Herbed Shrimp Risotto with Balsamic Tomato

Is there anything better in this world?

This dinner received another 'restaurant quality' rating from The Boyfriend. 

We both had seconds, and had no leftovers. 

These pictures are a bit fuzzy from the steam, but it was so good we had to eat it immediately.  

So I apologize for picture quality!

This is a warm, comforting risotto with a deep seafood flavor, chunks of shrimp, topped with a bit of dill and chive tomato salad.

Risotto gets all it's flavor from the stock you use.  I highly recommend making your own seafood stock for this dish.  It may sound hard and labor intensive (for those of you that have never made seafood stock) but it's really quite easy.  You just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. That's pretty much it.

If you don't have the time or energy to make your own stock and are purchasing store-bought chicken stock, do yourself two favors:  

1. Buy low sodium (store bought stocks are SO SALTY!)  
2. Simmer the stock in a saucepot with some fresh herbs (thyme rosemary, sage, etc) and some chopped onion, carrot and celery.  It'll make store-bought taste more like homemade. 

Herbed Shrimp Risotto 

with Balsamic Tomato

Shrimp:

1/2 lb uncooked shrimp, deveined, shells and tails removed and reserved for seafood stock

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp fresh finely chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

Risotto:

1 cup arborio rice

2 shallots, minced

1 tsp finely chopped dill

1 tsp finely chopped chives

1 tsp salt

Zest of one lemon

Extra virgin olive oil

About 1 quart shrimp stock, fish stock, or chicken stock

Balsamic Tomatoes:

4 plum tomatoes, diced

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp basil chiffonade

1/2 tsp chopped chives

fresh pepper to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional, for garnish)

For Balsamic Tomatoes:
Combine olive oil and balsamic vinegar, whisk. Toss together the tomatoes, basil, chives, and pepper. Dress with olive oil mixture. Refrigerate until ready.

For Shrimp:

In a bowl, add the shrimp and all the remaining ingredients for shrimp. Toss well to coat the shrimp in the olive oil/herb mixture. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Heat a skillet over medium high heat with a few drizzles of olive oil. Add the shrimp.  Cook a few minutes until shrimp start to look golden.  Flip, and continue cooking about 2 more minutes until golden on both sides.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Once cool, roughly chop the shrimp into chunks, leaving 6 shrimps whole to place on top of risotto. 

For Risotto:
In a large skillet, heat about 2 tbsp of oil over medium heat.  Add the shallot, and saute a few minutes until starting to soften. Add the arborio rice and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice is fully coated with olive oil (1-2 minutes). Add 1/2 cup fish stock and cook, stirring often,  until the liquid is almost completely absorbed (4-5 minutes). Add another 1/4 cup shrimp stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed (~8-10 minutes).  This step is important- to cook arborio rice correctly, you must add the chicken stock in small increments.  Once absorbed, add another 1/4 cup, waiting for that to be absorbed, and continue adding 1/4 cups of stock until rice is creamy looking but still al dente, about 30-40 minutes. You may have leftover stock.  If you run out of stock, use water. 

Add the dill, chives, salt, lemon zest, and chopped shrimp to the risotto. Stir, and cook just a few minutes longer, adding a bit more stock if risotto is looking dry. 

To assemble:
Mound risotto of plate.  Top with a spoonful of balsamic tomato salad and whole shrimp.  Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired. 

Butternut Squash Quinoa 'Alfredo' with Toasted Pine Nuts

Here's a perfect fall side dish.  

And it's quick and easy.  Can you believe it?

Protein-packed quinoa is the star of this dish, combined with plentiful butternut squash, an prepared Alfredo-style.  

How could you go wrong?!

Butternut Squash Quinoa 'Alfredo' with Toasted Pine Nuts

1 cup butternut squash, roasted, peeled, and diced (roast in oven at 400 degrees for 45 min)
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (toast in toaster oven at 325 for 3- 5min, or in a dry skillet)
1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, leaves only
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat water over med high heat.  When just boiling, add quinoa and stir.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover,  and simmer for 10 minutes.
2, Remove lid and add a few drizzles of the heavy cream.  Let in soak in a minute, and add a few shakes of the Parmesan.  Continue until all cream and Parmesan is added.  Add the butternut squash, thyme, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix gently, allowing butternut squash to fall apart a bit but mostly retaining it's shape.  
3. Stir in pine nuts and serve!

Old Fashioned Pork Chop and Thyme Apple Bake

This is my mom's recipe.  Having moved across the country from her last month, I was craving some comfort food from my childhood.  And I came across this recipe she gave me.

This is one of my favorite things she made. 

It's a wonderful recipe to incorporate those beautiful apples that are so in season right now.  

Pork does exceptionally well with almost any kind of fruit- oranges, apples, apricots, etc.  Often pork is marinated in apple juice or cider, or orange juice.  In this recipe, I didn't have time to marinate, and I'm not sure the pork needed a marinade.  The chops really soak up some of the flavor and moistness of both the apples and the baked beans.

And pork and beans is just a combination you don't question!  

For the beans, I added a few ingredients to spice them up a bit.  If short on time, you could definitely just use a can of beans without any additions (in fact my mom's original recipe used a can of beans with no additions and it was so so good).  

The bean recipe comes loosely from my future mother-in-law.  The Boyfriend loves her baked beans, and I've never been able to replicate her recipe to his approval.  Some things your mother makes, no one else can make the same, you know?  

But I tried to replicate here again today, only I didn't really remember exactly what she adds, of course.  These may not be Debbie's beans, but they turned out pretty darn good.  

So this recipe is a merging of mothers.  Home-cooked comfort food at it's finest. 

The best part is you can make this ahead of time, refrigerate, and pop it in the oven.  

Creole Shrimp Risotto

'Restaurant quality'

'One of the best things you've ever made.'

These are the Boyfriend's quotes.  Personally, I think this is THE BEST thing I've ever made.  It is just another level of deliciousness.

Need to impress someone?  

This is is.  I'm telling you.

It's warm and creamy, has great depth.
The risotto is kicked up with a little creole seasoning, cooled down with the tomato herb sauce...  

There's just no other words.  

Perfection.

Now I'll be honest, you're going to need to set aside some time to chop all these veggies.  This recipe takes time.  Good things come to those who wait. 

 IT IS SO WORTH IT. 

I beg you.  Take the time to make chicken stock. Your dish will be so much more flavorful.

Make a huge amount, and freeze some.  I pour extra stock into tupperware containers and freeze, and I also pour into ice cube trays.  It's super convenient to pop a couple out of the ice cube tray for a recipe.

Ancho Rubbed Roast Chicken stuffed with Mexican Stuffing, Poblano Corn Pudding, and 'Calabacits Guisada' with Edamame

Hello!  How I've missed blogging.  And cooking!

In case you don't know, I've moved from PA to CO.  The Boyfriend and I lived here for a week out of backpacks.  Literally.  No dishes. ONE skillet, paper plates and cups, plastic silverware.  For a WEEK!  

Now that we're all settled in, I thought my first blog out here should showcase Colorado's food scene.  

Which is Mexican.  

Makes sense right?  Colorado really doesn't do their own thing

 (Philly- cheesesteaks, soft pretzels... Whole state of Colorado- meat and potatoes I guess!) 

I'd be willing to estimate that the restaurants here are 30% American food, 30% Asian food, and 40% Mexican food.

Quick breakfast:

 Philly-  Grab a Wawa sandwich or Dunkin Donuts.

Colorado- Grab a breakfast burrito

Quick lunch: 

Philly- grab a Wawa sandwich or a hoagie

Colorado- Grab a lunch burrito

:)

Not that I mind, the Mexican food here is SO MUCH better than on the East Coast.  

So for you, I made a Mexican dinner.  A Mexican feast.  

Suitable for a non-conventional Thanksgiving or Sunday night dinner.  I can't say how authentic it is, I have to check out more of the Mexican places around here.  But man was it good. 

The showstopper on this meal is was the Proscuitto and Poblano Corn Pudding. Trust me on this.  This recipe is one of the BEST things I ever ate.  I kid you not.  The bite from the poblano's, the salty bits of proscuitto, the sweetness of the corn, and the manchengo cheese....  you just don't understand.    It would be a great side dish to many, many meals.  If you make nothing else here, I'm telling you....

The Ancho Rubbed Roast Chicken was also amazing.  The skin was so crispy, with a bit of heat from the ancho chile powder (but not really spicy), the meat so juicy.  The Mexican stuffing I made at the last minute, as I had a bunch of bread-butts I wanted to use up.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it was pretty darn good.  Maybe next time I'd add a little chicken stock for a little added  moisture.

'Calabacitas Guisada' is Mexican Stewed Zucchini, only I forgot to buy zucchini!  I had some shelled edamame in the fridge that worked pretty nicely though.  

All-in-all, a great meal!

Almost Shepherd's Pie

Okay. This technically is not a pie. 

This is something warm and delicious that falls under the comfort food category- it's what happens when a shepherd's pie meets a meat ratatouille.  

Shepherd's pie is basically a beef and vegetable pie topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. Ratatouille is a French dish that is a tomato-based saute of vegetables, eaten as a side dish or main course.

I used spicy Italian sausage in place of beef, used a bunch of ratatouille vegetables like green peppers, onions, and squash, and skipped adding any tomato.  Instead of a mashed potato topping, I used cubed potatoes sauteed in garlic and butter and topped with cayenne pepper.  

You can obviously use sweet ground Italian sausage if you like, but this wasn't overwhelmingly spicy at all.  It definitely had a little kick though.

The Boyfriend went back for seconds.  So did I.  In fact, we almost ate the entire thing.

Sage Chicken Chili with Lentils and Garden Vegetables

Here's a nice fall meal for you!

My parents recently gave me an organic homegrown squash that was almost as big as me.. maybe a mild exaggeration.. but look:

They also gave me homegrown peppers and tomatoes, and with this beautiful fall weather and football season starting, OF COURSE I'M GOING TO MAKE CHILI!

This is a healthier chili- made with chicken, protein packing lentils, and lots of vegetables.  It's mildly spicy, though of course you can adjust it to your own tastes.  If you want less spicy, skip the jalapeno and reduce the chili powder to a teaspoon or none at all. For more spicy, increase chili powder to 2 tbsp, and if you really want it hot add another jalapeno!

This is a one-pot meal- no rice required!  The lentils are way healthier than rice, and make the chili a bit more hearty and filling.  Afraid of lentils?  Don't be- they really don't taste like much- they soak up the flavor of the chili, and The Boyfriend didn't even know they were in there.  He still doesn't.   :)  

This chili would make for a perfect vegetarian chili too- just skip the chicken, increase the lentils, and use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock.  The recipe is very forgiving- add and subtract vegetables as you desire.

As with any chili, this can be made in the crockpot or on the stovetop. I wrote down both methods for you. 

Serve with a dollop of sour cream if you like, maybe a Gorgonzola Sage Popover, and voila! Dinner is served. 

Savory Sausage and Spinach Cannelloni

With fall approaching, I can't stop thinking about winter comfort foods. I may be jumping the gun, but I've already made Honey Spice Bread (which is similar to a gingerbread), and have been craving anything that has mounds of melted cheese (brought on by the best macaroni and cheese ever at Casellula in NYC).

So while looking to satisfy that hearty comfort food craving, but in a healthier way, I made this Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Cannelloni.  

This was so good, so warm and filling, and pretty healthy!

  The cannelloni filling is part spicy sausage and part turkey sausage that was sauteed and cooked down with onions and thyme.  The meat then was combined with sauteed garlicky spinach for a hearty, flavorful filling.  The cannelloni's were then placed on a bed of  a very quick raw tomato 'sauce', and topped with bechamel and parmesean cheese.

The cannelloni could easily be made ahead if you're planning on making it for guests or will be short on time.  You could also use jarred tomato sauce to save time.nThe whole thing can be assembled and refrigerated overnight, and then just popped it the oven when your ready!

The best part is the variations are endless! Have leftover chicken? Or even turkey?  Cut into cubes, add some broccoli, and you've got a variation of chicken and broccoli alfredo.  

             You could do sundried tomato, artichokes, and chicken.  Add a little ricotta if you desire..

You could do a caprese style cannelloni- fresh diced tomato, basil, and mozzarella.. maybe add some sauteed pancetta...  and top the whole think with more mozzarella.

I could go on..... but I think you get it ;)