Veggie Risotto

My husband grew up on rice, but I get bored of it quite easily.  We didn't eat rice very often at home unless it was risotto.  So every once in awhile I will make a risotto (usually mushrooms) because that pleases everyone.  I was visiting my nonna and she was talking about a zucchini-saffron risotto she made and I thought to myself Why not try something like that??

So while this is in no way her recipe, it was definitely inspired by her!  While my LO tried to pick out some of the vegetables, overall it was a huge success with everyone in the house!

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, halved and chopped (or quartered if it's a big one)
2 small green peppers, seeded and sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
1.5 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
3-4 tbsp butter, separated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or mixed with Asiago cheese)

Directions:

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a small saucepan.  (If you don't have chicken stock handy, use a bouillon cube in boiling water.  Make sure you follow the package instructions and make enough for the risotto).

2. Saute onions until translucent over medium heat in oil and butter.

3. Add garlic and pepper and saute for a few more minutes until tender.

4.  Add zucchini and tomato and cook until softened; add more butter if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add 1 tbsp butter and rice and stir until rice becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.

6.  Add 1/2 cup white wine and stir until absorbed.  Add chicken stock by the ladleful/s and stir until absorbed.  Continue to add stock until the rice is cooked, about 45-50 minutes.

7.  Remove from heat, add 1 tbsp butter, then the freshly grated Parmesan (and Asiago) cheese.  Stir.  Season with salt if necessary.

This serves great with a nice salad or even bruschetta as a side.

Veggie Risotto

The yummy bruschetta side dish

A Vegetarian Dinner

Tonight was a meat free dinner with some delicious vegetarian options: eggplant pizza and baked broccoli.  Both recipes required the use of the oven, so I started with the eggplant and while it was cooking I prepped the broccoli.  When the eggplant was ready to be taken out of the oven, I put the broccoli in and topped the eggplant slices.  I then turned the oven to broil on high and put the eggplant back in beside the broccoli for about 5 minutes.  When it was ready, I left the broccoli to cook again at 425 for whatever time was left.

Baked Broccoli
This makes a great side dish to any meal and it's really easy to put together.

Ingredients:
1 head of broccoli, washed and cut into pieces
2-4 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to season
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp cheese (Parmesan or Asiago are my favourites), shredded or grated
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lemon, zest and juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Spray a 8x8" baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper until the broccoli is coated.  Add the bread crumbs and 2 tbsp cheese; stir again.  Transfer to the baking dish.  Make sure you add all the crumbs in the bowl to the top of the broccoli.  (Easy clean-up option: Combine all the ingredients in a large ziploc bag and give it a shake to coat!)

3. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until everything is browned.  Stir the broccoli about half way through cooking if you like.

4. Zest the lemon over the broccoli.  Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli as well.  Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.


Eggplant Pizza
I've been wanting to make this for a long time.  With the ingredients required to make it, you really can't go wrong!  And this portion of our vegetarian dinner is gluten free as well!

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, sliced into 1" thick slices
1 jar/can (213mL) tomato sauce or pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated (this amount varies depending on how cheesy you like our pizza)
15-20 fresh cherry tomatoes, halved (enough so that there's 2-3 halves per slice)
4-5 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
1 tsp sea salt
Asiago or Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt.
This will help dry them out as they cook.

1. Preheat oven to 425F.  Arrange the sliced eggplant in rows on a baking sheet (or two if you need it).  Sprinkle with salt and bake for 20 minutes.

2. Remove the eggplant from the oven and turn the broiler on.  Spread 1 tbsp sauce over each eggplant, followed by the mozzarella.  Arrange the basil and cherry tomatoes over the cheese.  Grate some Asiago cheese over each slice.

3. Broil for 3-5 minutes.  Keep a close eye to make sure it does not burn.  Serve hot.

Instead of mozzarella, you can use Provolone cheese.  If you buy it already sliced, it makes for an even quicker prep and less clean up.

The cooked eggplant topped and ready to be broiled!

The final product - so delicious!

Dinner & Dessert

Happy New Year!!

Today was not a very productive day for the pile of marking sitting at my front door, but I did get to do some amazing cooking and baking!  I haven't put anything on the blog lately, not because I'm not cooking, but because I don't have time to type up the blog post.

So today you are going to get two recipes: a one pot barley and chicken cacciatore and a lemon-blueberry loaf.

And I apologize in advance for the terrible photos I have included - I always forget to take the photo until the leftovers are packed up.  Maybe that should be one of my new year's resolutions! ;-)

One Pot Barley & Chicken Cacciatore

This recipe takes its inspiration from Giada DeLaurentiis' Everyday Italian Cookbook. It's a modification of her chicken cacciatore recipe.  I decided to add barley because of how much my husband loves it. It is a very filling dinner, and definitely enough for lunch the next day as well.

Ingredients:

4-5 full chicken leg/thighs

salt and pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1-1/2 tsp dried oregano

3/4 cup wine (I used red)

1 can (28 fl oz) diced tomatoes with juice

3/4 - 1 cup chicken broth (I put closer to 1 cup since I was adding barley to the recipe)

3/4 - 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed

Directions:

1. Sprinkle each piece of chicken with salt and pepper and dredge the pieces in flour to coat lightly.

2. In a large, heavy saute pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, add the chicken pieces to the pan and saute just until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic and oregano the same pan and saute over medium heat until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the barley. Add the tomatoes with their juice and broth. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer.  Continue simmering over medium-low heat until the barley is tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes.  Stir occasionally to prevent the barley from sticking, but be careful not to break apart the chicken, and keep the meat covered in the sauce.

4. Remove the chicken and transfer to a platter.  You can boil the sauce a little longer to thicken the sauce and cook the barley.  Spoon the barley onto plates and place the chicken on top or along side it.  This would also go great with pieces of chicken, making it more like a stew.

5. My husband grated some Monterey Jack cheese and sprinkled it over top of the barley.  It made it nice and gooey and tasted great as well.  This also made my 18-month old daughter devour her dinner, but each mouthful had to have some cheese in it!

Serves 4-5.

Lemon-Blueberry Loaf

This lovely loaf comes from my cookbook: Wanda's Pie in the Sky. It will make a 9" loaf. It is my first time trying this recipe, but as I'm sitting here smelling it as it cools, I can tell it's going to be so moist and delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 cup fresh blueberries

For the glaze:

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter and flour ra 9x5zx3" loaf pan.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and lemon juice. Mix until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest. Fold blueberries into the batter just before turning it into the pan.

3. Spread into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

4. Once the loaf is baked and cooling, start on the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and lemon juice. Heat until the mixture bubbles and the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Pour over the warm loaf in the pan. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.  Turn the loaf out and cool on a rack.

(For this part I would let the loaf cool a bit before actually making the glaze and pouring it over and/or wait more than 15 minutes before removing it from the pan - my loaf was still way too warm and started to break as I took it out of the pan - and it had been cooling for quite a long time!)

The loaf just soaked up the glaze and when I took it out it was so moist all the way through! It looks amazing! FYI It also tastes amazing! It is definitely very moist; the glaze definitely helped with that and gives it a nice sheen. It's a very light loaf - my husband said it'd pair well with ice cream, but even a nice cup of tea would do.