Risotto Balls

I rarely make appetizers before dinner, unless I make something that requires a fair amount of prep work or that has a long cook time. This week I made a simple lemon risotto for dinner and ended up with plenty of leftovers, by plenty I mean around 2 cups of the cooked risotto. I had tried some fried rice balls, or better known as Arancini at a couple Italian restaurants, and decided to give these little fritters a shot.

There really is no science to make these. I decided to take my leftovers out about 20 minutes before cooking them, just to make sure that the rice was cold in the center after frying. Other than that all there is to it is: Take about 1 tbsp of the rice and making a little ball out of it. Dunk it into milk (or an egg wash) and then coat in bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown.

I used my basic Risotto recipe, as seen here. But the only thing I did differently was use 1 lemon, instead of 2 and I omitted the vegetables. You can definitely add peas, or other small cut veggies into the risotto as long as it stays relatively "bite-sized". Once fried, let them cool for a minute and grate some fresh cheese on top, eat immediately!

Chicken Curry

A few weeks ago my mother made massive amounts of homemade Mango Chutney and sent me a few jars after our weekend with them. So the other night I figured why not make a simple curry to use the chutney as a topping on.

Please keep in mind of a few notes. I don't want any "but that's not really curry" comments!
1) This is by no means a "traditional curry". It's what I remember from a recipe my parents used to make when we lived in Argentina.
2) This version is not drenched in a sauce like most curries are served. It's not stew-like at all, its a much lighter version.
3) I wouldn't necessarily call it an Indian Curry or Thai Curry, I'm simply calling it curry because the dominant condiment is curry.
4) This dish is more on the lines of Chicken Curry that you would order on a salad (sans the mayo, for those who need more of a direct correlation of what this possibly tastes like).
5) If you do consider making this version of curry,  trust me, you may be converted. It's so good my boyfriend even wants to put it on a deep dish as the topping...rice and all! (Not so sure if he'll end up doing that but if he does, it will definitely make a new post).

Ingredients:


Garnish Toppings: Mango Chutney, Cranberries, Peanuts

 2 large chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
1/2 medium yellow onion diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (Optional)




In a medium pot, fill with water and add the chicken. Season with salt and cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until the chicken appears to cook through. Remove from pot, and shred chicken. Set aside. Make sure to NOT toss the liquid! We will use a few tbsp in the recipe to keep the chicken moist, and keep the rest in a tight container, and refrigerate. You now have a very basic and simple chicken stock. In another pot make the rice, I always serve curry over jasmine rice.

Place large skillet over medium heat and add the flour. You want to give it a slight toasty color, light brown almost. Make sure to mix around, I prefer to use a flat whisk. When its got a nice color remove from head and place in a small bowl. Add all the other dry condiments and mix. Finely chop the onions and garlic. In a large saute pan, coat with a little olive oil and cook the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add the shredded chicken and mix well to make sure the onion and garlic mix coats all of the chicken. Add 2 tbsp of the chicken stock and mix well, adding the dry condiments. Cook for several minutes, mixing well. Add a few more tbsp. of the stock to make sure the chicken doesn't dry out.

Serve over a bed of rice, and serve with peanuts, cranberries, coconut shreds and mango chutney as optional toppings.

Spring Risotto

Whenever I have a friend over for dinner and tell them I'm making risotto, I always get the same look. For some reason people have this weird misconception that risotto is a dish reserved only for ordering at a great restaurant. Granted, like any other person I've had many a great risotto's and several that really did not impress.

Shortly after I moved to NYC I went to dinner with a big group of people and I happened to order a risotto. Unfortunately, the risotto was less than stellar and I stated that I was pretty sure I could make a much better version of this dish at home. A couple of my friends took me up on my brave statement and had them over for a lovely meal where I used the same ingredients as the restaurant version, but I made sure that my rice was cooked through, unlike the restaurant version. I have adapted that original mix of shrimp and scallops and made a nice spring twist with some seasonal vegetables and some fresh lemon juice to add another great flavor to the dish.

The great thing about risotto is that you can use pretty much any flavor combination you wish: seafood, poultry, vegetables, seasonings. So having a great base recipe as below, you can do endless variations of risotto to impress all your friends, particularly when you suit to their particular palate!

Risotto Mixture
1/2 large white onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup white wine
2 Cups Arborio rice
Around 5-7 cups Chicken Stock
2 tsp salt
Juice of 2 lemons
5 thyme sprigs (remove from stalk)
1 1/2 cup asparagus
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Seafood Mixture
1/2 lb. scallops
1/2 lb. shrimp
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

 In a medium bowl add the scallops and shrimp. Add the juice 1 full lemon as well as the Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside. You should also bring the chicken stock to a boil at this time as well.

In a bottom heavy pan, melt the butter. Add the chopped onions, garlic and shallots, cook for about 5 minutes, mixing to ensure the garlic doesn't burn. Once the mixture starts to release the natural juices add the rice and mix well. Add the wine and mix. When the wine has fully evaporated is when you want to start adding the chicken stock but only add 1 cup at a time. Add the lemon juice, salt and thyme as well. Every time the liquid has evaporated, add another cup. When the rice mixture starts getting creamy, around the 4th addition of stock, you want to add the asparagus and peas.

Heat a skillet, I love using a cast iron skillet when cooking shrimp and scallops since it gives them a great texture. Coat the pan with a little olive oil and add scallops and shrimp. Cook until done and set aside, this will only be a few minutes on each side. Any of the excess juices add to the risotto mixture, it just adds more flavor!

Keep on adding the liquid to the risotto mixture. The most important thing to keep in mind when doing risotto it to keep mixing it continuously, and slowly adding the liquid until the rice is creamy and fully cooked through. As soon as the rice has cooked through and the texture is rich and creamy add the grated parmesian cheese ( I prefer a good parmesian such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated). Mix well and add the cooked seafood. Serve immediately.

Fried Rice with Chicken

I tend to cut my prep time with peppers every time I come home from the market. Last week I went down to the farmers market and brought back 2 peppers of each color. I like to slice them and put them in plastic bags and just keep in the freezer. So while I was going about my routine chopping, I thought of making a quick and easy Fried Rice.

Now this post may seem on the long side, but I promise it doesn't really take as long as it looks! The trick in  fried rice is all in the prep work. Once you have all your ingredients chopped or sliced, it just takes turns cooking in the wok.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup onion sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1/2 cup red peppers, sliced
1/2 cup green peppers, sliced
 Small to medium handfull of green beans
1 tbsp. ginger, grated
3-4 scallions
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2-4 chicken breasts, sliced (depending on size)
1 1/2 cups rice (I like jasmine- cook separately!)
Vegetable oil (several tspns to coat the wok)
1/4 cup ponzy, or soy sauce (ponzu is a citrus based soy sauce)

First you want to start by making the rice. Using these measurements it should give you 4 servings. If you're unsure about proper measurements while making rice, a great rule of thumb is using twice as much water as you use uncooked rice. In this case I used 1 1/2 cups of Rice, so I used 3 cups water. I like to season the water with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp butter. Sometimes I also add additional grated ginger to add more flavor to the rice. Cover and cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until rice is cooked through and tender.

While the rice is cooking you can get started on all your veggies. Slice red and green peppers, green beans, scallions, onion and garlic. (Feel free to add other vegetables such as carrots or peas). Once you have all the vegetables sliced, place in a medium bowl and set aside. Slice the chicken on a bias or a diagonal in about 1/2 inch thick pieces. Place in separate bowl and set aside. Now you are ready to start the actual stir-fry process!

Heat the wok and add about 1 tbsp. vegetale oil. Add the eggs and coat around the pan, make sure they cook thru, almost like a light scramble. Once cooked thru, remove from wok and place in a small bowl. Next add 2 tsp of veg. oil to the wok and sautee all the vegetables. Add about 1 tbsp of the ponzu to the vegetables. Sautee until the vegetables are soft and cooked thru. Remove from wok and place back in bowl. Next do the same with the chicken, until that too is cooked thru. Since its thinly sliced it should only take about 7 minutes to cook thru. Remove from wok once cooked.

Now we finally get to combine all ingredients. Heat the wok with some oil, about  2-3 tspns. Add the rice, vegetables and chicken and cooked eggs. Mix well and add the remainder of the soy sauce, a little of the time. Feel free to taste or use less of the ponzu.