Ichiro's Rice

This is my version of my mother's version of a recipe she learned from someone like 35 years ago. There's almost something profound going on there.

Well here you go, anyway: Ichiro's fried rice.

Ingredients

• 3c leftover rice (or fresh cooked rice, chilled for two hours or so)
  
• 1/2c carrots, chopped
  
• 1/2c edamame
  
• 3/4c chopped cremini mushrooms
  
• 2tbsp sesame oil
  
• 2 eggs
  
• soy sauce
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• salt and pepper
  

The exact things in the vegetables are totally optional. Use whatever you have on hand, preferably leftovers. Suitable vegetables include (but are not limited to) peas, carrots, broccoli, scallions, mushrooms, edamame (we just had some in the freezer at the time), onions, bell peppers, zucchini (yes, we've done it), or whatever else.

Sautee edamame and carrots in oil with garlic. Throw in some salt and pepper. When they're suitably cooked, throw in the mushrooms (as they take much less time to cook). Add about 1-2tsp of soy sauce for added liquid. After about 1 minute, throw in all the rice. Break it up with whatever cooking implement you happen to be using, and throw in just a little more soy sauce. Keep in mind - it's easier to add than to take away. Once the rice is broken up, crack in two eggs directly into the mixture. Break the yolks and stir with the rice. Continue to turn the rice over so the egg cooks, about 1-2 minutes. Take it off the heat and serve.

Thoughts: This is really good with a little Sriracha, and it's barely any work. It's adaptable since you can use pretty much any ingredients. We've considered adding chicken cut into strips, though have yet to try it. Tofu works really well.This is your basic "fried rice" base recipe, and to it you can add just about anything. It's fairly spare on seasonings, though it could use additional ginger. Works better with leftover rice - if you're using chilled fresh rice, cook it a little longer to counter the added moisture.

Claire suggests that next time we use the egg as a protein rather than a binding agent - that is, we move the rice & veg aside and crack the egg into the bottom of the pot. Stir the egg around until it's cooked, and then scrape it off the bottom and cut into slices using the spatula.

Disaster Index: 1-2/10

Carmelized Pear Risotto

A recipe inspired by something I had at Le Chardonnay restaurant in Madison.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe pears, chopped (we used Bartlett, but Bosc would probably do REALLY well)
  
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
  
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  
• ~1.5c arborio rice or medium grain white rice, or some combination thereof.
  
• 2c chicken broth (we used bouillon) (or veg)
  
• ~1tsp dried basil or about 1tbsp fresh basil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• ~1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• Boiling water, as needed
  

Risottos are pretty easy to put together, actually. Start by sauteeing the onions in the olive oil (with the basil and some salt + pepper) over high heat. You're looking not only to get them soft (a little transparent) but also to caramelize them a little bit. Once they're just a little brown, throw in the chopped pears, and again let them sautee until they're caramelized just a bit. Now add the rice and chicken stock (or, in our case, two cups of water and two teaspoons of bouillon). Let the mixture cook down, stirring often. Make sure you have a kettle of boiling water at the ready. When most of the water has cooked off (it shouldn't be DRY, but more a creamy consistency, and the rice will stick a little on the bottom of the pot) add another cup of boiling water. Repeat this process, cooking the water off and then adding more water until the rice is cooked through. When the rice is done, let the water cook down and don't add more. When it reaches the desired consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Thoughts: The risotto was delicious, but we've already thought of ways to improve on it. First, before you cook anything else, caramelize one additional pear (chopped) and set it aside. Cook the risotto as usual, and then at the end re-add caramelized pear as a last step. Another idea is to use canned pears in juice to get a slightly more powerful pear flavor. If you were really into it you could even add a little pear juice in addition to stock, but I think that might be a little excessive.

We served our risotto with Romano cheese, but there's almost certainly a more elegant pairing possible. I'm thinking Brie. Anyway, there are options you can experiment with.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Oat, Raisin, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Extravaganza

Makes about 24 cookies.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup superfine sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 capful of vanilla extract (what is this, like, 1/2 tsp? a full tsp? Not a full. Probably a half)
  
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1&3/4 cup rolled oats (NOT INSTANT)
• 1 cup raisins, soaked in water for 15 minutes
• 1 cup chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350F
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the beaten egg and vanilla.
Beat in the salt, baking powder, and flour and gently mix to combine.
Add the rolled oats, raisins, and chocolate pieces.
Place spoonfuls of the mixture on a greased baking sheet. About 12 should fit at one time.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. These won't really turn golden brown, so you can't use that as an indicator. Poke them with a knife or toothpick or something and make sure that it comes out clean.

Thoughts: Well, these were much better than that other oatmeal cookie recipe, I'll tell you what. But I don't think we were entirely pleased with the oat: flour ratio. These cookies, like so many other oat and raisin cookies, were too much oat and not enough batter. So I think we'd probably change the recipe to include something like 1 cup flour and 1 cup oats or even 3/4 cup oats or something. I don't know. We'll mess around with it. We used shredded chocolate pieces because that's what we had on hand, but I think actual chocolate chips would probably have been better.

Disaster Index: 2-3/10 not too shabby

Roasted Chestnuts

This wasn't REALLY worth the hassle.

Ingredients

• Chestnuts. Whatever you got.
  
• Butter. How much? I don't know.
  
• Cinnamon. Probably 1/4 tsp.
  
• Salt. A pinch.
  

Cut an x in the flat sides of each chestnut shell. Put them in a baking pan, and place that pan in the oven at 375 for about 30 minutes. Take the nuts out and let them cool, and then proceed to peel them. If you did it right, and we apparently didn't, the inner skins should come off pretty easily. If you over or undercook them, they won't. This is the part that isn't worth the hassle. If you can master this part, then you should do this recipe.

Now, toss the chestnuts with butter, salt, and cinnamon. Put them back in the pan, and back in the oven for a good 5 or 10 minutes, until just golden. Take them out, and serve!

Thoughts: Like I said, this was kind of arduous. If I could buy pre-shelled chestnuts, I'd consider doing that instead. I bet there's a better way. I've seen some recipes put them in a skillet and then after frying them they put them in the oven - this sounds like it might work better, but we don't have such a skillet.

Disaster Index: 7/10 - They were pretty good tasting, but the peeling thing was just ridiculous.

Tostones with Cilantro Mayonnaise

Tostones:

Ingredients

• Plantains, cut into 3/4" to 1" slices
  
• Oil for frying
  

Cut the plantains and put them flat-side down in hot oil over medium heat. Cook two minutes per side, and then take them out of the oil to drain on a bed of paper towels. When they've drained, place them one at a time between two sheets of waxed paper and smash them to about 1/2 the original height with a potato masher, frying pan, or just anything with a flat side that would make a good smashing implement.

Now, re-fry them until golden, again over medium heat, making sure to turn them half-way through the cooking process. Place them back on the paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, chile pepper, thyme.

You can also use this dipping sauce to dip the tostones in. Recipe follows:

Ingredients

• 2 tbs mayonnaise
• a lot of cilantro. Like, 2 cups.
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• liberal salt
• liberal pepper
• 3 tbp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic

Grind these things up in a food processor or blender or whatever, until the consistency looks like mayonnaise, but with cilantro in it.
Tostones are also delicious with salsa.
If you have leftover cilantro mayo, you can use it as a dipping for chips! It's great!

Thoughts: Make sure that the oil temperature isn't too high when you're frying the tostones. Try to keep it at medium. There's still a little something missing from the cilantro mayonnaise. Maybe more salt? Pepper? Not sure yet, but it was pretty darn delicious for being completely made up.

Disaster Index: Tostones = 1/10, Cilantro Mayonnaise = 3/10

Acorn Squash Ravioli

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 small onion, chopped
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1/8 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 package wonton wrappers
  

Preheat oven to 375. Cut acorn squash in half, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Bake in oven for 25-35 minutes, or until squash is soft.
In the meantime, sautee garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Set aside.
Once squash is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for several minutes before attempting to carve out the squash. If you don't wait, you will burn your fingers. Trust me.
Combine scooped-out squash, ricotta cheese, and onion mixture in a food processor with the nutmeg, rosemary, and breadcrumbs. Pulse until smooth.
Boil a pot of salted water. Place 1/2 tbs of the squash mixture in the center of the wonton wrapper. Dip your fingers in water and moisten the edges of the wonton. Fold it over into a triangle and press the edges of the wonton together. If you want to be all fancy, you can use a fork to crimp the edges of the wonton to ensure that stuff won't come out of it while cooking.
Place all the completed wontons in the boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Stir every once and a while to ensure that the wontons aren't sticking together.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the wontons.
Garnish with parmesan/romano, pesto, olive oil, or whatever you want. These are delicious.

Thoughts: When removing the wontons from the water, try placing them on a plate that has been sprayed with a little bit of cooking spray. I would also recommend spraying each successive layer of raviolis with cooking spray so that the layers don't stick together. Because they will. And then they'll tear when you try to take them apart.
You could also use butternut squash for this recipe.

Disaster Index: 1/10 OMG

Greek Honey Cookies - Melomakarona

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• grated rind and juice of 1 large orange
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 tbsp superfine sugar
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1.75 tsp baking powder + 3.5 cups flour (combine these)
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped

for the syrup

• 1 cup honey
• .5 cup superfine sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Mix baking soda and orange juice (not the rind).
Mix the olive oil and sugar together until well-blended. Beat in the cinnamon, then add the orange juice mixture.
Mix the salt and flour into the mixture and add the orange rind. Knead for 10 minutes.
Pinch off small pieces of the dough and shape them into 2.5 inch-long ovals and place on ungreased baking sheets.
Using a fork dipped in water, flatten each oval a little bit.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cool slightly and then let harden.
To make syrup, place honey, sugar, and 2/3 cup water in a small pan.
Gently bring it to a boil, stirring continuously. Try to skim off any surface foam, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Immerse the cold cookies, about six at a time, in the hot syrup and leave them to cook for 1-2 minutes. If the syrup doesn't completely cover the cookies, turn them every so often to coat both sides.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon and place on a platter in a single layer.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and chopped walnuts.

Thoughts: This is a pretty complex recipe and it is also very dangerous. When boiling the syrup, BE VERY CAREFUL. As it nears the boiling point, the mixture will start to rise rapidly. When this happens, REMOVE THE POT FROM THE HEAT AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN. Otherwise you risk getting honey and sugar ALL OVER your kitchen. CHRIST. I don't even think you need to boil the mixture. Just get it hot enough to dissolve the majority of the sugar. Dan would recommend mixing the cinnamon and chopped walnuts into the dough rather than topping the cookies. I personally disagree. He would also use butter instead of olive oil and would use one more egg because he wants them to be more like regular cookies. I also disagree there. He would also use the kitchen aid. I've got nothing against the kitchen aid.

Disaster index: 1/10 - delicious