Cucumber Risotto with Yellow Peppers and Cilantro

Risotto is one of the easiest dishes to prepare, yet it continues to intimidate most amateur cooks. The essence of risotto is in the cooking liquid and whatever tidbits you might choose to put in it at the end of the cooking. The rice itself has a very delicate and subtle flavor, and the grains readily absorb the flavors in the liquid. There are several different brands of Arborio rice available, and nowadays, you can find all of them at your local supermarket. You may have to go to one of the high-end 'organic' markets to track down a more exotic rice, but in the end, you are cooking it slowly, adding liquid only as it is absorbed.

You can use almost anything to cook the rice: water, chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock, fish stock, lobster stock, even a fruit 'stock' for a dessert risotto. I've put raw shrimp in at the end, using the heat of the rice to cook it; I've used beef stock to cook the rice, then added wasabi powder in at the end, spread it out on parchment paper to a half-inch thickness, cooled it in the fridge overnight, then fried it in peanut oil and served it with grilled steaks. I always use white wine, in amounts from a third of a cup to a whole cup, and here again, Chardonnay will give you a different result than Pinot Grigio. This is where matching flavors becomes very important; you don't want to overpower your main dish with a heavy risotto. Unlike some guests at a dinner I prepared who complained that the rice was too bland; I sneered at them. Philistines!

I was doing a dinner for a hostess who was concerned about calories and heavy dishes that would leave her guests feeling bloated, and so I suggested a vegetable risotto to go with a poached salmon filet. Here is that risotto:

3 yellow bell peppers (remember that as bell peppers ripen, their flavors will intensify...green is least ripe, red is most ripe)
12 large cucumbers
2 tablespoons of minced shallots(chopped up very fine, like grains of rice)
1 3/4 cups Arborio rice
1 cup of white wine
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of chopped cilantro

Turn on your broiler and put the peppers on a rack in your oven, turning them with tongs until they are charred and blistered all over. Put them in a paper bag and let them cool until you can safely handle them. Slip the skin off: it should come off quite easily. Seed the peppers and dice them, about the size of your pinky fingernail.

Peel the cucumbers and chop them into one inch chunks. Put them into your food processor or grinder until they are a smooth puree. Force this through a fine mesh strainer into a large measuring cup. Press hard and get as much juice out as you can. Pour the juice into a large saucepan and heat it just below a boil. You want the liquid to be hot as you add it so that it doesn't slow down the cooking rate of the rice.

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat and saute the shallots until they are tender, about 5 minutes, tops. Do Not let the butter brown! Add a pinch of ground white pepper. Add the rice and stir it all around until the rice is covered with the butter and the shallots are mixed in. Martha (Stewart) says that the rice will sound like glass as you stir it.

Now add the wine and cook at medium heat until most of the wine is absorbed. Play with the heat so that the rice cooks at an adequate rate, but not so fast that you're rushed. This would be a good time to pour yourself a glass of that very same wine and enjoy it as you prepare the risotto. Relax. Stir until the pass of your spoon leaves a dry swath through the rice.

Now begin to to add the heated cucumber juice, about a half a cup at a time. Stir until most of the liquid is absorbed, then add more. Be prepared to spend about a half an hour doing this. This much rice will absorb almost six cups of liquid. Relax. Take a sip of wine. Compliment your guests on their attire. Continue to stir. Do Not stop stirring, and Do Not leave the rice unattended! If the rice burns, you will be beaten and then pulled apart by large Celtic draft horses and your body parts will be scattered among the tank farms in Revere.

The rice will develop a nice cream and eventually, the grains will be al dente, which means that they will provide only token resistance to the pressure of your teeth. They should not be mushy. Do Not let the rice dry out. Take the pot off the heat before all the final liquid is aborbed; it will continue to cook of its own volition while you plate the rest of the meal. Add a teaspoon of kosher salt. Add in the diced yellow peppers and stir to mix them. Add the cilantro and fold it in gently. You now have a delicate green risotto, with yellow dice and dark green flakes; beautiful!

You are now ready to serve. Relax. Take another sip of wine. Your guests will be mystified that a dish so light can bear such a complex constellation of flavors.

This recipe is not my own. I owe thanks to Michael Romano, whom I've never met, who was gracious enough to share this marvel in the 2001 edition of "Chefs of The Times", published by The New York Times, and edited by Michalene Busico.

There you have it.

Simple Turkey Stock for Gravy

When you finally open up the bird at zero-dark-thirty on Thursday morning to get him in the oven, and you pull out those conveniently paper-wrapped organs from his 'cavity', take a minute to make yourself a rich stock that will be the basis of your gravy at mealtime. This could not be easier, and is one of those things that real chefs do that amateurs like us classify as 'secrets'. It's very healthful, and you have total control over the fat and sodium content.

Put a four-quart pot on the back burner, fill it with water (mostly full, within two inches of the top, enough to cover the stuff that you're about to put in there), and turn the heat on low. Unwrap all the organs, neck, etc, and put them in the water. Add a bay leaf. Add a half-dozen peppercorns. I know you have some onion ends, paper and all, and some celery butts lying around, left over from making your stuffing. Trim the final hard end off the celery butts and put a few big slices of celery heart into the pot, along with the onion ends. Bring this up to a simmer and let it ride. This should just barely bubble all morning. Do not boil this! We are coaxing the flavors out of the organs. Do not add salt! Trust me, it's salty already, and you can add salt to the gravy right before you put it on the table.

While the turkey is resting, take out all the solids and give them to the dog (not the neck, as it's got small bones in it, and you'll spend your Thanksgiving at the Emergency Room at Angell Memorial in Boston, instead of on your couch in Rowley), but save the liver. Strain the liquid through a paper towel into a two or four-cup measuring cup. Yes, we all wish that we had bolts of cheesecloth lying around, but if you think I'm going to the supermarket on Thanksgiving morning for anything other than a portable defibrillator for Aunt Barbara, or another carton of Pall Malls for Uncle Bob, you're wrong. Now, mince the liver and set it aside. Spoon a few tablespoons of grease out of the roasting pan and throw it out. Put two tablespoons of flour into a small cup and add a little of the stock, stir this into a paste with a fork. With the roasting pan over a low heat, add the flour paste to pan drippings and heat it until it bubbles, swirling it all around the bottom of the pan. A big tablespoon of butter would be nice right now. Don't brown this, but make sure that it actually cooks, so that you remove that raw flour taste. You have just made a roux, the basis for a multitude of fancy sauces and stocks. It's OK if you brown it, just don't burn it.

Put a cup of stock into the roasting pan, along with the minced liver and heat it through, swirling it all over the bottom of the pan, scraping up any loose bits of whatever. Take a look at it. Take a look at your guests. Is the gravy thick? Is it thin? Is there enough? Feel free to add stock until there's enough gravy for everybody and it's not as thin as water. How much is enough? Two cups should take care of a dozen guests. You can always add a little white wine, but heat it through to take out the alcohol. You can always add another tablespoon of flour, but be careful, because you haven't cooked that through, and you don't want the guests to taste the flour. If you like, pour this off into a small saucepan to keep it hot. Finish it with another tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper to taste. Real gravy, real easy.

There you have it.

Chicken Tapenade

This is an hour, start to serve, and is based on my standard browned chicken then baked recipe. You might want to start some rice when you put the chicken in the oven, or put a pot of water on to boil for pasta.

1 1/2 lbs boneless breast of chicken
3 tbs butter(unsalted. I always use unsalted butter, that way I can control the amount of salt in the recipe)
1 large Shallot, minced (chopped up very fine)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup prepared tapenade (you can find this at any supermarket, probably near ketchup or relish, it's chopped olives in oil with garlic and spices. It's pretty easy to make yourself; I'll post that recipe soon)
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar would be good for this, but blue cheese or gorgonzola would be a nice variation)
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
3 tbs Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 350Degrees
Pepper and very lightly salt the chicken. Go easy on the salt as the tapenade is salty itself. I always use kosher salt: it's got great texture and will give you a salty flavor with less sodium than regular table salt.
Heat the Butter in a medium-high skillet until the foam subsides
Add the shallot and cook until tender, 3-5 minutes
Add the wine and reduce by half, probably about 7 minutes or so
Add the chicken and brown on both sides. Don't crowd the skillet, do this in batches if you have to. Don't overcook
Remove the chicken to a glass baking dish in one layer. Use two dishes if you have to.
Splash another 1/4 cup or so of wine into the skillet, just enough to loosen any browned bits of shallot and chicken.
Put the tomatoes in the skillet and heat through.
Add the mustard to the tomato mixture and mix thoroughly. Heat through.
Spread the tapenade over each piece of chicken until you've used up all the tapenade.
Spread the cheese over each piece of chicken until you've used up all the cheese.
Now very carefully pour the heated tomato/mustard mixture over the chicken, don't disturb the tapenade/cheese topping.
Bake this in the oven for about 30 minutes. The mixture will be bubbling.

Serve with rice or pasta.

This will taste great and may even leave you some for lunch the next day!

There you have it.

Beef Stew:

2 lbs chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
cup of flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground pepper
3 tbls olive oil

one medium onion, chopped (pieces the size of your thumbnail).
8 garlic cloves, three of them very finely minced (wicked small pieces)
four potatoes, ‘Yukon Gold’, cubed (about the size of a Hershey’s Kiss)
four carrots, peeled, halved, and sliced ½ inch
four celery ribs, sliced ½ inch
two cups beef stock (get the organic stuff at the supermarket)

mix the flour, salt and pepper well in a large bowl, put the cubed beef in and mix to coat all of the cubes.
Heat the oil in a stewpot, medium high.
Pull the cubes up out of the flour mixture, shake off the excess, and put them in the hot oil.
Cooking in small batches, brown the beef on all sides in the oil. A batch should loosely cover the bottom of the pot…Add a little more oil each time if necessary.
Pull the cubes out and put them on a plate.

Take the pot off the heat and let it cool a little bit. Pour in 1/3 cup of dry red wine. Put it back on the heat, about medium, and as it boils, use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown stuff on the bottom of the pot. This is the good stuff (you are ‘deglazing’ the pan). Now add the minced garlic to the good stuff and cook it until you can smell it. Now add the chopped onion, mix it all around, turn down the heat to low, cover the pot and cook it for ten minutes or so. Stir and watch that it doesn’t burn.

Now add the beef and all the juices, two cups of stock, a bay leaf, a few celery leaves, a tablespoon of dried basil, cover and simmer on low heat (this means just boiling, not a vigorous boil, ‘Simmer’ is truly onomatopoeic in this case) for at least an hour and a half.

After an hour and a half (you have just ‘braised’ this meat, it should be nice and tender) add the potatoes, celery, and carrots and cook until the vegetables are tender, probably another half hour. Add more of the beef stock if you need it. The flour and the starch in the potatoes will thicken the stew, but the liquid should come up to, but not completely cover, the vegetables.

Serve in a bowl over a piece of white bread.

There you have it.

Chicken Mozzarella

If you're stuck for something easy to cook for dinner, try this:

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• six cloves of garlic, minced(chopped up real fine)
• 3 tbs butter
• 1/3rd cup of dry white wine
• fresh mozzarella cheese(like school paste)
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1/3rd cup breadcrumbs
• 1/3rd cup grated parmesan cheese
• one small yellow onion, chopped(thumbnail-size pieces)
• one green pepper, chopped
• 1 box of cooked pasta, or a cup of rice, cooked.

Heat the oven to 350F

Slice the chicken through the middle(carefully) so that each boob(sorry about that) is the same size and shape, but half as thick.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium-hot heavy skillet--I like All-Clad--and wait until the foam subsides.

Now add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Just until it gets fragrant. Maybe four minutes, just don't brown it.

Add the wine and cook it down by half; should take about 7 minutes.

Put three boobs in the skillet. Don't overcrowd in an attempt to speed things up, you'll lose the heat. Brown on both sides, but don't cook through!

Put the cooked(half-cooked) chicken in a glass baking dish big enough to hold all the chicken in one layer.

Put a half-inch slice of mozzarella on each piece, top that with a basil leaf, some breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

Put the onion and the pepper in the skillet along with the last tablespoon of butter and a splash of wine. Deglaze the pan. This means that the liquid from all these things(lots of water in vegetables...)will soften the browned bits of garlic and chicken and become a very flavorful sauce.

Add the crushed tomatoes and heat through. Pour all over the chicken and cook it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Don't overcook! Sit down. Have a glass of wine. Gaze longingly at your loved one. Quiz your children on the formulae for the volume and surface area of solids.

Serve with rice or pasta. Garnish with a basil floret or a few artfully arranged leaves.

This is really easy. Don't let all those ingredients throw you! It will take about 40 minutes, tastes fabulous, yield lunch for tomorrow, and the kids will eat it too.

There you have it.