Wild Mushroom Risotto

So far I've been moving through these recipes at quite a clip, trying to make at least three a week. Unfortunately, my production will probably be slowing down soon since.... I GOT A JOB!! Finally, after months of looking and dozens of resumes sent out, I actually received two job offers and got to pick the one I wanted. And this was the dish I made on the night I accepted my offer.

I was actually really looking forward to this dish, which may seem strange to some of my family members since they know (or should know) that I hate mushrooms. However, I really love risotto. Funnily enough, Ina's introductory note for this recipe actually discusses her assistant, Barbara's own distaste for mushrooms, that is until she met porcini, morel, and shiitake. So I was actually optimistic for this dish; perhaps I've just been misled all these years by button mushrooms. Can Ina show me the light? 

In an effort to keep myself more organized and better prepared, I'm going to start gathering all my ingredients together before starting any cooking. People who have cooked with me know I like a clean kitchen. My mother taught me to always put an ingredient away once I was done with it, put dirty dishes and appliances in the sink, so you have a nice clear work space. Usually, this is the way I cook; however, I've been working in a smaller kitchen theses days so it can be hard to get all my ingredients on the counter and still have room to work. Nevertheless, I think it's going to help and, plus, now you get to see before pictures of all the ingredients

*Editor's note: my camera was being temperamental for some reason this day so sorry if some of the pictures are blurry. I don't know what it's problem is; clearly it's not operator error.

Arborio rice, pancetta, butter, cremini and dried morel mushrooms, saffron, chicken stock, shallot, white wine, Parmesan cheese

The first step was to rehydrate the morels which looked like this originally:

Not so delicious...or edible 

I covered them with boiling water and left them to plump for about half an hour:

In the meantime, I cleaned and sliced the cremini mushrooms, which were dirty little suckers. I went through 4 paper towels wiping away all the dirt. Since mushrooms are basically little sponges, running them under water to clean them will just make them rubbery, so instead, you wipe them off with a damp cloth or paper towel. Next on the chopping block was the pancetta:

Now, getting this lovely piece of pancetta was quite the debacle. Pancetta is basically Italian bacon, except it's salted rather than smoked. It's easy to find already packaged, but like prosciutto, is sliced thinly. I have yet to come across a recipe that uses thin-sliced pancetta. Instead, what is necessary to do is to ask someone working the deli counter at the grocery store to cut you a thick slice. For some reason, this was easier said than done. After waiting for someone to help me, being told I needed a number, and then waiting some more, I got fed up and continued shopping, resigning myself to thin pancetta. Dan, however, persevered. I don't know what exactly transpired at that deli counter but he showed up, thickly sliced pancetta in hand. My hero.

I diced this into medium-sized cubes (which, in retrospect were a little large) and then minced the shallot:

By now it was time to drain the morels. Using a spoon, I scooped the mushrooms out of the bowl, draining as much liquid as possible and transferred them to a small colander. I rinsed them and let them drain before putting them in a different ramekin. I poured the liquid that the morels had been steeping in through a paper towel and into a measuring cup, adding a little extra water so that I had the right amount:

The purpose of the paper towel was to filter any remaining gritty solids from the liquid, and this actually worked surprisingly well. It was a slight challenge pouring the liquid while holding the paper towel high enough above the measuring cup so it didn't get too wet and fall apart, but this step was definitely necessary. I must say, these mushrooms did not smell good, not when I took them out of the package, nor once they were rehydrated. This didn't really inspire a lot of confidence in the way they were going to taste.

In a small saucepan I combined the reserved mushroom liquid and my homemade chicken stock, which, as I've already discussed, looked more like chicken Jello:

Please note the weird, lumpy texture (but gorgeous color!)

While I was waiting for this to come up to a simmer, I grated the Parmesan cheese:

mmm CHEESE

Once the stock mixture was just about simmering, I heated a larger put over medium-low heat and added the butter. Once it had melted, I added the shallot and pancetta:

This photo is somewhat deceiving because, as you can see, the pancetta and shallot seem to be sizzling away. This didn't happen until I turned up the heat to about medium to medium-high. The recipe calls for this to saute over medium-low heat for just 5 minutes, but there was no way the pancetta was going to brown over that heat and for that short amount of time. Now, the recipe doesn't specifically say that the pancetta should brown (one of the many omissions of this recipe), and I have to believe that it is meant to as I've never seen a recipe using bacon or pancetta in which it wasn't intentionally crisped and browned. Part of the problem could have been that I'm still not used to cooking on a gas stove, or that I hadn't diced the pancetta small enough, but I just can't imagine that would have made a difference.

I didn't want to overcook the shallots, so even though the pancetta still wasn't browned by this point, I went on to the next step, which was to add all of the mushrooms:

I sauteed this for another five minutes, still over medium heat, and was still frustrated the pancetta wasn't browning. Next, I added the rice, and stirred to coat the grains in butter:

I added the white wine to this mixture and cooked it for about 2 minutes. Next, I added some of the chicken stock mixture. The recipe says to add 2 ladles worth of stock, but unfortunately, I didn't have a clean ladle. Luckily, the saucepot I was using has a handy-dandy spout for pouring, so that's what I did for the duration of the cooking process. At this point I also added the saffron, salt, and pepper:

Saffron is a spice that I like a lot, but have hardly ever cooked with. It is used often in Spanish dishes such as paella and gives the dish a pretty yellow color. It is also very expensive this little amount:

was $8.00. Luckily, it stretches pretty far as you don't really need a lot to flavor one whole dish. This entire pot of risotto only used 1/4 teaspoon of saffron strands.

At this point, there was really just a lot of stirring and waiting going on. I was still having problems with the level of heat, as it was supposed to simmer over low heat but that just wasn't happening. I was still using a medium heat and was concerned the liquid would absorb or evaporate too quickly, not allowing the rice to cook all the way through. I was starting to get really frustrated and disappointed, sure that this dish wouldn't come out as I wanted it to. Dan did his best to cheer me up and offer suggestions, but I continued to pout since, you know, that always helps the situation.

I continued adding chicken stock every 5-10 minutes, once most of the liquid had been absorbed from the previous addition. Here's what the risotto looked like toward the middle of the cooking process, just after an addition of chicken stock:

It's hard to convey how hopeless I really felt at this point, but I was running out of stock, the rice was taking longer to cook than it should, and I was pretty sure I still hated mushrooms. Why did I think this would be a good dish to make as a celebration meal for my new job? I chock it up to a false level of confidence, although I can't imagine what would have happened if I had attempted this after an already tough day.

After about 30 minutes I only had one more addition of chicken stock left and I tested some rice to see how far it had progressed. It was still crunchy. FAIL.

At this point I was ready to throw in the towel, or dishcloth, but Dan was still optimistic, placating me by saying it would be fine. I added the last bit of chicken broth and crossed my fingers, which wasn't easy to do since I was holding a wooden spoon. Finally, after another 5 minutes, the risotto looked something like this:

Hmm, looked Ok, but was it done? 

We tested it out and thank goodness, it was cooked through. It was actually a pretty perfect consistency, thick and creamy and the rice was just al dente. I took it off the stove and stirred in the Parmesan cheese I had grated earlier, reserving some for the top of the plates. Here's the final plating:

So was all the frustration worth it in the end? I'd say so. I actually didn't mind the cremini mushrooms; they were pretty subtle and their texture wasn't offensive. But I could barely bring myself to try a morel. They were weird and spongy and didn't really smell much better than they had after their water bath. I bravely put a small one in my mouth and tried it. I was not a fan. Even though I generally picked my way around the mushrooms, I still think this was a pretty good dish, mostly because I love risotto so much. Dan cleaned his plate but wasn't so forthcoming with his thoughts; maybe he was too distracted by the episode of Grey's Anatomy we were watching...

I will say that I thought this was a bit salty, but I have a pretty low tolerance for salt. There's not a lot of salt in the dish, but it's possible I added too much cheese at the end, and particularly to my portion. I know what you're thinking: too much cheese?!? Impossible! But what I would suggest is to try this before adding any cheese to the individual servings. 

Make this when: you're feeling confident after a good day at work and want to make something a little extra special for dinner. However, it's not a great choice for someone who's never made risotto since Ina's instructions leave quite a few things to be desired. What does "a little dry" mean, Ina??? Not helpful.


 Next Course: Apple Dried Cherry Turnovers

Homemade Chicken Stock

I finally succeeded and broke my pattern. As I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about, my cooking so far has been following a pattern: first I make a successful dish, and then the next one is a failure, followed by another successful dish, and another failure. (You'll also notice the dishes that are failures are the salads I've made so far. Coincidence? I think not.) Well for the first time so far, I made two successful dishes in a row! First the granola bars and now the chicken stock. I know I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, so let me start at the beginning.

Chicken stock is something that I've never made before. I personally think that using a quality store-bought variety works just fine, mostly because I never wanted to deal with butchering a bunch of whole, raw chickens, which I thought was integral to making chicken stock. So I've been perfectly content using the boxed variety. That being said, I don't typically make recipes that call for large amounts of stock, such as soups or stews. The only time chicken stock is typically made in my house is when my mom makes matzoh ball soup for Passover, and spends an afternoon making Martha Stewart's chicken stock, something I choose to opt out of every year. 

Because of this inexperience, I was a little hesitant to even look at the recipe for this stock. As soon as I saw the words chicken neck or liver, I was slamming the book shut and vowing myself over to vegetarianism. Ok, a little dramatic I know, but I don't do well with raw meat. It is at this point that blogger Carol Blymire would start laughing hysterically since dealing with a few puny chickens is no comparison to the butchering she was faced with. But again, sorry Carol. You're just more woman than me.

Now Ina, unlike myself, thinks homemade chicken stock really makes a difference. I've heard her say it a hundred times on her show, and have never seen her use anything other than her own. Not only is there a recipe for homemade chicken stock in Back to Basics, requiring me to make it in order to complete my project, but Ina has also included a lot of recipes for different soups and stews, in which chicken stock plays an integral part. Since Fall and Winter are such nice times to spend an afternoon making a nice, warm, hearty soup, I knew I wanted to make the chicken stock relatively soon so I could get started on some of those dishes.

Dan and I had already done the shopping for the week so I had all the ingredients I needed. This recipe makes 6 quarts of chicken stock, most of which I would freeze until I needed it. This of course led me on a search for appropriate tupperware. What I really wanted were single quart-sized round containers, basically the plastic containers Chinese food comes in. Of course, these were nowhere to be found. I checked the grocery store and then Target (after a second round, successful job interview) but no dice. I don't know where Ina gets her cookware, but I would love to find out since I'm having serious problems finding the containers and bakeware she uses, which is incredibly frustrating. Anyway, I took what I could find and headed home to face the birds:

Ladies 

I really wanted to come up with some clever names for this trio, but couldn't really think of any that were worthy enough. Maybe next time. I'm open for suggestions. Thankfully, all I had to do with these little ladies was rinse them off and remove the lovely package-o-parts that was tucked inside the cavity. Even this was a little much for me and I considered vegetarianism for about 2 minutes, until the thought of a cheeseburger crossed my mind and I pressed on. I put the chickens into the biggest pot we had, which incidentally, was not big enough. Even though it was pretty huge, it was only about half the size I needed. A 16-20 quart stockpot: yet another piece of cookware that only Ina has. Next up were the celery carrots and onion:

This recipe also calls for parsnips, but they are optional. I really wanted to use them since they're not a vegetable I'm that familiar with and I was curious how they would change the flavor of the stock, but after looking in two separate grocery stores, I couldn't find them. Clearly I did not look in Whole Foods or I'm sure I would have been successful.

Ina suggests using carrots with the greens still attached since she thinks they're sweeter...sure Ina. They also look pretty. The one good thing about making chicken stock is there's not a lot of prep work like dicing or precise measuring. I washed the celery, which included the leaves, and cut the stalks into thirds, and did the same with the carrots, discarding their greens. Since I washed the carrots and we weren't going to eat them, there was no need to peel them, which was also a plus. Lastly, I quartered the onions, leaving the peels on. This may sound strange, but the peel is actually what gives the chicken stock its deep brown color, so although it's not important for taste, it makes a difference aesthetically. And, it's one less step!

I added all of these pieces to the stock pot with the chickens, shoving the celery stalks and carrot sticks down the sides of the pot, since I was already running out of room. Next were the herbs:

which consisted of parsley, thyme, dill, and garlic. There was no need to chop any of these herbs or even peel the garlic. I simply cut it in half crosswise and even left the peel on. I squeezed all of these into the pot, which looked a little something like this:

The biggest problem with using a pot that was too small was that there wasn't enough room for the 7 quarts of water once all the other ingredients were inside. I added about half of that, which was all that would fit, and put the whole shebang over very high heat. Once it came to a boil, I reduced the heat to bring the stock down to a simmer. My plan, since I couldn't add all of the necessary water initially, was to add it gradually as the stock reduced, allowing more room for more liquid.

After just half an hour on the stove, the entire first floor was smelling delicious. It was at this point that Dan came home and took a look at my handiwork. Soups, stews, and stocks are things that he really enjoys cooking and has some experience with so I was a little nervous about what he would think of my concoction. The look on his face as he walked in the door and caught a whiff of the chickeny-deliciousness was promising though. To ensure I wasn't just stewing a big vat of bacteria, he checked that the temperature was high enough, which of course it was (I blame the biochem background and med school paranoia). He did notice that part of one of the chickens wasn't cooking, since there wasn't enough space to cover it completely with water. He suggested we cut the chicken into pieces to make it fit a little more easily and since I wasn't about to go fishing for chicken to butcher, he grabbed some tongs and strapped on his apron.

Just look at that concentration and technique 

He cut the chicken into four pieces and we situated it back into the pot. Dan was also helpful in noticing that a lot of fat from the chicken had risen to the top of the pot, and was sort of stifling the rest of the liquid from evaporating and reducing. This was all news to me. But we got a ladle and skimmed most of the fat away, putting it into a bowl to discard later.

As the stock simmered for the rest of the afternoon, I added more hot water, 2 cups at a time, as often as I could, while skimming away fat and other impurities. This is pretty much what it looked like the whole afternoon:

Appetizing, I know

Chicken fat, sort of like bacon grease, is not something you can just pour down the sink, so I used empty Diet Coke cans to dispose of the grease. By the end of the process I had 2 full cans. Gross.

The stock simmers for four hours, and luckily after about 3 hours I had successfully added the total amount of water to the pot. Since this was obviously a departure from the original recipe, I let the stock simmer for an additional 30 minutes, just for good measure. Finally it was done and was time to strain. I set up a smaller sauce pot with a colander over top of it to catch the solids, and started ladling the stock into it:

so that it looked like this:

I must say, I was pretty impressed with the golden color of this stock 

Dan couldn't stand the thought of wasting all the chicken meat that had been cooking in the delicious stewy mixture all day, so he begged me to save as much of it as I could. This was easier said than done. The chicken was so tender that it had basically fallen apart, and trying to salvage chicken meat without any of the mushy vegetables was quite a challenge. Nevertheless, I acquired enough chicken meat to fill the biggest mixing bowl we have and put it in the fridge for Dan to deal with. In the end, Dan's dog Jager ate more of it than we did since we kept feeding him scraps and eventually just had to throw it away.

As I strained, I filled the numerous tupperware containers I had gotten earlier that day and put them in the fridge:

This recipe yields 6 quarts of chicken stock, which was the perfect amount to just fit into all of my containers. Once they were all filled, they went into the fridge to chill over night. The next day, I checked each container for any fat that had risen to the top. Since chicken fat solidifies at room temperature (or colder) when the stock cools, all the leftover fat rises to the top and is very easy to discard. Since I had done such a good job of skimming the day before though (remember the 2 Diet Coke cans?) there was barely any fat in any of the containers. Something to note about good chicken stock: when cool, it more closely resembles Jello than stock. I'm not sure why this is, and surprisingly Ina doesn't make a note of it in the recipe, which might be concerning to other cooks who have never made stock before and end up with chicken Jello. But I knew this was nothing to worry about so as I finished with each container, I put them in the freezer to store until I needed them.

Oh, I haven't mentioned how this tasted yet. It was good. Really good. Very flavorful, not too salty, and nice and clear with no impurities. Now, I've never tasted store bought chicken stock straight out of the package, so I can't really speak to how my stock compares to store bought. But since no one's here to dispute me, I'll say mine was better.

Phew, that was a looong post. I guess it's appropriate given the length of time it took to make this recipe, but if you think about it, there wasn't actually that much work involved.   

Make this when: you have a full day to devote to it and it's too rainy and cold to do anything fun outside. Since it makes the whole house smell wonderful, it's also a good thing to make when you want to impress someone with your baller cooking skills. 

Next Course: Wild Mushroom Risotto

Homemade Granola Bars

After the latest salad debacle I felt it was time to cook something I felt more confident about so, I turned on the oven.  Ina has a whole chapter devoted solely to breakfast, which is my favorite meal of the day. People who know me well also know that this is somewhat ironic since I hate eggs. That's right, I don't like 'em scrambled or boiled, poached or in an omelet. And every time I see someone else enjoying a delicious omelet filled with salty, crunchy bacon, creamy cheese, and fresh veggies, I sigh and wish my palate wasn't so damn picky. But alas...

This still leaves me with all the yummy carbo-loaded breakfast foods like pancakes, home fries (not hash browns), croissants, and bagels. Yummm. But, I'm getting myself off track. And hungry.

There are plenty of good options in Ina's breakfast chapter, but, like I said, I was looking for something relatively stress-free, and decided granola bars were the way to go. I bought all the ingredients about a week before baking, since they are all dry and could be kept in the pantry for a while. This felt sort of like a lazy Sunday project, so this past Sunday I went into the kitchen and started baking. I preheated the oven and prepped the baking dish:

Although I was using a disposable tinfoil pan, I still buttered and lined it with parchment paper, as per the instructions, since you can never be too careful. Next, I measured out old-fashioned oatmeal, sliced almonds, and coconut, and placed these on a sheet pan, before tossing them all together:

This went into the oven and almost as soon as the heat hit the coconut, it started to smell great. It baked for about 10 minutes, with breaks every now and then while I stirred it so it could brown evenly. When I wasn't stirring, I measured and chopped the dried fruit:

Dates on the left, Apricots on the right, and cranberries at the bottom

Once the oatmeal mixture was nice and lightly toasted, I took it out of the oven:

Doesn't look like much now, but believe me, it gets better.

I lowered the oven temperature and then carefully transferred this to a large bowl, trying not to let it scatter all over the floor, and added wheat germ:

  I know what you're thinking: Wheat Germ? What could be better than that?!?

Next, I combined butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan on the stove, using up almost my entire stock of honey:

Poor, sad Honey Bear

I put the saucepan over medium heat and waited for the sweet mixture to come to a boil:

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Once it came to a boil, I cooked, stirring for one minute, and then poured it over the toasted oatmeal and wheat germ mixture. I added all the dried fruit and stirred well:

  Mmm, sticky

I poured this mixture into the pan, and spread it out evenly. Ina suggests wetting your fingers and pressing the mixture down into the pan, but I found using the back of a wooden spoon worked just fine. I nonetheless wet my fingers anyway (since Ina said so), but just ended up with wet, sticky fingers. I put the pan in the oven and baked it for about 25 minutes until it was light, golden brown like this:

By now, the house smelled coconutty and delicious, but unfortunately for Dan, these have to rest for 2-3 hours before I could cut them into bars. Ina suggests that these are even better the second day, so I actually waited until the next day to cut them into single servings.

At first I was a bit skeptical. I don't like almonds, or really any nut for that matter, and am not a big fan of oatmeal or dried fruit (although thanks to Dan and his Great Grains, I discovered dates aren't actually that bad). But these granola bars far exceeded my expectations. They're chewy and crunchy and sweet, and way better than your average store-bought variety. Thanks to their numerous ingredients and density, they feel fulfilling and satisfying. The only drawback is that they are a bit crumbly, so they may not be the best choice to eat in the car on the way to work, but they make an excellent afternoon snack. 

Make this when: you want to impress new neighbors with something other than a boring bundt cake. Just make sure they don't have a nut allergy. Talk about a bad first impression. 

Next Course: Homemade Chicken Stock