ragdoll13

I have done the risotto.

It was good.

It's a time-consuming dish that requires complete attention. It cannot be held at temperature or reheated well, so you must time it to be done at serving time. All other dishes must wait for the risotto, not the other way around.

It's also totally worth it.

Here's the recipe I made up:

2 tbl butter
2 tbl olive oil
1 med-small onion, diced
one carrot (or a half if it's big) diced
one celery stalk (ditto) diced
two cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound chantrelles (or other preferred mushrooms), sliced *
2c arborio rice
1/2 c dry white wine **
chicken broth, hot ***
salt and pepper to taste
1 oz chevre

heat oil in large skillet or saucepan. pour chicken broth into large pan, heat over medium-low heat. sweat onion and carrot and celery in butter and oil until soft. add garlic and mushrooms. cook until mushrooms begin to soften. **** add rice, fry lightly in the oil. the rice will take on a pearlized appearance but do not allow it to brown. add wine, cook until absorbed, stirring. add broth a ladle at a time, stirring until absorbed before the next addition. stirring is important... without it, your risotto may scorch. It also helps you know when to add more broth. Keep going. It will slow down as the rice starts to get more and more cooked. taste the risotto to make sure the rice is fully cooked before you stop. add the chevre in four pieces or so, stir until melted in. season with salt and pepper to taste, serve immediately.

I think it was a little underdone. I don't know how long it took, as I was staring at the rice and not at the clock, but it took a while. I think it could've taken five more minutes or so and another ladle of broth. Mike thought it was great though. Next time, I'm making a much smaller quantity.

It was, however, not difficult. It's just all about control, and being able to set aside the time to give the dish your undivided attention.


* I sliced the chanterelles quite large, they're uncommon so I wanted my diners to be able to taste them and experience the texture.

** If I could do only one thing different, I would have used a better wine.

*** Yeah, well, you need as much as you need. There are guidelines, but it will vary. I used most of two boxes of commercially produced chicken broth.

**** DO NOT cook the mushrooms all the way. All mushrooms are vulnerable to toughening when overcooked and become rubbery. Chanterelles have a greater tendency toward toughening, so be particularly careful with them.

I'm having this for lunch tomorrow on a pita.

1 can salmon
1/2 tbl olive oil
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 onion, diced
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1 tbl chopped fresh dill
1 tbl plain lowfat yogurt.

Mix it all up!

What if you put lemon zest into the batter with the parsley and stuff?

Hmm.

Today I made the first good biscuits I've ever made. Up until now, my biscuits have been little overbaked, overhandled pucks of bread, soft in the middle, but hard as hell on the outside.

Through some research, I've determined that this is due to several things:

1. overhandling the dough. I have always worked biscuit dough until smooth, like a bread. I now know that this is absolutely not needed, and in fact makes biscuit dough bake up tough.

2. not enough liquid. I have previously thought that biscuit dough should be dry and smooth, again, like bread dough. I now know that biscuit dough should be wet to the point of just being able to handle it. This provides more steam, which along with CO2 from leavening agents, provides loft and also keeps the biscuits moist.

3. overbaking the biscuit. I have always (following the recipe I was using) baked biscuits until browned on top. This is not the way to go, and overbaking is horrifyingly bad for biscuits. Biscuits, lacking in sugars and fats that produce browning reactions, do not brown up like some other baked goods do. For lovely golden-brown biscuits, I will never overbake, but will wash the biscuit with an eggwash or with milk.

Here's the (extremely basic) biscuit recipe I used today:

2c bread flour
2tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4tbl butter
1/2c (approx) buttermilk

I'd like to make a flaky biscuit, but folding the dough to gain a laminated structure will work the dough and toughen it, so while the gluten in bread flour is needed to solidify the laminated structure, next time I'll cut it with 1/2c to 1c of AP flour and add a tbl of sugar to help tenderize. To support flaky layers, I'll also up the fat content, but instead of more butter, I'll add 2 tbl of chilled shortening to further aid tenderization (butter contains milk solids and proteins that can further toughen biscuit dough).

I'll bake in a 400 degree oven this time, for fifteen minutes, rather than 375 for 20 mins, which is what I used this morning, and doesn't seem to have been quite hot enough to gain the loft I'm looking for.

Now, does anyone have a preferred cutting in method, what is it, and why do you like it? I rubbed the butter in with my fingers for this batch, but if anyone gets better results another way, please let me know.

I was struck about a half-hour ago by a wicked sweets craving. Alas, Fred Meyer is closed. So I'm making brownies.

It's a new recipe, so I hope it turns out. Of course, logically, any recipe with equal amounts of flour and butter can't be THAT bad.

If I had powdered sugar, I'd make frosting, too. At least it would keep me occupied for the WHOLE TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES I have to wait for brownies.

Brownies.

Mmmm.

** EDIT **

Pretty damn good brownies. Here's the recipe, it's a bit stripped down, but handy when you only have your basic baking kit.

1/2 c butter, melted
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 c flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

combine sugar, butter, and vanilla in mixing bowl. add eggs.
combine dry ingredients.
stir dry into wet.
pour batter into greased 9x9 pan.
bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until knife comes out clean.