Almost Spring calls for Spring-time recipes, which is what led me to this risotto recipe.

The main problem I have with risotto.

Is that it is a painstakingly slow process.

And that I must fight the urge to eat the risotto right away.

Or even 20 minutes into cooking because it still tastes awful (not that I’ve tried).

Luckily, I always make a large batch, so I will be able to eat leftovers all week without having to wait as long. phew.

Spring Risotto with Peas and Zucchini

from Everyday Food

• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 to 2 large zucchini (1 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1. Heat broth and 2 1/2 cups water in a small saucepan over low heat; keep warm. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until zucchini is golden, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer zucchini to a plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onion; cook until soft, 5 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Raise heat to medium. Add rice; cook, stirring, until translucent around edges, about 3 minutes. Add wine; cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes.
3. Cook, adding 1 cup hot broth at a time (stir until almost all liquid is absorbed before adding more), until rice is tender, 25 to 30 minutes total.
4. Add zucchini and peas; cook until peas are bright green, 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining tablespoon butter and Parmesan. Serve, topped with more cheese. Serves 6.

CoSkay Note:

I’ve now made this recipe twice altering the type of chicken broth used.  The original recipe calls for reduced sodium chicken broth.  The first time I used College Inn, regular because I had it in my pantry already.  The second time 365 Reduced-Sodium Chicken Broth (Whole Foods’ private label) was used.  The winner: College Inn.  I’m not sure if it were the difference in brands or the reduced sodium that made the difference, but the College Inn version produced a more pronounced flavor.  I also added a cup of chopped onion instead of a half cup each time because I like onion and it produces a very subtle flavor in this recipe.

So I’m spending Friday night in the kitchen (I did also manage to complete my system dynamics homework somehow) and I’m making Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting.  Next thing I know; it’s 10 pm, my apartment smells delicious and I have eaten caramel sauce for dinner (read = not a good idea, maybe my mom was right about that balanced meal thing).

Aside from a minor stomachache, this cake was a great learning experience for me.

1.  Caramel sauce is easier than you would think to make.  I don’t own a candy thermometer, so one of the reasons this cake appealed to me is because it didn’t call for one.  Just make sure to watch the sauce because it does change color quickly.

2.  Cakes can be stubborn.  They don’t always want to get out of bed in the morning and have scheduled all their classes after 1 pm accordingly…I’m still talking about cakes here people.  Every so often you get pieces stuck in the pan…just pull them out and pop them back in.  No one will know after you ice it, unless you tell all in a blog post.

(see..can’t tell which part stuck to the pan)

3.  When something calls for using a fine sieve and you don’t have one, just use two bowls and pour out what you need.  I got some brown butter bits in my frosting, but no one could tell.

4.    Decorating cakes is hard.  I knew this already, but I had never actually “decorated” a cake. Not only did I decorate a cake, but I made it themed for Valentine’s Day.  Totally not my style.  I don’t consider V-Day important because we don’t get off from work/school, so it’s clearly not a real holiday.  My first attempt wasn’t awesome but it was recognizable, and I was pleased.

5.    Without fail, both children and adults will cut into the decorated part of the cake first.  There is something about destroying the design that is so satisfying.

6.    Specific to this cake:
-It’s dense.  A small piece goes a long way.
-I also recommend making the frosting a day ahead of time.  The taste was dramatically better the second day.  It also might be easier to just frost the cake ahead of time because the frosting does get hard in the fridge.  For those of us that don’t have microwaves to warm things up, it’s just plain easier.
-Have plenty of friends to help you finish this because there is no way one person can physically eat this by themselves.

(Recipes from Pinch My Salt)

Caramel Cake

•    10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
•    1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
•    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•    1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
•    2 eggs, at room temperature
•    splash vanilla extract
•    2 Cups all-purpose flour
•    1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•    1 cup milk, at room temperature

1.    Preheat oven to 350F
2.    Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.
3.    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.
4.    Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
5.    Sift flour and baking powder.
6.    Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
7.    Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.
8.    Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

Caramel Syrup

•    2 cups sugar
•    1/2 cup water
•    1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)

1.    In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
2.    When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.
3.    Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Caramelized Butter Frosting

•    12 tablespoons unsalted butter
•    1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
•    4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
•    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•    2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
•    Kosher or sea salt to taste

1.    Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
2.    Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.
3.    In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.  Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.

Let’s be honest here.  I do love to cook, but boiling corn is kinda a pain in the ass on a stove that looks like it was designed for a Barbie doll and I don’t own a grill.  Raw corn is just as delicious, especially when mixed with other ingredients, such as avocados, bell peppers and cheese….oh yea and the scallops.

I go back and forth on the whole scallops thing.  I didn’t try them until I was much older and liked them and went through a scallop phase.  Then I didn’t eat them for a couple of years because I preferred other fish.  Now I’m back to liking them again.  They are super easy to prepare and flavor.

Raw Corn Salad

• 2 ears of corn with kernels removed
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 bell pepper diced
• 1/4 c. goat cheese
• Small handful chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tspn olive oil

1. Really difficult step of combining all ingredients and letting sit for 20 minutes for the flavors to combine.

Cumin Scallops

• 4-5 scallops
• Cumin
• 2 tspn butter
• 2 tspn olive oil

1. Melt the butter and coat the scallops with it.
2. Coat the scallops with cumin
3. Heat the olive oil and remaining butter on medium heat
4. Sear the scallops, 1-2 minutes each side

The best part: there are no classes.  This of course meant that I flew off to Portugal with 13 of my nearest and dearest directly after my Tuesday seminar finished.  Yep, it was awesome.  I’ll put up some pictures on my other site eventually (there was scratch on my filter, so I have to go in and edit the stupid dot on all my pictures), but in the meantime, let’s discuss the food.  Or rather, let’s just look at it.

Night 1: Sea-bass

The whole fish was super-fresh and delicious.  I was proud of myself that I successfully de-boned the fish and didn’t manage to choke on any bones!  The salad dressing was also really good (no idea what it was) and didn’t saturate the lettuce.

Night 2: Sol

Yes, that is raw meat. Yes, that is a hot stone. You put one on the other and eat. And yes, I ate it all.

Night 3: Fado

We went big. We went expensive.  We went Fado.  Fado is the traditional music in Portugal and we wanted to experience it first-hand.  The entire group went to a nice restaurant where we got traditional dishes and were swooned by singers.  It was filling, long and wonderful.  I got octopus.  It was yummy.  It was huge.  I didn’t finish this one.  I didn’t even try.

Night 4a: Argentinian!

We had steak. and sausage. and pork. and pork belly. and thank god I’m not a vegetarian because this was amazing.  One of my good friends is half-Argentinian, so he picked the best stuff for us.  I thought I would never eat again, I was wrong.

Night 4b: OH MY GOD WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME PORTUGAL HAS RIDICULOUSLY GOOD HAMBURGERS?

I always find it amusing that I never ate off of food carts in NY, but adore them in Europe and even in China (which retrospectively probably wasn’t the smartest idea).  I just feel the quality is much improved.  The food carts in the states is getting much better though and I love the Clover Food Truck at MIT.

Anyway, the burger I will dream about for the rest of my life:

• A delicious bun
• Perfectly cooked patty
• Mustard, Ketchup AND mayo
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Crispy fried onions
• Corn
• Carrots

Some of my friends polished off three (3!).  Another friend doesn’t eat red meat and devoured hers.  I think this will go down in hamburger-history.

PS – I apologize for the quality of these pictures.  I didn’t take my SLR out to dinner with me, so I was using a point-and-shoot.