Yes, yes it has been a bit but I went to Italy, had some summer fun and switched jobs. So personally a lot has been going on. Food wise, a lot has been happening too. My CSA has started to come and much to BP II’s dismay contained almost all salad for the first couple weeks. This time around was a bit more interesting: beets, bright lights Swiss chard and rat tail radishes. I had this weird fever overtake me the past couple days and therefore could not make dinner. So I have all these veggies from my CSA just wilting in my fridge. I set out to use as many as a could for dinner tonight because I have a whole new box arriving on Monday. The result: Red beet risotto and garlic cumin Swiss chard of course paired with BP II’s favorite,
pork loin. I found the red beet risotto on the New York Times website and BP II thought it was amazing. The color was fantastic and very different from the usual risottos that I make. This is exactly what this CSA was supposed to do, push me from my comfort zone and try different vegetables and cooking techniques. I would never have picked up beets at the grocery store. I always memory flash to the gross canned ones that were served at my childhood Thanksgiving get-togethers. But these fresh ones were good and you can use almost the entire plant from the leaves to the root. A beet lover I now am.
The bright light Swiss chard recipe was given to be by a co-worker. Her mom is famed to be a fantastic cook and how do you turn down a recipe from a famed cook? The flavor was good and but I think I might just not be a fan of bright light Swiss chard. However, they are packed with vitamins: K, C and A. So good flavor and vitamins are good enough reason for me to “muscle” them down.
Risotto With Beet Greens and Roasted Beets
Ingredients:
3/4 pound beets (1 bunch small), roasted*
1 bunch beet greens, stemmed and washed
6 to 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock, as needed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio or Carnarolli rice
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 cup red, rose, or dry white wine
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 to 1/2 cup, to taste)
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Directions:
1. Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Season well and turn the heat to low. Stack the stemmed, washed greens and cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan or wide, heavy saucepan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the rice and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle, about 3 minutes.
3. Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock (about 1/2 cup), enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly (adjust heat accordingly). Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, stirring often and adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the greens and the diced beets, and continue adding more stock, enough to barely cover the rice, and stirring often, for another 10 to 15 minutes. Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to continue adding stock and stirring for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necessary.
5. When the rice is cooked through, add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and stir in another half cup of stock, the Parmesan and the parsley. Remove from the heat. The rice should be creamy; if it isn’t, add a little more stock. Stir once, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve.
*preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fill a baking dish with water about 1/4 of an inch deep. Add the beets and cover with tin foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife is inserted easily. Cool before dicing.
Garlic and Cumin Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Ingredients:
1 bunch of Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of paprika
½ tsp of cumin
Directions:
1.) Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add the Swiss chard. Cook for 3 minutes and blanch in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
2.) Remove chard and pat dry.
3.) In a 10 inch frying pan add 1 TBL of olive oil and garlic on cook medium heat. When garlic is brown (1 min) add the chard and paprika, salt and pepper. Sautee for 10 minutes and add the cumin. Cook for another 2 minutes and serve.
