My First (fullyfromscratch) Risotto

I've gone over one of life's biggest humps. I've made my first, fully-from-scratch risotto. And it was good.

This is dangerous territory, though, because risotto is one of those dishes that is never fully conquered; there are so many variations and combinations and permutations! This frustrates and excites my cooking mind at the same time, pitting my left brain against my right, my creativity vs. my tick-that-off-the-list-and-be-done-with-it-ness (a battle I'm familiar with as someone who has always loved math just as much as musical theatre). Anyway, that got a bit reflective. Sorry about that. Here is the evidence of my first risotto battle won.

Salad Inspiration

I am over-the-top picky about blueberries. You would be too if your first ever experience with them was a wild bush growing in the woods of your backyard, the fruit of which was always the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and never bigger than half a centimeter across. New Englanders are blueberry-spoiled.

BUT, I'm able to live in the world of normal blueberries now, having perfected the art of the 'squeeze-and-select' method. My husband is very kind to allow me to eat all the super-firm ones, while he takes my rejects. Waitrose has had some really nice smallish organic ones in stock lately, so we've had a lot of salads with blueberries on them lately. I want to share my favorite combination with you.

Blueberry and Shaved Parmigiano Salad

Pho Real.

Lots of cultures have their versions of the 'Clean Out the Fridge' meal. Americans do casseroles; Brits do pies; lots of places do soups. The ingredients vary across cultures according to what their 'staples' are, which are those things that are always in the fridge and always ready to be used when all the special stuff runs out. My staples have been leaning towards the East lately, and I constantly go for Fried Rice when I've run out of meat and all I've got is a couple half portions of veg, an egg and piles of onion/garlic/ginger (the trio never leaves my kitchen).

But lately, I've been into soups as a method of fridge cleaning. One of my new favorites to make at home is Pho, which is a lovely change from fried rice and uses very similar ingredients (while simultaneously helping me clean out my ever-growing stock-pile of, well, STOCK).

It's sooooo easy and soooooo satisfying. Piping-hot broth does wonders for the psyche.

You, too, can make Vietnamese Pho.

Tuscan Kale Inspiration

Sometimes you come across an ingredient that is just so beautiful it demands to have its picture taken. This Tuscan Kale was just like that. A wrinkly, green supermodel pouting up at me.

"You can't ignore my charm."

Well, when I was only beginning dinner at 8:15pm last night, I really WANTED to ignore its charm, but, alas, I couldn't.

Gorgeous, right?

The organic produce guy at the Swiss Cottage Farmer's Market never fails me, though I sometimes get overwhelmed by the wall of greens he's got going on this Autumn.

Kale (see Tuscan, above)
Rainbow Chard
Pak Choi
Spinach
Rocket
Tatsoi
Cress
Red Lettuce
Green Lettuce
Sorrel
Claytonia

I've been dabbling in a bunch of them, but this kale really stood out last week and, well, I miss Tuscany.

That's me in Arezzo on a day trip from our home in Orvieto during '09. Open wine bottles in public are classy. But seriously, the vendor who sold it to me at the market opened it for me!

Lots of people don't like kale at all, including the woman from whom I adapted the recipe below, but when it's swimming in piping hot broth and cooked juuuuust right, I don't see how it's possible to hate on kale if you like any other green and leafy, hearty plant.

So, you get a bonus recipe this week because this kale was too pretty to leave unrecorded.

Tuscan Kale and Chick Pea Stew with 

Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Pita Chips

Majorly adapted from here. 

*I was ready to make toast for dinner because I felt like I had an 'empty fridge,' but this type of soup is always make-able if you've got a relatively stocked pantry. I love surprise deliciousness from a depressingly vacant fridge.*