Mushroom Broccolini Risotto

This month at Food ‘n Flix we watched Sideways, hosted by Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor.

I first saw Sideways the year it had come out, back in 2005. My dad was sent to Blockbuster and told to get a comedy. He came back with Sideways. Being 18 years old and expecting something truly funny, I was not expecting the dark comedy he had brought home. We ended up turning it off.

Seeing it again these seven years later has made a mountain of a difference.

In Sideways two middle age men go on a trip through Southern California’s wine country. Honestly, until I saw this movie I had no idea that Southern California even had a wine country. I live in Sacramento, grew up in San Francisco, and went to college in Santa Cruz. I am very much a Northern California girl and always just thought of “wine country” as being Napa county. In fact, I have plans this summer to go wine tasting in Napa with several of my girl friends. I hope this happens because I’ve never gone wine tasting before. And I hope I’m not the driver.

For the recipe to share with Food ‘n Flix I decided to pick something and pair it with wine, since that was the overwhelming theme of the movie.

Here’s the problem. Well, there’s two. I don’t know much about wine and I’m cheap as hell. I originally googled what I should pair with a mushroom risotto and read that I should pair it with a Dolcetto. That sounds great and all, but the $20 bottle of wine from Bevmo really just wasn’t fitting this poor law student’s budget. Upon more searching I read that a chardonnay would be a good pair for this type of meal – and since the recipe called for dry white wine I decided I’d buy a wine, cook with it, and drink it.

This bottle of wine was about $10. I didn’t spit it out, so that’s a good sign.

It is a California wine, but not from the Santa Barbara area. This winery is actually in Sonoma County and is about an hour and a half away from where I live. This is definitely local wine. Though it was cheap, for this law student’s budget it was perfect. Websites indicate that “this Classic Sonoma County Chardonnay exhibits ripefruity flavors of pear, crisp green apple, vanilla and toasty caramel.” When it comes to wine I just taste fermented grapes, so what do I know.

I do like white wine more than red wine though – that is one thing I know. The reason though is because white wine doesn’t stain my lips and make me look drunk.

Risotto isn’t the easiest dish to make, but I think I pulled it off pretty well for this meal. Overall I was satisfied.

Find out about entering this month’s Food ‘n Flix here!

Mushroom Broccolini Rissoto
(serves 2)

Ingredients
1/2 lb arborio rice
4 oz sliced mushrooms
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup broccolini
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white wine

Directions

1. In a pot combine the mushrooms and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 20 minutes. When it has finished boiling strain the mushrooms. Reserve the broth.

2. Bring another pot of water to a boil. Add the broccolini and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Ina deep skillet melt the butter with olive oil. Cook the onions for about 3 minutes. Add the rice and toast for 3 more minutes.

4. Add wine and stir for 2 minutes.

5. As the liquid evaporates from the rice, add 1/2 cup of the reserved broth to the rice. Continue to cook, bringing to a low boil, stirring frequently. Continue to add more broth (or water if you run out of broth) as the liquid evaporates, stirring consistently. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.

6. Fold in the broccolini, Parmesan, and mushrooms.

* serves 2

Lamb Moussaka

This month over at Food n Flix we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a romantic comedy which I hope you’ve seen! My Big Fat Greek Wedding is actually one of the few movies I’ve seen more than once. When I was rewatching the movie to decide what to make for this month’s Food n Flix submission my boyfriend was confused at why I would laugh before anything funny would happen. But that was because I kept hearing the funny lines in my head right before they were said. So I would preemptively laugh.

I had a long list of inspirations by the time the movie was over. I decided to be traditional though and make a moussaka.

In the movie there’s a flashback to Toula as a girl in elementary school. She was sitting at one table in the cafeteria and the girls behind her made a comment about what she was eating. Toula responded that it was moussaka. The mean little blonde girls squealed, “Moose kaka?!!??”

I also new I needed to use lamb in this dish to hit the nail on the head because “You’re a vegetarian. That’s ok, I’ll make lamb.”

Finding lamb however was not an easy task. Apparently my grocery store doesn’t carry it – only the commonly used beef, poultry, and pork. I almost decided to make a ground beef version of the moussaka, but I really needed the lamb if I wanted to make this a true “vegetarian” dish.

I googled around and found that this place in Sacramento (where I live) called Mediterranean Market sold ground lamb. On the Saturday I made this dish I jumped in the car and found this cute little market, which was full of grape leaves, kabobs, falafel mix, hookah supplies, and lamb! The butcher ground the lamb for me there on the spot and I was on my way with my lamb (and the falafel mix that I picked up too.)

This wasn’t exactly an easy dish, so it was good I picked a weekend to make it. It was definitely time consuming, but the product that came out in the end made it worth it. It’s kind of silly I made moussaka, because eggplant is not my favorite vegetable in the world (which I’ve said before.) This preparation of the eggplant though was great, so I think I might be slowly drifting to Team-Eggplant instead of Team-Eggplant-Is-Gross.

Anyway, the one real lesson I learned from the movie is to put Windex on every ailment. I couldn’t really show that to you guys in food style though.

Thanks to Kahakai Kitchen for hosting this month’s Foon n Flix! If you want to enter a dish for this month’s movie you have until the 27th of February.

Lamb Moussaka
(Source)

 Ingredients

CHEESE SAUCE
2 1/2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cup milk
Nutmeg to taste
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

MOUSSAKA
1 1/2 eggplants
1 large potato
salt to taste
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
1 lb ground lamb
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
pinch of allspice
ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp dry red wine
2 tbsp bread crumbs

Directions

1. Make the cheese sauce first. To make it heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir well, making sure to get rid of all dry clumps. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Gradually whisk in the milk to create a smooth sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, letting simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Once thickened remove from heat. Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper. In another bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Add a bit of the hot sauce mixture to the yolks, stirring well. Combine the rest of the yolks with the sauce. Stir in the cheese and blend well. Keep warm and set aside.

3. Place potatoes in a pot. Add enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Once the potatoes are tender, remove from the heat and drain them. Once cool slice into 1/8-inch slices and set aside.

4. Peel the eggplants and slice into 1/8-inch slices. Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil until hot. Add the eggplant to the oil and cook a few pieces of eggplant at a time, until tender and lightly colored about 3 minutes. Transfer to a rack and set aside.

5. Next prepare your meat sauce. Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet. Add the onions and cook over medium-high heat, for about 10-12 minutes until tender. Add the ground lamb and cook over medium heat until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, allspice, salt, pepper and water. Simmer until thick, about 30 minutes. Add tomato paste and red wine  and continue simmering for 10 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7. To assemble the moussaka, scatter the breadcrumbs in a deep baking dish. Place a layer of half of the eggplant slices over the breadcrumbs.  Add the meat sauce and spread it in an even layer. Top with a layer of potatoes. Then create a layer of eggplant with the remaining slices. Pour the cheese sauce evenly over the top.

8. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the moussaka from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes before serving.

 

Pastitsio

I love pasta because it has the capability of turning into so many different types of dishes. From spaghetti and meatballs, to macaroni and cheese, to lasagna, pasta dishes are so transformable. Pasta can also make an easy meal for the quick nights. But it can also provide a fancy meal. Or a warm meal on a cold night. Or a cold pasta salad for a picnic in the summer. What other food is there that is so transformable?

I used my pasta this time in a pastitsio. According to my google scoping, patitsio is a Greek noodle dish. It is created through the combination of noodles, a red sauce, and a bechamel sauce. Cinnamon is also incorporated into this dish which gives it a sweeter flavor than other meat-pasta dishes. This is actually one of my go-to recipes because of the cinnamon giving this pasta dish a different taste than usual.

Yum!

Patitsio

INGREDIENTS: 

1/2 lb noodles, cooked
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp beef broth
2 tbsp white wine
1/2 can tomato paste
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp Brummel&Brown yogurt spread
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
pinch of cayenne
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 can petite diced tomatoes

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375. In a large saucepan cook the meat for 6-8 minutes, until no longer pink. Add the onions and garlic, stirring until translucent.

2. Add the broth and wine, and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated.

3. Stir in tomato paste, tomatoes, cinnamon, and 1 cup of water. Stir and cook until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. While this is cooking, prepare the cheese sauce. In a medium saucepan, melt the Brummel&Brown over medium heat; whisk in flour until incorporated. Whisk in the milk until there are no lumps.

5. Cook, whisking often, until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in the cayenne and Parmesan.

6. Add the pasta to the ground beef. Transfer to a baking dish and cover with the cheese sauce. Bake for 35 minutes.

* serves 6
* 436 calories per serving
* This post is being entered to Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted by briciole.