Tag: vegetarian

Posted on » by Dana & Nancy » Theme:

Goat Cheese Risotto

 

Recipe from: http://rosanaskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/10/goat-cheese-risotto.html

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or minced)
1 cup of arborio rice
A little olive oil
4 cups of heated chicken stock
1 package of chevre  goat cheese (approx. 4-6 ounces)
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a medium pot.  Drop in the onions and cook slow and low, as if you were making French onion soup.  This normally takes about 30 minutes, with a little stirring here and there.  You want the onions to go golden and soft slowly.  There will be bits that caramelize.
2. Raise the heat a little and throw in the garlic.  Let that cook a minute or two, then add the rice.  Pour a little olive oil on the rice and stir, until it gets shiny.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add about two cups of chicken stock and stir.  Lower the heat.  Pay attention to it!  I’m not of the “stir risotto constantly” school of thought, but you do need to stir it fairly often.
4. When the liquid comes to the “shoulders” of the rice (an expression I heard Mario Batali use on Molto Mario), add another cup of stock.  Repeat.  If the risotto is still not tender after you’ve used up your stock, you can always add water.  I find that overdoing the stock overdoes the flavor of the stock in your risotto.
5. Once the risotto is creamy and cooked to taste, cut up the goat cheese and stir the risotto until it melts.  Add a few tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  Don’t put in too much Parmesan, because the real star is the goat cheese.  Now taste and add a little salt and pepper accordingly.  Eat warm and gooey.

Posted on » by Dana & Nancy » Theme:

Beet Pierogies

Recipe adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beet-Pierogies/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups roasted & peeled, chopped beets
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons and 3 teaspoons butter
1 egg
1/2 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
Roast the beets in 450 degree oven for approximately 25-30 minutes.  While beets are roasting, melt 1 tsp. butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add red onion and saute until tender.

In a food processor add beets and onion.  Add the butter, start the machine, and pulse several times to finely chop the beets.

Whisk together the egg and water until thoroughly mixed, then mix in the flour. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes.

Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a ball. Roll out a ball until it’s 1/8 inch thick or less. Using a cup or cookie cutter, cut out dough circles. Repeat with remaining dough.

To fill, place a dough circle into the palm of your hand, and stretch the dough out slightly. Place about 1 tablespoon of the beet filling in the center of the dough, and fold the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges of the dough together to seal completely, and use your index finger to make small crimped indentations all round the sealed edges. Dust the completed pierogi with flour.

Fill a large pot with water, and bring to a boil. Drop the pierogies into the water, 1 or 2 at a time, and stir to prevent them from sticking. Reduce heat to a gentle boil, and cook until the pierogies float to the top, about 5 to 8 minutes.

While pierogies are boiling, heat large fry pan over medium heat.  Melt 2 Tablespoons butter.  Once pierogies are boiled, drain and saute in butter until browned, approximately 2-3 minutes, making sure to turn.

Serve warm with sour cream, if desired.

Posted on » by Dino » Theme:

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille

As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

  • ½ onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
  • 1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
  • 1 smallish zucchini
  • 1 smallish yellow squash
  • 1 longish red bell pepper
  • Few sprigs fresh thyme
  • Salt and pepper
  • Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
  3. Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.
  4. On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
  5. Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.
  6. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.
  7. Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)
  8. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.
  9. Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.