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.

At approximately 5:50 pm EST, I bought a Flip cam.  This isn’t even the good part.  I finish my MBA in June (hurrah!) and will be leaving Boston.  I don’t actually start work until August, which means I am without permanent home for a little while.

Which means:

It’s a perfect opportunity to take a cross-country road trip!

Starting in June, my friend Emily and I will be embarking on a cross-country road trip.  Now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with food and/or video.  Emily, also being a fellow food-o-phile, and I will hunting for some great places to chow down.  I hope to document the process with my Flip cam!  It will be much easier to just show you what we’re eating than continuously write about it! Plus, you’ll get to see real-time reactions.

We’re (tentatively) planning to stop in these cities, let me know if you have any recommendations on things to see and places to eat!

• Charlottesville
• Nashville
• Memphis
• Dallas
• Austin
• Grand Canyon

Oh yea, I just finished making a batch of risotto, recipe to come soon.

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.

Ah January.  It came and went so quickly, I’m not quite sure it ever existed.  Actually, it must have existed because I have hundreds of pictures.  I was fortunate enough to have taken a class at Sloan called G-Lab.  All during the fall semester I worked with a Company in Kuala Lumpur called JobStreet.com.  Then during January, I spent three weeks on-site working with JobStreet.  Yes, in Kuala Lumpur.  I also managed to spend a weekend in Singapore and five days in Bali.  Rough, I know.
The food in KL is amazing.  I’m pretty sure I spent three straight weeks eating.  Anything you desire is there; Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Western.  Usually the best food is from  hawker stands, it’s super cheap (easily under US$5 to eat) and delicious.  Also, hopefully I have mastered chopstick eating!

Beverages

Any fruit juice.  They are all amazing; watermelon, lychee and soursop were the top ones for me.  I’m not quite sure how to describe soursop, it’s sweet and sour and delicious, even if it does sound like something out of the Willy Wonka movie.

Teh Tarik.  Pulled tea with condensed milk.  It’s refreshing served hot or cold.

Honey lime. I was not a fan.  It was a cold beverage that tastes sweet at first but has a bitter after-taste.

Main Meals

Yong Tow Foo. Essentially Yong Tow Foo is vegetables with a large amount of fish paste in them.  There were peppers, eggplant, tofu and others that had the similar paste in them.  There was also something called, ‘lady fingers,” which I am almost certain is okra (again, stuffed with fish paste).

Rojak. One of my favorite dishes in Malaysia.  It is a mixture of fruits, vegetables and spicy, sweet peanut sauce.  I wasn’t entirely certain what I was eating all the time, but it was good

Chicken in a paper bag. Not the catchiest of names, but quite good dark meat chicken still on the bone.

Nasi Lemak.  The ultimate traditional Malay food. Malaysians will frequently eat this chicken dish soaked in coconut for breakfast from roadside stalls (we had it for dinner).

Kuey Teow.  A hawker stall favorite made from stir fried flat noodles, soy sauce and prawns.  Also one of my favorite dishes in Malaysia.

Thai. We ate a ton of Thai food includes curries, noodles and spicy Tom Yom seafood soup, a personal favorite.

Korean BBQ.  So good.  One of my teammates was Korean, so was all made an effort to get Korean food one evening.  This was also one of my absolute favorite meals.  We had traditional BBQ as well as hot pot.  It was amazing and when your Korean teammate approves, you know it’s good!

Starbucks.  Errr, how did that get in there? Ok, ok.  I’m guilty.  A girls gotta get her coffee somehow!

Japanese.  Another one of my teammates was Japanese, so we also made sure to get Japanese for dinner.  We stuffed ourselves with fresh sushi, mango salad and soba noodles.

Bah kut teh.  Oh the bah kut teh.  Like many of the meals in Malaysia, I said “What the hell!” and ate away.  The name means meat bone tea.  I was informed it was pork ribs in broth.  It was tasty, so I continued to eat. There are also other ingredients such as mushrooms and tofu.  What I was not told is bah kut teh frequently (read: almost always) contains offal.  I’m positive I ate stomach lining.  I am not positive about what else I ate.  I am also positive that is the only day I took Pepto-Bismol while in Kuala Lumpur.

Singapore Road Trip.  The food and beverages in Singapore should not be ignored.  They were also wonderful.

Fresh coconut juice.  Nothing like drinking juice from coconuts opened in front of you with an extremely large knife.

Singapore Sling.  I came. I ordered. I drank.  No trip to Singapore is complete without a trip to the Raffles Hotel for the original Singapore Sling.  While not exactly my favorite beverage, the experience alone was worth the $20 drink.  They also have very good Tom Collins.

Fish Porridge.  After waiting in line for 25 minutes, the lovely woman in front of me helped me order.  She said this porridge from the hawker stand was infamous and she has waited up to an hour for it.  They made each dish individually.  Even more delicious was the raw fish salad. Win.

Chili and Red Pepper Crab.  At the advice of our professor, we sought out these crabs while in Singapore.  They did not disappoint.  They were messy (I got a crab bib!), huge and flavorful.

And then there was:

DURIAN

Oh man.  One of the best parts of being home again is not smelling durian everyday.  This fruit, native to Malaysia has an extremely foul odor and an even fouler taste.  It was awful.  The scent is actually so strong and terrible many hotels do not allow the fruit on premises and they are also banned on the Singapore subway system!

That’s it.  As I sit here eating the chicken I roasted for dinner (a bit too soon to return to Asian food), I realized I will now have to find equally delicious Asian foods in the US; preferably in Boston, New York or San Francisco.