Soup and Risotto

May I direct your attention to the Parsnip-Cauliflower-Leek Soup, whose link can also be found at the right. This soup is so simple to make, and so deceptively delicious, you should put it on your list to try. You don't even have to like cauliflower. The parsnips are what really make it.

And, of course, I don't stick to the quantities that are listed. I had one very big leek, two parsnips, and one cauliflower, so that's what went in it. I had chicken stock, so that went in instead of water. Everything else was pretty much the same. Damn good with buttered crusty sour bread and butter. Be sure to puree. I had it for lunch again today, too.

Turnips also appeared this week. Some beautiful Scarlet Beauties again. Cooked up in a little stock with their chopped greens and a pinch of sugar, they were so delicious-- even the next day-- they could have made their own soup.

It doesn't appear that I've mentioned risotto in my posts, which is unfortunate, but which will soon be rectified. I learned to make risotto on the line at Tra Vigne, while Michael Chiarello was still the chef. During my week in the kitchen for manager training, I dressed in whites and was to observe the workings of the "back of the house".

While on the hot side, on sautee, as they call it (as opposed to grill), we had a pretty busy lunch. The line cook ran me through the steps of making the already par-cooked risotto for each order as it came up. Front of the house manager trainees were expected to remain hands-off in the kitchen, but as the lunch rush heated up, and risotto orders poured in, the line cook began to get busier than he expected. An order of risotto was fired, and I watched the first cook-down. The rice began to bubble dry...

"Permission to stir risotto, sir?" I asked. Permission was granted and for the rest of the lunch it was "Fire risotto!" from him, and "Fire risotto!" back from me as I ladled and stirred each order of risotto*. (Later, my week turned into two weeks when the baker's assistant went to Mexico and didn't come back. If you had biscotti at Tra Vigne that was mysteriously missing its fancy sugar topping, that would have been me.)

Basic risotto recipe

As usual, I am not going to give you quantities. Use the guidelines on your box of risotto rice (Festa per la tavola! A party for your table!) for portions of rice and liquid. Do not try to do this with regular rice. It's not the same. Have an extra container of chicken stock (or vegetable stock) on hand in case you've underestimated. You've got one anyway, right?

Ingredients
olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
(no matter how much risotto I make, or how little, I find that I use 1/2 an onion)
short-grain risotto rice
thyme
white wine
chicken stock, simmering in a pan next to your risotto pan
parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/2 to 2/3 cup
salt if necessary

Materials
2 med/large saucepans or one saucepan and one anything else pan to hold stock
wooden spoon
ladle

Method
heat olive oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat
add onion, saute until soft and only slightly golden
add rice, stir into oil and onion to coat
add thyme
listen to the sound of the rice as it hits the sides of the pan when you first pour it in. When it starts to sound tinny and looks slightly translucent and a little golden, and the onions are just barely brown, you are ready for the next step
Pour in just enough wine to barely cover the rice, about 1/2 cup. Cook the rice and wine just until absorbed.
Now you are ready to begin your "cook-downs". It will take 3 or 4 to finish the risotto.
Ladle in 2 to 3 ladles full of warm stock. If I buy stock from the store, sometimes I throw in a celery top or two while it is cooking to give it more flavor.
Stir the risotto constantly until your spoon leaves a dry path at the bottom of the pan. The rice and stock at first will be soupy, and the spoon won't leave a path. As the stock cooks into the rice, the rice will stay parted a little bit, then a lot, when the spoon-- did I mention it has to be a wooden spoon-- passes through.
When this happens, add another 3 ladles of stock and do it again. After the third cook-down, check your rice. It should still taste a little dry in the middle of each grain. Add more stock, and cook until not quite dry and the rice just al dente. The last cook-down should be a little bit slushy, because the liquid will continue to evaporate as it sits. It's ok to put in a little more stock to achieve this. Stir in parmesan, taste, and salt to your taste. I don't recommend salting before adding the cheese, but if you choose not to add the cheese, check it for salt anyway.

A VERY BIG SPIDER IS HUNTING ON THE PILLOW IN THE WINDOWSEAT RIGHT NOW.

I think that's it. Tonight we had risotto made with stock I already had in the freezer, sauteed swiss chard, and roasted Delicata squash. (I love these damn squash!) I have pictures for you, but at the moment, Lightroom is not cooperating to release my pictures, so I'll post them tomorrow.

Roasted Delicata Squash

This is a basic method that works for pretty much any fall/winter squash except spaghetti squash. You can just keep that.

Halve and seed squash. Sometimes a bread knife helps in the sawing, or a very sharp pointy knife. Keep the squash on a flat surface for stability.

Each cleaned squash half gets placed face-up on a foil-lined cookie sheet (face down is ok for the first half of cooking if you want to do it that way, just oil it first with olive oil so it doesn't stick). If you're cooking face up, give each one a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a dab of butter, a sprinkle of brown sugar and a sprig of sage. Bake at 350 until soft and sweet. If you like, you can baste the tops with the melted butter/sugar as they bake. If you've started out upside down, flip them at some point and add the goodies.

Yum. Again, pictures will be coming.

*If you ever go to Tra Vigne, and you sit on the left side of the long bar that flanks one wall, there is a small black and white picture of Peter Lorre nestled among the colorful bottles. That is Il Santo di Risotto: The Saint of Risotto. One of the first sous-chefs at Tra Vigne resembled Peter Lorre, and he was the one who discovered just the right method of par-cooking the rice so that each and every order of risotto-- cooked from scratch to order-- wouldn't take 30 minutes. This was a very important revelation, learned the hard way by the patrons, waiters and cooks who worked that first opening month. Thus, he is a saint.