Risotto and Fish (again, not together)

Here's the dinner report for the last few days. I cooked Friday and tonight, and we had take-out pizza Saturday.

Friday, 1/21/11
Risotto with vegetables and smoked Gruyere

1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped finely
1 small to medium leek, split length-wise and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large carrot, chopped finely
a bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
3.5 ounces smoked Gruyere
1 cup arborio rice
.5 cup white wine
3.5 cups chicken broth

I made this like a basic risotto; I sauteed the vegetables, added the rice and herbs and then started stirring in the wine and chicken broth about 3/4 cup at a time allowing the broth to be fully absorbed before adding more. Once the rice is cooked, I added the Gruyere and some black pepper.

I think this risotto needed something to offset the smokiness of the Gruyere. It was creamy and rich with a distinct, but not overwhelming, smokiness; it's really good to add some along with the cheddar to the sauce when making macaroni & cheese. It might have been good to add a little Parmesan, which has a sharpness to it or even a little lemon juice or chopped fresh parsley. Perhaps a gremolata would have been good--a little lemon zest, minced fresh garlic, and chopped fresh parsley tossed together--sprinkled over the bowls of risotto right before serving. I definitely should have added some garlic, maybe just one clove, while sauteing the vegetables.


Sunday, 1/23/11
Red Snapper with Crispy Ginger and Baby Bok Choy

Snapper fillets pan-fried in oil and minced garlic, ginger matchsticks frizzled in oil then coated in low-sodium soy. Finally minced ginger, garlic, cabbage, and baby bok choy stir-fried in a non-stick pan tossed with a little soy. Served with brown rice.

This was very good, but the next time I make it, I think I'll reduce the temperature of the stove when cooking the fish and the ginger matchsticks. The fish was slightly dry, and the ginger matchsticks were on the verge of being burned (I managed to rescue them) with the stove on medium-high heat.

Tomorrow night will be leftovers, so I have the time to plan the rest of the meals for the week. I'm thinking chili at least one day. I'm thinking of making my chili with ground turkey instead of ground beef and seeing how it tastes. I'm also thinking of doing some baking this week. I want to try making scones again. I want to try making some with some lemon zest and currants. Either that, or I want to try to make some orange-cranberry scones. I love the ones at Starbucks, but I'd like to try making them myself; that way I know exactly what's going into them and they'll cost me much less.

The Original and the Leftovers

This will be 3 nights in one since I didn't get to this post when I said I would. I actually didn't eat much early this week other than mashed potatoes, split pea soup, and pudding because of my tooth; first it hurt then after the root canal I wanted to be careful about chewing. This past Thursday I made Curried Chicken and Vegetable Roast from a recipe in Eating Well magazine. The recipe looked really good, but it ended up kind of blah.

The recipe called for butternut squash, onion, and brussel sprouts. I had a winter squash, but it wasn't butternut. I used it anyway. I also included brussel sprouts, onion, beets, and carrots. You were supposed to toss then in some olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt & pepper. The recipe was supposed to serve 12, so I reduced it by a bit more than 1/2. The original recipe called for 1 cup of oil, so half the recipe would have been 1/2 cup, which seemed like an exorbitant amount to me. I only used about 3 tablespoons, which was plenty.

The chicken part called for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but I had a cut up chicken, so I used that. The recipe called for non-fat Greek-style plain yogurt, ginger, garlic, and Madras curry powder mixed together then coat the chicken pieces with it and lay them on top of the vegetables in a large, shallow, roasting pan.

The vegetable turned out tasty except for the squash, which had a bad aftertaste. The chicken was pretty bland. I think it would turn out better if I added about twice the amount of ginger, garlic, and curry to the same amount of yogurt and then let the chicken marinate in it for a couple of hours before cooking. The chicken did turn out pretty tender though, and we ended up using the leftovers in various ways the next few days.

Friday night I used some of the leftover chicken in a vegetable risotto and served it with leftover roasted vegetables. I think I've become obsessed with risotto. That and frittata, I think. Trying different combinations of additions. The risotto had minced carrots, finely diced onion, garlic, chicken, and a little Parmesan. I really liked it, but I'm not sure if my mom did. I think she thought it was fine but not particularly delicious.

My mom made lasagna last night--so yummy. Dangerous because I could easily have eaten way too much of it, it was so good.

Tonight I made a frittata with the last of the chicken, some corn, and potato. I added some oregano, garlic, chipotle powder, and chili powder. It was good though it would have been really great with some salsa.

So that's the dinner report for the last few days. This coming week we'll be having a stir fry, vegetable barley soup, and quick mac n cheese with more roasted vegetables (they're a favorite of mine and my mom) and Thursday we'll be going out to dinner to celebrate my brother's birthday. I'll try to post again later this week because I'll be in Sacramento all weekend at the California Library Association Annual Conference.