Barley Risotto with Beans and Greens

Barley Risotto with Beans and Greens
as found on Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

5 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock (LOW SODIUM)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
1 cup pearled barley (7 ounces)
1 cup beans, canned or precooked (white would be great; I used some Red Nightfall Beans mostly because they were languishing in my cabinet)
3 cups chopped escarole
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Salt and freshly ground pepper





In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm.

In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and thyme and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 6 minutes.



Add the barley and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine if using and cook, stirring until absorbed, about one minute.



Add 1 cup of the warm stock and cook, stirring, until nearly absorbed. Continue adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it is nearly absorbed between additions. (The recipe calls for six additions, leaving 1 cup of stock left in the pot. I ended up using almost all of the stock, based on how thick i wanted my risotto.) Most barley risottos are done when the barley is al dente and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce, about 35 minutes.

Stir it in until the risotto is on the loose side, then add the beans and let them cook for a minute.



Add the escarole and let it wilt and then cook for an additional minute.

Stir in the 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano and the butter and season with salt and pepper. Serves 4.





THIS MAKES DELICIOUS LEFTOVERS. perfect for bringing to work and making everyone incredibly jealous.

Blackberry Coffeecake

(Recipe found over at Smitten Kitchen)

Notes:

Not having any rhubarb on hand, nor the faintest idea how to go about finding it, I substituted 6 oz of blackberries, with 2 tablespoons of sugar and the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, which turned out delicioso. i'd personally use a little bit more flour next time. The cake turned out fantastic, but there was barely enough batter for an 8 x 8, and it was very dense. and (cringe) moist. but following this recipe to a T, it should turn out great great great.

‘Big Crumb’ Coffeecake with Rhubarb
Adapted from The New York Times 6/6/07

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing pan

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups cake flour (all-purpose is fine)

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour (all-purpose is fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. OR, gently crush 6-8 oz blackberries and toss with sugar and cornstarch. (I skipped the ginger throughout, which worked fine for me. i didn't want my coffeecake too spicy.) Set aside.

For the crumbs: in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

For the cake: in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb (blackberry filling) over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter, about 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

pretend this photo shows the cake with powdered sugar. much better.

Because lists are great, and my memory is failing - this is my notebook.
the good, the bad, the ugly. except from that small nine-month stint sandwiched in the middle, when i got lazy.



Movies

January:
Broken English
Belle Epoque
War, Inc.
Iron Man
In The Name Of The Father
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Ratatouille
The Other Boleyn Girl
La Vie en Rose
Chinatown
21
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

February:
Sabrina
Wall Street
Boogie Nights
Apollo 13
Roman Holiday
Coraline 3-D (twice)
Punch-Drunk Love

March:
Jules and Jim
Working Girl
Murphy's Romance
Tropic Thunder
Dave
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Illusionist
In Bruges
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
Sliding Doors

In Between:
Notorious
The Wrestler
3:10 to Yuma
Casino Royale
Gran Torino
Goldfinger
The Professional
The Outsiders
The Cider House Rules

October:
Adventureland
Year One
Lucky Number Slevin

November:
Revolutionary Road
Watchmen
Million Dollar Baby
Taxi Driver
Sunshine Cleaning
Taken
The Thin Man
Up
The Ugly Truth
The Maiden Heist
Grey Gardens
Harold and Maude

December:
Before Sunrise
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Alice (miniseries)
Unforgiven
Sherlock Holmes


Books

The Pure and Impure by Colette
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Cinnamon Rolls

(i just found this lost post, which is dated from April of last year.
These buns are still adorable.)


..................................


This is pretty much just going to be a picture post. It's fun, there's no yeast required (yeast - I can barely bring myself to say it, let alone cook with it), and they turned out pretty good. (Mine were miniature, since I gleefully make everything I can in cupcake tins whenever possible.) It's worth trying once or twice.


That said, this is one of the few foods I can't imagine being better simply by virtue of being homemade rather than store-bought. You really cannot beat Cinnabon - you just can't. They're so perfect in their soft, melty sweetness. I don't care if they're $5 a roll and 5000 calories.

So, here's the showcase:






And the recipe:

... is, unfortunately, proving to be impossible to move over, but it can be found here, at Leite's Culinaria. Titled "Fastest Cinnamon Buns".

Quick Fix Fried Rice

As all good Asians should know, fried rice is meant to be made with cold, day-old rice to give it the right texture. Making it with hot, freshly cooked rice is a different dish altogether (a much more delicious one).

I'm generally opposed to fried rice, but there are those desperate days when you simply cannot face another item off the McDonald's dollar menu.



For a quick fix:
2 cups of short grain rice (the sticky kind), hot or cold, new or old, definitely cooked
6-8 pieces of bacon
2 stems of scallions, finely sliced
3 eggs, beaten with a dash of milk
sesame oil
soy sauce
fish sauce

... i think it's pretty obvious where i'm going with this.

Cook the bacon over high heat til nice and crispy. Remove bacon and de-grease between paper towels. Crumble into bits.

Pour out the bacon grease, but reserve a little in the pan to cook with. Add the white part of the scallion in and cook over medium heat for 20-30 seconds. Add the eggs in and scramble until tender but not quite solid.

Add the remaining scallion and the bacon into the pan and stir appropriately. Add in cooked rice and mix thoroughly (if using old rice, it might help to add in a little bit of water to break the giant rice rocks up).

Season to taste with sesame oil, soy sauce and fish sauce. (i'd guess 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp fish sauce).

Good variants: a diced tomato, sriracha.