of arborio rice
2 cups of low sodium chicken stock
1 cup of dry white wine (you can use 3 cups of chicken stock total and leave out the wine if you wish)
1/2 sweet yellow onion, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 whole small package of white mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
1 pound of medium (51-60 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons of butter (if you are trying to use less fat, you can use all olive oil)
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Clean and chop vegetables and set aside.
2. Clean, peel and devein shrimp. Cut in half. Sprinkle with dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbs butter and 1/2 tbs olive oil over medium high heat. I like to use a medium sized stock pot for this recipe. Once melted and bubbly, add veggies. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add more olive oil if needed (depends on how much the mushrooms soak up). Remove veggies to a bowl and set aside.
4. Melt 1 tbs butter in the same pan. Add 1 cup of arborio rice and toast in the butter for 3 -4 minutes. Be careful not to burn the rice.
5. Add veggies back into the pan with the rice. Add 1 cup of wine. Stir constantly until all of the liquid is absorbed. Then, add 1 cup of chicken stock and stir until absorbed.
6. Next, add final cup of chicken stock. When mixture starts to come back up to temperature and bubble, add shrimp. Stir until liquid is almost all absorbed. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add red pepper flakes to taste if desired. Cover, turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes. The rice will be al dente in a creamy sauce.

Serves 4

Green Chile Wontons

Still thinking of green chile recipes. This was a request from my dear sweet husband. I usually make wonton filling with ground pork but ground beef was buy one get one free at Market Street and too hard to pass up. You could also use ground turkey if you were trying to be healthy.

Ingredients:
1 pkg of small square shaped wonton wrappers (usually comes in a pkg of 60)
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1-2 tablespoons hot Hatch green chiles, diced (roasted and peeled first)
1/4 of a small red onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of minced fresh ginger
salt and pepper
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
vegetable oil for frying

1. Mix ground beef, bell pepper, green chiles, red onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil together in a small bowl.
2. Lay wonton wrappers out on a clean countertop about 10 to 15 at a time.
3. Place 1 tsp of the meat mixture in the center of each wrapper. (Be careful to not overfill).
4. Wet your fingers and "paint" two edges of the wonton wrapper with water and fold in half. Take care to remove all the air from the center and not allow meat to come out. Then, put more water on the edge of the long side of the triangle. Twist that end around your finger and pinch the ends together.

5. Fry the wontons a few at a time in vegetable oil until all wontons are done. (If you don't want to fry all 60 at once, you can lay the remaining raw wontons out on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, put them in a freezer bag. When you want to use them, just remove them from the freezer and drop them into hot oil) (oh, and if you want to be healthy, you can steam the wontons or put them in boiling soup to cook them and they also taste great).
6. Sprinkle a small amount of salt on the hot wontons when they first come out of the oil. Place in a single layer on a paper towel lined plate.
7. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce as an appetizer or pair with your favorite side dish for a meal. We had rice and cabbage salad with ours.

Andrea's Homemade Potato Salad

I made this for my family and they absolutely loved it. It was also a big hit for our Sunday School party too (I just doubled the recipe). It is easy to put together and makes a great side dish. I am not a big fan of mustard potato salad or egg in my potato salad, so this recipe has neither. Feel free to experiment as your tastes lead you.



Ingredients:
6 red potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 to 1/2 of a medium red onion, minced
2 tbs chopped up dill pickles or prepared dill pickle relish
1 rib of celery, minced (Ron is not a fan of celery, so I leave it out when I make it for him)
1 small jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, diced (optional)
2-4 tablespoons of mayonaise
salt and pepper
red chile powder
dried parsley (optional)

1. Add potatoes and salt to water in a pan on the stove. Boil potatoes in the salted water until they are fork tender. About 10 minutes.
2. Drain potatoes and pour them out into your serving dish (a long flat dish is better). Allow them to cool for 20 to 30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, chop your veggies. Add the veggies to your potatoes once they are completely cool. Add mayo 1 tbs at a time until desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with red chile powder and parsley. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Makes about 6 servings

Turkey Sausage and Veggie Noodles with a hint of "blow your face off"

Angella, Michael, Ron and I have a Hatchapalooza friendly competition going on since both families bought a large amount of Hot Hatch Green Chiles. Taming the heat in the dishes, but still making the green chiles front and center has been a fun challenge. The hot chiles are really hot this year!

Ingredients:
8 oz of egg noodles, boiled in salt water until al dente
1 pkg of turkey smoked sausage, cut into small pieces
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs Hatch hot green chiles, minced (seeds optional) (about 1/2 of a large chile peeled)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 of a red onion, chopped
1 bunch of fresh spinach, stems removed and chopped into big pieces
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 large lemon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
garlic bread for serving (optional)

1. Clean and prepare veggies. Heat a skillet on the stove with the olive oil. Add the garlic, onion, green pepper and green chiles. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute veggies until soft, about 3 minutes. Add sausage and cook until warmed through, about 5 min. Add spinach. Cook down until spinach is wilted. Cut lemon in half and squeeze all of the juice into the pan. Add the wine. Cook for about 5- 10 minutes.
2. In the meantime, cook noodles in boiling salted water. Drain water and add butter to noodles. Stir until melted through.
3. Combine noodles with the veggie/sausage mixture.
4. Serve with garlic bread on the side

Makes about 6 - 8 servings

Grilled Pizza Night

We took the recipe that we have for pizza and sauce and cooked everything on a pan on the grill. It takes about 8 to 10 minutes to cook the pizzas on the grill.

Pork Rib Rub

We love to grill, but don't have a smoker. Jacqueline has become especially fond of ribs, which are a generally in-expensive protein at the store. She isn't alone. But how do we cook them without a smoker? Alton Brown can provide inspiration for just about anything. Last Saturday was the day inspiration become reality.

While gazing up and down the meat counter at the store last week, I got a hankering for ribs. Andrea looked at me like I was crazy, but agreed to go along with the project since it didn't require turning on the oven in the house. I'm thinking back to a previous experiment where Jacqueline and I cooked ribs on the grill. I had the heat too high and they were a bit tough. I vowed to cook them lower and slower. And off we went. I started with Alton's dry rub concoction, but had to tweak it a little. I didn't have the jalapeno or Old Bay seasonings in the house and wasn't going back to the store. I substituted Hatch Green Chili Powder for the jalapeno and dried Bay Leaves for the Old Bay. They both have Bay in the name, so I took a chance. Here are the proportions.

Dry Rub:

* 8 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
* 3 tablespoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon hatch green chili powder
* 1/2 teaspoon dried crunched up bay leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

We rubbed the powder into the ribs and let them sit in the fridge for a few hours before firing up the grill. The grill has three burners, I only used one to get the desired temperature. We held 225 for the entire time. I started the rack over the heat directly to get a bit of a crust on them, and then slid them over to other part of the grill to let them cook over indirect heat at 225 for 2 1/2 hours. Towards the end, I moved them back over the direct fire to get a bit more crust and char.

The verdict from the family and dinner guest was that they were a big hit. I now have the go ahead to do them again. Yeah!

Early Season Produce

Its that time of year when the berries are going crazy and everyone has them cheap. The greens and asparagus have just about run their course. And then, suddenly, before you expect it, the beautiful summer produce begins to appear. Today was the day it happened for me. I went in search of Red Swiss Chard, but actually scored a bonanza!



Market Street did have the Red Swiss Chard, which made a really nice vegetarian dish for dinner when paired with Quinoa, but they also had some other goodies! Fresh Snap Green Beans, New Potatoes and Onions. There's lunch tomorrow. The biggest score was the Fredericksburg Peaches.

Fredericksburg is a town in the Hill Country known for their peaches. Jacqueline will make me drive up 281 from San Antonio, so that she can stop and get some fresh ones at a road side stand to eat on the way home. We did this a week ago as a matter of fact even though I consider it way too early in the season. I don't know what is in the soil down there that makes them so wonderful, but they are some of the most tasty peaches I've eaten in my life. And the early returns on this year's crop indicate its going to be a great one!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Spring brings an interesting group of vegetables to the market. I have been teasing Andrea and Jacqueline for a while that I was going to do something with Rhubarb. I think I finally figured it out after attempting more than once try to make this pie. Jacqueline and I made these last weekend and I think it turned out great.

2 lbs of rhubarb
2 quarts of strawberries(you could add a third if you really like strawberries)
sugar
2 packs of unflavored gelatin
Splash of Rum--A splash is bigger to some than others
2 Graham Cracker Pie Crusts

Chop the rhubarb and cover with sugar in a glass bowl. Let it sit. Seriously. Just let it sit. For 30 minutes to an hour. Its going to produce liquid and interact with the sugar. (Jacqueline likes the taste of this raw!)
Quarter the strawberries and place them in another bowl.
Pour the contents of the bowl with the rhubarb in it into a sauce pan and simmer.
Add the Rum and Gelatin to your sauce pan.
Let it bubble. The rhubarb will break down and this mixture becomes a very pie filling like consistency. Allow it cool a few minutes after it becomes a thick, thick sauce.
Place some of the strawberries in the bottom of the pie crust.
Cover those berries with your rhubarb filling.
Place the rest of the strawberries on top and make it pretty!
Let it sit over-night in the fridge for some spring goodness.

We served it with whipped cream on top and it seems to be a big hit. I've seen people get seconds at least. Not bad for totally making it up as I went along.

Farfalle with Sausage and Spinach

Its been a while....This is a late inclusion to the blog since Andrea hasn't put it up on here. :-p

We were at Market Street in Colleyville the other day and didn't really know what we wanted to make for dinner, but figured that we could gain some inspiration while standing at the meat/fish counter. We stood there and nada. Nothing really appealing on sale. Nothing jumping out at us saying cook me. Blah. Jacqueline and I made a bit of side trip in a hurried fashion which gave me a chance to ponder. The in-house prepared sausage has always had appeal to me, but I've not really ever used theirs. What could we do with it? I know! Pasta dish. Here's how it shook out.

1 box of Farfalle pasta
Four small links of spicy Italian Sausage(about one pound)
1 gigantic, and I do mean gigantic portabella mushroom(think 1/2 pound)
2 bunches of fresh spinach
onion
garlic
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
olive oil
butter/margarine

I cooked the sausage outside on the grill, to give it that good smoky flavor. Get some char on those bad boys.
Andrea sauteed the onion, garlic and mushroom in the olive oil with the spices.
She then wilted the spinach(go slow as its got to shrink to fit in the pan) on the same pan using some chicken stock.
Prepare the pasta as the directions state and drain the water.
Dice up the sausage after it has had a chance to cool just a touch.
In the pan you used to make the pasta, dump the pasta back in and add in the butter to coat. Stir in the sausage and then add the wilted spinach concoction. This will take a couple of moments, but you will be rewarded.

We served this some crusty garlic bread and a glass of red wine. Excellent!

Greens Carbonara

Greens Part Duex if you will....

I experimented tonight with some pantry items and cheap produce from the store. I had most of what make up a traditional Pasta Carbonara at home in the fridge and pantry. However, I didn't want to make it as heavy as it is traditionally done and also wanted to work in a vegetable of some sort. I was planning on using Mustard greens for something else, so I figured I could add that into the recipe after I wilted them and simmered them down into vegetable goodness. Here is how this played out.

Dice up two slices of bacon and crisp in a pan. Remove the bacon and set aside, but keep the grease in the pan to make the greens taste good.
Prepare the Mustard Greens using a Chiffonade Cut and wilt them in the bacon grease until the grease is absorbed.
Simmer in chicken stock until the liquid is evaporated off.
While the greens are simmering, boil the pasta in a separate pot. I used Farfalle because I had it in the pantry. Any pasta would work, but this is what I had at home. Drain the water off and set aside. Feel free to stir in some butter to keep things moist and tasty.
When the chicken stock has evaporated off of the greens, add the bacon back to the pan,a teaspoon or so of flour and a teaspoon of butter to the pan and stir until the flour becomes brownish in color. You're making a roux.
Add in enough milk/cream to cover the bottom of the pan and stir everything together. Work out any lumps created by the flour. I added a an additional tablespoon of butter for flavor and added thickness in the sauce.
Simmer so that the sauce thickens and add some salt and pepper.
When the cream sauce thickens, add the mixture to the pasta and stir to combine. You can add any seasoning you like for flavor.



This turned out quite nice with a lovely glass of wine. It made for a pretty easy weeknight meal that didn't set me back too bad. I will definitely make this again when Andrea is here so she can provide some feedback on the flavor. Garlic would have made a nice addition, but I simply didn't think about it at the moment.