Mushroom and bacon risotto

I was in Trader Joe's without a grocery list. (This always means trouble, because I end up buying a lot of random, nonpractical things.) As I looked through the rice and grains section, the arborio rice caught my eye. I have always been both intrigued and intimidated by the prospect of making risotto on my own. I've had it at restaurants many times, but making it at home always seems like a daunting task. From what I had heard, risotto requires constant attention- turn away for a moment and the batch could be ruined.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot. Indeed, it did take about 30 minutes of constant attention, but it was well worth it. The risotto I made turned out to be creamy, flavorful, and with a slightly al dente chewiness. Still, the Asian girl part of me really wishes I could pop risotto ingredients into a rice cooker and come back 30 minutes to a perfectly cooked dinner. Maybe I'm onto something here?? (A quick Google search revealed that many other people have considered the same thing... look out for a later blog post!)

MUSHROOM AND BACON RISOTTO

loosely adapted from Myrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups water
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups chopped cremini mushrooms
3 slices of bacon
1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp butter
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring water and broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Keep warm over low heat.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute mushrooms until tender. Remove mushrooms, set aside.
3. Fry bacon in a large frying pan. Add onion and saute until translucent.
4. Add rice to the pan. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
5. Add broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth mixture is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Stir in mushrooms, grated cheese, and remaining ingredients.

Clam chowder

A friend recently asked if I cook every day. The answer is yes and no. Living alone, it is just not worth it to cook every day. Also, I am a busy student and I am usually too tired or too busy to cook a meal from scratch every single day. Instead, I use a variety of prepared foods (Trader Joe's is my best friend) and home cooked. When I cook from scratch, I usually don't reduce the portion size too much, so I usually end up with at least 2 meals for every time I light the stove. Generally you can eat the same meal or a similar one 2-3 days before getting tired of it.

I usually subside on easy meals: pasta, noodles, chicken, salad, soup. Pasta: I make whole wheat spaghetti or farfalle with things like peas, shrimp, mushrooms, pancetta, and/or spinach. Add a little garlic, lemon, light olive oil, and spices, and you have a fast simple meal. My other meals are simple also.

Sometimes I invest some time in a hearty soup that will last for days. In case you haven't noticed, I have a serious obsession with thick, chunky soups that are substantial enough for a meal. Canned soups are loaded with sodium and calories and are usually low on veggies and nutrients. Homemade soups are delicious and fresh, even if you are not super skilled at cooking.

Here's a recipe for clam chowder that is a bit healthier than the normal ones made with heavy cream.

Light Clam Chowder

adapted from Cooking Light magazine

Ingredients

4 turkey bacon slices
1 tub of mirepoix (I used one from Trader Joe's, but you could chop about 1 cup each of diced onions, celery, and carrots)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cans chopped clams, undrained
3 cups diced potatoes
1 bottle clam juice
1 bay leaf
3 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

1. Dice bacon. Cook bacon in a large pan until crisp. Remove about 1 tablespoon for topping, set aside.
2. Add mirepoix, salt, thyme, pepper, paprika, and garlic to drippings in pan; cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
3. Add clam liquid, potatoes, clam juice, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Discard bay leaf.
4. In a bowl, combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 12 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add clams; cook 2 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon.

bubbling in the pot

Simple meal: chowder and caesar salad

Steakhouse at home

Sometimes when I eat out at restaurants I think to myself, "I could make this better at half the price..." That's how I feel about the steak at Black Angus, Outback, etc. These restaurants serve steak that is highly overrated- the meat quality is suspect, and the steak is doused in butter to mask this. Of course this is not the case for premium steakhouses such as Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak (amazing, but with a hefty pricetag.)

Occasionally I do crave a good steak. When I do, I like to have meat that stands on its own, with very simple seasonings. Recently, my family and I had a nice cut of ribeye with simple salt and pepper- yet it was amazing! Add a few great sides (we had garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed snow peas and carrots) and you have a meal that will blow Outback out of the water.

Look at the marbling on these!

Place settings

A nice cab complements the meal

Steak

Ingredients:

• good quality ribeye or other
• salt
• pepper
• canola oil or other high-smoking point oil (not olive oil)

Instructions:

1. Cut the steaks into individual portions. Coat the steaks lightly with canola oil. Salt and pepper liberally on both sides. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a cast iron pan on high. When the pan is hot, place one steak in the pan and do not move for 1 minute. Turn the steak and cook for another minute. Using a spatula, brown the sides slightly. Place in a baking pan lined with foil. Repeat for each steak.
3. Bake the steaks for 5 minutes for medium rare, 10 for medium.

**Note: You want to make sure you have a good stove exhaust or at least an open window. Cooking on high heat will inevitably result in some smoke.

Holiday Baking: Chocolate whoopie pies with peppermint filling

After seeing these pop up in several blogs, I decided to try these out for myself. I am not really into sweets myself, but I love making sweets for other people. Every holiday season I make a batch of something and wrap them up in cute little bags for the neighbors.

I was excited to make whoopie pies because they look so delicious and they are retro, a throwback to the 1950s. According to an article I read in the NY Times, they are making a comeback because they are reminiscent of a simple and carefree era. Also, I was drawn to these peppermint whoopie pies because I like the combination of chocolate and peppermint.


Who knew these would be such a nightmare. They took forever to make and the recipe I chose seemed to make double the amount I expected. They tasted okay, but not as good as I thought they would. The chocolate flavor was not strong enough (chocolate desserts rarely satisfy me unless they are rich and decadent) and the peppermint was a little overwhelming. I won't post the recipe because I was not satisfied with the taste. If you like whoopie pies, and have the urge to try the, then google peppermint chocolate whoopie pies and you can find a recipe easily. I will say one thing- they are cute though!
Here they are all packaged up and ready to go. I package them in cute bags I got from Daiso!

Winter Soups

I know I shouldn't whine about San Francisco winters. It doesn't snow, it doesn't go below zero... that said, it's rainy, muddy, windy, and downright depressing. And for a girl who has spent practically her whole life in warmer parts of California, the SF winter is particularly unbearable!

Soup is my favorite winter food. Remember those Campbell's commercials where the snowman comes in for a bowl of chicken noodle, and melts into a cute, freckly little boy? That's exactly how I feel... it's so warm and comforting!

Sometimes I have the kind that comes in a can or box for convenience reasons. However, I honestly haven't found one that met my standards. So I've started making soup in big batches, so I can freeze individual portions for later on. My favorites are corn chowder, tomato basil, butternut squash... and lately, turkey chili!

Here's my recipe for a fast turkey chili. I know it's not authentic... I actually just used a black bean soup recipe, but added corn and ground turkey and random seasonings on a whim. Even though it was a random experiment, it turned out really well for some reason. It's not prize-winning, but it definitely beats the can. With salsa and canned black beans, you can make it in less than 30 minutes. I love serving it with shredded cheese, sour cream, and diced onions. (Random note: I used to detest sour cream, but I think sour cream on chili has finally converted me. Not sure if I can stand it outside of this soup.)

Fast Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 1 jar Southwestern salsa
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder

1. In a saucepan, combine black beans, salsa and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer.

2. In a pan, saute onions in a little bit of oil. After the onions have caramelized, add ground turkey and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper and brown the turkey.

3. Add turkey, chili pepper, cumin to the saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve with cheddar, dollop of sour cream, and green onion.

Comfort food- Mac n cheese

Growing up, the only macaroni my brother and I knew was the blue box- Kraft dinner. My dad made it for us when we were little, and we gradually started making it on our own. To this day, my brother and I love mac and cheese! It was the comfort food of our childhood.

Eventually, we outgrew the blue box. Kraft mac n cheese tastes a bit sad to an adult palate- the noodles are limp and the cheese comes in powdered form. I searched for alternatives- recipes, restaurant dishes. While I can appreciate baked varieties of macaroni, it just isn't the kind I grew up with. I wanted something familiar: creamy, smooth sauce but with a sharper flavor.

This is what I came up with. It's a grown-up recipe for mac and cheese, but still with the same qualities you loved as a child. It's just as fast as boxed macaroni. I like my macaroni simple, but you can add bacon bits, onion, crab, or cheese and breadcrumbs and bake. Try it, you won't regret it!

Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese
loosely adopted from an Alton Brown recipe

Ingredients
1/2 pound macaroni or shell pasta
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon mustard
12 ounces shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, provolone, mozzarella a mix, whatever you have on hand)

Directions
1. Cook the pasta to al dente. Drain and return to the same pot. Add in the butter, tossing to coat.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, cheese, milk, hot sauce, pepper, and mustard. Add the mixture to the pasta and stir over very low heat for a few minutes. Be sure not to curdle the egg with too much heat. Serve immediately.

Summer treats

This summer has been one of the coldest on record in California. Still, there were a few hot days, and there surely will be a few to come in our "Indian summer."

Hot days mean that I usually have no desire to cook. There are a lot of easy recipes that don't require slaving over a hot stove all day. Instead, I usually opt to make some of my favorite summer treats: lemonade, ice cream, guacamole, and sushi.

Sushi is not hard once you figure out how to roll the seaweed tightly and get a sharp knife for cutting. But one way to avoid all the trouble is inari. Inari are seasoned tofu pockets that you can easily buy in the store. Fill them with rice and a filling of your choice and you have a cool, (but spicy!) summery meal.



Spicy Shrimp Inari

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice, cooked
  
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
  
• mayonnaise (about 1/3 cup)
  
• sriracha hot sauce
  
• 1 diced green onion

Directions:

1. Dissolve sugar in the vinegar. Add to the cooked rice, fanning it and letting it cool.
2. Boil the tofu pockets or prepare according to instructions.
3. Boil the shrimp but do not overcook. Slice into 3/4 inch cubes. Set aside the shrimp to cool.
4. Mix the mayonnaise and sriracha to taste. In a bowl, add enough of the mayonnaise mixture to the shrimp to coat.
5. To assemble, open a tofu pocket and stuff it about halfway with rice. Fill the rest with the shrimp mixture. Top with chopped green onions.



Lemonade is one of my favorite beverages. (You could probably guess that from my blog title.) You can always make the standard lemonade, adding lemon juice, water, and honey to taste. I like to spice up my lemonade with two twists- Lemon ai-yu and strawberry lemonade.


Lemon Ai-Yu is basic lemonade, with cubes of ai-yu cut up into it. It's a Taiwanese beverage that is probably popular throughout Asia. Ai-yu can be purchased at Asian grocery stores, and it basically tastes like sweet, mostly flavorless gelatin. It gives the drink some texture and it tastes refreshing when cold.


I make pink lemonade with strawberry puree added to plain lemonade. I have been experimenting with different amounts of the strawberry puree, but it never seems to have a huge impact on the flavor. I like the color it lends the lemonade, though. I have learned to strain out most of the strawberry seeds before adding it to the lemonade.

Drinking lemonade brings me back to summer days when I had nothing to do but hang out with friends, laugh, and enjoy life. I miss those days! Growing up is hard to do.