Oyster Stuffing

I'm getting tired of blogging these, but this is important.

Ingredients

• Cubed loaf of french bread, left out for a couple days so it's really stale.
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 shallots, chopped fine
• 4 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1 lb of oysters, shucked (liquor reserved)
• 1c chicken stock
• 1/4c port
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 tsp tobasco
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the pan and chop into little bits. Add the shallots and celery to the pan and stir, adding the bacon when that's ready. When the veg are cooked through (about 10 minutes), add the oyster liquor, stock, port, thyme, sage, tobasco, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, then add the oysters and bread cubes. Take off the heat and cover the pot. Leave for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400.

After the 10 minutes are up, put the stuffing in the oven covered for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and cook another 20 minutes. Serve!

Thoughts: We shortened the cook time because of the altitude, so this could go up to 30 minutes then another 30. This was our first time making oyster stuffing, but it was AWESOME. Would make again.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Maple Bacon Marshmallows

Ingredients

• 1/2c candied bacon bits (just coat bacon in brown sugar and bake in the oven on a wire rack at 350 for 25-30 min, cool, then chop.)
• 2/3c sugar
• 1/2c maple syrup
• 1/4c corn syrup
• 1/4c water
• 1/4tsp salt
• 4.5tsp gelatin
• another 1/2c cold water
• 1/8tsp cinnamon
• powdered sugar

In a microwave safe bowl, add the 1/2c cold water and the gelatin. Let that sit at least 5 minutes. While that happens, in a saucepan, add the sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, 1/4c water, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches 240 degrees. When it's close, microwave the gelatin/water mixture for 30 seconds. Pour into a stand mixer bowl and set to low. When the sugar mixture is cooked, pour it into the stand mixer. Turn the speed up to medium-low and beat for 5 minutes. Then turn up to medium-high and go another 3 minutes. Then add the cinnamon and turn to high for 1 more minute. Then pour in the bacon bits and let mix thoroughly. Pour the whole thing into a 9x9 baking dish that you've covered in parchment and PAM. Smooth the top as best you can (it's sticky and very lightweight) and dust the top with powdered sugar. Let sit for 6 hours (or overnight), remove from pan and cut into about 36 pieces (halves then thirds in each direction). Don't worry, just crush through them with your biggest knife and they'll spring back. Toss the marshmallows in powdered sugar. Done!

Thoughts: Claire felt the bacon was a little off-putting? I think these would make AWESOME smores. No argument from Claire on that. We made these KIND OF thinking of matching them with the sweet potatoes for thanksgiving. So that will probably happen. Anyway, our first foray into making marshmallows (and cooking with gelatin) and it was incredibly easy. Homemade marshmallows are much more... airy and springy than the store-bought type. I guess that make sense. But maybe I will investigate recipes that use a little less gelatin? I'm not sure.

Not quite sure how to store marshmallows. My current vote is "cheek pouches."

Disaster Index: 1/10

Not Quite Pasta Carbonara

Perhaps more accurately called "Pasta Not Quite Carbonara." This was actually an attempt to use up stuff in the fridge / pantry before we go out of town (and eventually move), but it was the perfect thing after a hard day of painting. OH GOD THE PAINT FUMES.

Ingredients

• 4oz bacon, cubed
• garlic. Like, a lot. Maybe 2tbsp.
• Olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2c of that sandy parmesan stuff
• black pepper
• 14oz canned diced tomatoes
• 1lb pasta

Make the pasta. While that's cooking, cook the bacon and garlic in a pan of olive oil. When the bacon is cooked, add the tomatoes and simmer for a while until it thickens a bit. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix the egg, parmesan, and pepper and whisk thoroughly.

When the pasta is done, mix it with the tomato / bacon mixture until thoroughly coated. Do this over a low flame so that it's REALLY hot. Take the pasta off the heat completely, stir a couple more times, then pour in the egg and cheese mixture and stir constantly. The heat from the pasta cooks the eggs without curdling them (ideally - worked for us, but we've curdled them in the past). Then serve.

Thoughts: This was really good. The tomato really added, actually, although I know we're heathens for doing it this way. It could be the paint fumes talking, but I would definitely do it this way in the future.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Turkey Gumbo

After Thanksgiving, we went to Jeff's house and had amazing leftover turkey gumbo. Pat & Eleanor had given us the turkey carcass from our own feast, so Claire and I were inspired to try it. The recipe we made was ENORMOUS but good. You will almost CERTAINLY want to alter the amount of stuff in this.

Ingredients

• 1/2c oil or leftover bacon grease or something similar
• 1/2c all purpose flour
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded, chopped
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• 8 cloves worth of garlic
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/4c white vermouth
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 4-6ish cups turkey stock with turkey
• 1 package (?) andouille sausage (I think about 1 lb), cut into 1/2" slices
• 1 16-ounce packages sliced frozen okra
• 1 lb peeled (tail off) de-veined shrimp.
• Salt to taste
• Gumbo filé to taste

So, it's important to note before you start that we made the turkey stock as follows: chop up the turkey carcass and place in a slow-cooker. Cover with water, and leave for about 24 hours. Fish out any bones. DONE.

In a huge pot, add the grease / oil. Heat until quite hot, then add the flour. Stir around this paste, cooking over medium heat, for about 5 minutes. If you use oil, at least, it's supposed to turn reddish-brown through this process. Ours started out that color, so who knows. Anyway, add the onions, peppers, and celery. Cook until everything is quite soft - about 20 minutes. Then add the garlic and cayenne and cook another couple minutes. Then add the vermouth, thyme, and bay leaves. Turn to high heat and cook for a minute, before you add the tomato, stock, and sausage. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes, then add the okra and simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally add the shrimp and cook until just fully opaque (3-5 minutes). Salt to taste (ours needed quite a lot).

Serve.

Thoughts: Great flavor. Claire and I agree that we could have used more turkey - we could have had more, but we ate a lot of the turkey before we tried this. I think the amount of shrimp and sausage was good, though. We agree that the flavor was great.

Disaster Index: 1/10, but it made so much we'll be eating it for like 2 weeks.

Split Pea and Red Lentil Soup

This one was a little odd as recipes go. We borrowed some concepts from a couple recipes. But this turned out awesome.
Ingredients

• 1c split peas
• 1c red lentils
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 6c chicken stock
• 1c water
• 2tsp smoked spanish paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1.5-2tbsp tomato paste
• 1/3c raisins
• yogurt / blue cheese (optional)

Cook the bacon in the bottom of a heavy soup pan. When it's crispy, remove the bacon and set aside to drain. Pour off the grease if there's too much and add the onions and the bay leaf. Cook until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Then add the split peas and lentils, chicken stock, water, and paprika. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes. Around 25 minutes, check on it that it isn't sticking (it will tend to do this). When you're done, stir it really well (our stuck a little bit, but some stirring loosed the soup stuck to the bottom of the pot). Add the tomato paste and the raisins, and cook at low heat for another minute or so. Serve with crumbled bacon and yogurt / blue cheese.

Thoughts: We eyeballed the raisin amount, but I think that it could have used more raisins. Start with 1/3 cup and add more as necessary. This was an awesome recipe, if somewhat unusual. Would definitely make again.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Wow.

Ingredients

• .75c dry black beans
• 4 strips of bacon, chopped finely
• 1 smallish onion, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4tsp thyme
• 6c chicken stock
• .25c cilantro, chopped
• 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 dried chili pepper, MOST of the seeds removed, ground in a mortar & pestle

Cover the black beans with 3 inches of cold water and let sit for about 8 hours.  Drain the water and rinse the beans.

In a soup pot, place the bacon and cook until crispy.  Then add the onion and pepper and the spices.  Cook until the onion is translucent and add the beans, stock, and the chicken thighs.  Stir well, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for like 2 hours.  After one of those hours has elapsed, remove the chicken using tongs or a slotted spoon and shred using two forks, then return them to the soup.  After about 2 hours, the beans should be very tender.  Add the cilantro.  Serve.

Thoughts: Not only was this amazing - one of our best soups yet - it pretty much left the entire floor of our building smelling awesome.  The chicken was a last minute innovation designed to use up leftovers before we left town, and shredding it seemed like a really easy way to deal with the stuff being too frozen to cut.  Claire declared that all the chicken in our soups should be prepared this way in the future.  Anyway, not much can be said about this soup.  It was awesome.  Maybe next time I'll use 2 chilies.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Shirred Eggs

Easy and delicious.

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Cheese of some kind (we used Chevre)
• Salt and Pepper
• Milk
• Bacon or other meat product, optional
• Ramekins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Put some PAM in a ramekin.  Cook bacon (if you're using it) until it's crispy, then chop it up.  Put some in the ramekin.  Crack one egg into the ramekin.  Put in more bacon.  Put in another egg and any more bacon.  Then add some salt and pepper and put in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, until the edges are looking cooked but the top isn't done.  If you're only making one egg, this takes 5-8 minutes.

Take the egg out and add the cheese.  The original recipe added about a tablespoon of milk to the top, but we didn't have great luck with this.  Put the eggs back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes for two eggs or another 5-8 for one egg, until they're cooked but the yolk is still runny.

Serve with toast.

Thoughts: The original recipe has you add milk in the middle.  This worked the first time, but the second time it just left us with watery eggs.  It was also tricky getting the timing right so the yolks were still runny, but by the third time we made it we were getting it right.  This was pretty great.  I will make this regularly.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Double Celery Potato Soup

Not for those who are allergic to celery, as this has DOUBLE celery.

Ingredients

• 3tbsp olive oil
• about 2 entire leeks, chopped (we used the green parts of about 4 leeks)
• 1 large onion or 2 small, chopped
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped to rough 1" chunks
• 2 medium celery roots, peeled and chopped to rough 1" chunks
• heaping 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 8c chicken/vegetable stock
• 5 celery stalks, chopped
• (optional) bacon, crisped to top (you can also cook vegetables in the bacon fat / skip the olive oil completely)
• (optional) cream or whole milk - between 1/4 and 1 c, depending on how you feel (we used 1/4 whole)
• black pepper

In a pot, add the leeks and onion and the oil (or bacon fat, if using).  Cook until tender over medium to medium-low heat, about 10 minutes.  Then add the potatoes, celery root, thyme, bay leaf, and stock.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the celery stalks and simmer for another 15 minutes.  Now take the soup off the heat and, using an immersion blender (or equivalent?), blend the hell out of the soup until it's mostly smooth.  Add a ton of finely ground black pepper, milk (if using).  Serve and top with optional bacon, if desired.

Thoughts: The flavor of this is really INTERESTING - different from any soup I've had.  In retrospect, this recipe is another variation on the traditional leek and potato soup (see Vichyssoise 2 or our ever popular Vichyssoise with Chilies), but the celery flavor is slightly sweet.  It doesn't taste strongly like celery, but it has a unique... unexpected flavor.  Not totally unlike pea soup.  Kind of "warm" is the best way to put it.  It pairs very well with pepper.  I think this soup would be better had in winter.  But it was a good way to use up a lot of ingredients we had... and it was an excuse to try celeriac for the first time ever.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Pasta with Butternut Squash

Few recipes that are this easy taste this good.



Ingredients

• 1/2lb cooked spaghetti
  
• 1lb butternut squash (a small butternut squash), peeled and cubed, (seeds removed)
  
• 1 medium yellow onions, peeled and bisected orthogonally. Or whatever.
  
• ~4oz ripe tomatoes, washed
  
• 3 stalks celery, washed
  
• olive oil
  
• water
  
• salt
  
• 1.5tsp dry rubbed sage
  
• black pepper
  
• parmesan cheese
  
• 5 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped (or else pancetta)
  

Place the squash, onion, tomatoes (whole, if you please), and celery in a casserole dish. Toss with olive oil, and place in a 350-400 degree oven until the squash is just tender, about 45 minutes at 350 or 30 minutes at 400 (maybe - check with a fork). While they're going, start water boiling for the pasta. When the vegetables are done, puree them in a food processor and taste, adding salt as needed. This recipe takes a lot of salt. Add the sage and about 1/2c water and continue to puree until mostly smooth. Meanwhile, make sure that the pasta is cooking. Pour the squash sauce into a pan and add some water until it's just a little liquidy. Set to high heat and cover, letting cook for 5 minutes or so while you drain the pasta. Then take the sauce off the heat (provided it's thick enough - otherwise just uncover and cook until it's done) and pour the pasta in, tossing to coat. Grate a lot of black pepper into it and sprinkle with parmesan (maybe as much as 1/2c?) and bacon / pancetta. Serve. Thoughts: WHY have we never done this before? This will probably become a go-to recipe. It's fairly healthy (lots of vegetables, not too much fat - I used "center cut" low fat bacon) and it's really good. Disaster Index: 1/10

Breakfast Pizza

This was delicious, though there were some missteps.


Ingredients

• Dough
  
  • 2.5c flour
    
  • 4tbsp olive oil
    
  • 1/2tsp salt
    
  • 1tsp sugar
    
  • 2.25tsp yeast
    
• Sauce
  
  • 2.5tbsp butter
    
  • 1.5tbsp flour
    
  • 1c milk
    
  • 1/2c pepper jack, grated
    
  • ~1tsp chopped or powdered (?) rosemary
    
  • ~1tsp basil
    
  • pinch of salt, pepper to taste
    
• Other Ingredients
  
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced
    
  • ~4-8 pieces of bacon, chopped
    
  • arugula
    
  • eggs
    

First, make the dough: mix all the ingredients together and adjust the liquid:flour ratio until you can knead it on the counter (for about 5 minutes) to get a nice, elasticky dough. Grease a bowl, and set the dough to rise in it (covered with plastic wrap) for about 30 minutes. When it's done, turn it out onto the counter again and roll out into a big square to fit on a big baking sheet. Then cover with a towel and set aside.


Preheat the oven to 350. Now, we make the fillings while the dough rises. Start by making the cheese sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter and cook until it stops foaming. Then add the flour and stir until well incorporated, then add the milk. Turn the heat up and cook it until the sauce thickens, then turn off the heat and add the cheese and herbs. You can probably add the herbs earlier, but I didn't. Anyway, stir the sauce together and set aside.


Now the other fillings. Sautee the onion and bacon together until the bacon is pretty well cooked through. That's actually about it for this step.


Pizza ASSEMBLE. Add the sauce in an even layer, then put the onion and bacon evenly around the pizza. I added some sliced tomatoes to mine. Then you bake it. We started at 350 but increased to 500. It took about 15-20 minutes for the crust to be nice and brown. In the mean time, fry an egg (over easy, if you please). Take the pizza out and sprinkle VERY liberally with arugula. Then put the egg(s) on top of each serving. Serve!


Note: we attempted to crack the egg on TOP of the pizza and hope it would cook properly in the oven. IT DID NOT. Frying an egg = same result, less variability. ALSO I made the mistake of adding arugula BEFORE baking. Claire warned me about this but I didn't believe it. That was wrong of me, and I will be the first person to admit it.


Thoughts: Really good, but hard to prepare in moderation. Delicious, though. I would do this again. It's not really pizza - it's kind of like a croque madame, but with arugula and onion. I liked it. On the other hand our actual EXECUTION left something to be desired. We messed up 1/2 the pizza with my stupid ideas and the other 1/2 looked awesome.


Disaster Index: 7/10 salvaged to like 1/10. Claire insists that her half was always 1/10. WHATEVER CLAIRE.

The Fat Elvis Sandwich

Okay, so we changed one ingredient.

Ingredients

• 2 slices of bread (we used whole grain, you're supposed to use Hawaiian.)
  
• 3 slices thick cut bacon, cooked and patted dry
  
• peanut butter
  
• 1 banana, sliced and grilled (possibly in bacon fat) until caramelized on both sides.
  

Cook bacon and banana as instructed above. Put peanut butter on the sandwich, followed by bacon and then bananas. Put the sandwich back on the griddle and toast lightly. Serve.

Thoughts: Not much needs to be said about this. Claire put a lot of peanut butter on, which, she evinced, drowned out the bacon flavor too much. In the future, she would use more bacon (or less peanut butter). I thought it could use a spot of jelly or possibly honey, though that might be fixed by using hawaiian bread.

Also this was FANTASTIC. Although I would say it has an artery disaster index of more like 3-7/10, depending on how you make it / whether you fry EVERYTHING in bacon fat (including the sandwich) or nothing.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Kale with bacon and honey mustard

Ingredients

• 10-15 large stalks of kale (maybe 1.5 lbs?)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp honey mustard
• 6 slices of bacon, cut in half
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper, to taste

Add the bacon and garlic to a large (preferably thick-bottomed) pot and turn to high heat. Let cook until bacon is crispy.
In the meantime, de-vein the kale and chop it finely. Wash it thoroughly. Set aside to drain.
Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pot and set it on some paper towels to dry. Make sure you keep most of the bacon fat and garlic in the bottom of the pan.
Add the kale to the pot, turn to medium heat, and cover. Once kale has been reduced in volume by about half, add half of the chicken stock (1/2 cup). Cover again. Once kale has been reduced even further in volume, add the other 1/2 cup of stock. Make sure to stir well in order to get as much bacon grease as possible on the leaves.
When the kale is just about done, add the honey mustard and stir well.
When you are satisfied that the kale has been thoroughly coated, remove it and put it in a serving bowl. There should still be a reasonable amount of honey mustard/chicken stock mixture in the bottom of the pot. Thicken it in the way you see fit -- cook it down forever, or add some cornstarch mixed with water. When it's thick, drizzle it over the top of the kale. Eat.

Thoughts: The idea to add honey mustard was my father's, and I think it worked really well. The original idea was actually to add dijon mustard + a little bit of brown sugar, but we only had honey mustard, so we used that instead. My dad thought it came out a little too sweet; in the future we would try to actually have some dijon on hand. I thought it was pretty delicious. This recipe makes kale the best vegetable in the world. Dan also liked it a lot. I give it two thumbs up.

Disaster Index:1/10 awesome

Wine-braised Red Cabbage

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2.5 cups thinly-sliced red cabbage
• 1/2 cup chopped and peeled Granny Smith apple
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 bacon slices (uncooked), chopped
• 1/4 cup dry red wine (we used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
  
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup diced yukon gold potato
  
• 1 tbsp honey
• gorgonzola, to your liking.
  
• salt, pepper
  

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add cabbage, apple, onion, and bacon. Saute until cabbage is sort of tender (around 6 minutes?). Add wine and vinegar. Cover and cook until liquid evaporates and cabbage is completely tender (around 10 minutes?). Add the potato and the honey. Cover and cook until potato is tender, about 3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with blue cheese, if desired.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious. In the future, I would crisp the bacon, crumble it, and then add it to the cabbage at the very end. There's no point in using bacon unless it's crispy. It's also more flavorful this way. The original recipe did not call for blue cheese, but after I tried the cabbage, I thought something should be added to cut the acidity a little bit, and the only thing we had was gorgonzola. But it's delicious. And highly recommended.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Spargel Saison!

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion OR 3 medium shallots OR 1 medium leek (washed well, white and light green parts only, chopped finely)
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• salt
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (we used Vermouth)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, if you must)
  
• 2 bunches asparagus, tough ends removed, and cut into 1/2 inch lengths
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• ground black pepper
• VARIATION: 3 SLICES COOKED BACON
• VARIATION: CRUMBLED GORGONZOLA
  

Combine the onion, oil, and 1/2 tsp salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until softened, about 8-10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Whisk in the wine and bay leaf. Cook until wine is absorbed, about 1 minute.
Whisking constantly, add the broth.
Bring to a oil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the broth is slightly thickened and no longer tastes like flour (5 minutes).
Add the asparagus and continue to simmer, uncovered, until tender, 7-10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf.
Puree the mixture in batches in a blender until smooth.
Return to saucepan. Stir in the half-and-half and cook over low heat until just hot (don't boil).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
If using variations, add the chop the cooked bacon slices and stir in. Top with Gorgonzola cheese.
Eat.

Thoughts: Fantastic soup. And easy to make. And if you don't like your soups too healthy, go ahead and add the bacon and Gorgonzola. Let me tell you, it makes it so much better. There should not be any dish without bacon. Let me say that. Dan says that he's not sure that the bacon did much for him. So APPARENTLY bacon isn't for everyone. But without those two variations, the soup is ridiculously healthy. The only questionable thing in there is the half-and-half, and there's only 1/2 cup for the entire recipe. Not too shabby. I would definitely make this again.

Disaster Index: 1/10. Full marks!

Update: We made this recently, but instead of 2 bunches of asparagus we did 1 bunch asparagus and an equal proportion of kale, washed and chopped. It went well - the soup was quite good. If you don't have enough asparagus, kale works very well. Then I decided that I wanted to stir the blue cheese into the soup directly rather than in individual servings, and this was... less successful. Lesson learned. You can season the soup with some dill. See what you think.

Broiled apples with brown sugar and bacon

That's right, you heard me.

Ingredients

• 2 apples. I don't even know what kind we used. Macintosh maybe. I don't know if it matters that much
• 3 tbsp (or however much it takes) brown sugar
• As much bacon as you want

Cut the apples in half lengthwise. Remove the core from each half. Slice the apples into rounds.
Preheat the broiler on your oven. Obtain a baking sheet and grease it. Put the apple rounds on the pan. Sprinkle the tops with as much brown sugar as you like.
Broil the apples for 3-5 minutes, or until the brown sugar has caramelized on the apples.
Remove from oven and set aside.
Set oven to 350.
Cook bacon and slice it. Top the apples with it.
Put the bacon-covered apples into the oven and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven. Eat.

Thoughts: The texture was sort of weird on this one. The apples we used were (ahem) frozen to start with, and we didn't wait for them to thaw, so the apples were pretty soggy. If you start with normal apples, this wouldn't be an issue. I recommend using room-temperature ones.
Also, we didn't really wait for the brown sugar to caramelize over the apples before we removed them from the broiler. But the taste was there. Dan thinks we should rethink the format next time. He suggests using the same ingredients but putting them on a puff pastry sheet, or wrapping them in phyllo/fillo/whatever or something. Stay tuned.

Disaster Index: 3/10

Corn Risotto

Ingredients

• 2 ears corn
• olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 5 strips turkey bacon
• 3/4 cups Arborio rice
• 3 cups chicken stock (or veg stock, if you must)
  
• additional water, as needed
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
  

Using a sharp knife, slice the kernels of corn off of the cob. You should have about 1 cup of corn.
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and saute until soft and fragrant (about 8 minutes). Add the bacon and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the rice, and stir with wooden spoon to mix with the onions. Start adding the stock, about 1/2 cup at a time, adding more when the rice has absorbed the stock. Do this for like, 15 minutes, until the rice starts to get tender. Add the corn and stir. Add enough stock such that the rice is tender but not mushy.
Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper. Eat.

Thoughts: This was pretty easy to make and it was super delicious. The corn and bacon make the texture sort of chewy, which is pretty delightful. This is super tasty. That's all I have to say.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Spinach, Shrimp, Asparagus, and Bacon Quiche

Compiled from a recipe by "Carissa Seward" found on Food Network and "Donna's Shrimp, Bacon, and Asparagus Quiche" apparently from the "Channel 3000" web page.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
  
• 1.5c skim milk
  
• 1/2tsp dill weed
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 2-3 strips of turkey bacon
  
• 2c asparagus, chopped to 1.5-2" stalks
  
• 1.5c (precooked) shrimp, tailed
  
• 10oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed out
  
• 4oz mozzarella
  
• 1 recipe quiche crust
  

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk the eggs and milk in a bowl with the dill and a pinch of salt and pepper. In a pan, crisp the bacon. Remove and crumble or chop. Add bacon to custard mixture and grate in 1/2 the cheese. In the vacant crust, distribute the asparagus, shrimp, and spinach. Pour custard mixture into crust and grate the remaining cheese over the top. Place in the oven until the cheese on top is browned and the custard is set. Took us about an hour. Let it sit 10 minutes before cutting.

Thoughts: Claire felt it needed more seasoning, and next time we should use non-skim dairy, like 2% or cream (like the original recipes called for). I suppose that I agree. I liked the flavor, though.

Disaster Index: 2-3/10 - good flavor, though the texture was SLIGHTLY off.