herbs and rice

Deborah
This spring already feels like mid-summer. Ninety degrees today!? My herb garden is in full flourish and perfect for the picking.

Large handfuls of fresh chopped herbs are going in to everything I cook on these warm days.

A dear friend recently took me on a shopping trip to the Korean supermarket H Mart on Union Street in Flushing Queens. What a treasure trove of edible goodies! I had never been to a store quite like it. There was an entire wall display devoted to kimchee (natch) and spicy pickles in every imaginable and unimaginable variety. I was in awe. There were walls of shelves devoted to single items like varieties of soy bean paste and another for just sea salt! Too fantastic. I left with my arms loaded. One of the treasures I lugged home was this bag of organic short grain brown rice. 

The plastic package resembled rice paper. Who could resist such cuteness?

Brown rice seemed like the perfect vehicle for some fresh herbs so I made a salad. Brown rice salad usually steers my inspiration towards the direction of sweetness, with lots of dried fruit, but this time I wanted to do something lemony and fresh that would feature herbs and some vegetables. 

There were three varieties of brown rice in this blend (all from California, not Korea): Organic Brown Rice, Organic Sweet Brown Rice, Organic Black Rice. 

This brown rice salad can be made in advance and brought on a picnic. I am going to share it with friends tomorrow at the Belmont Stakes race. I hope it doesn't rain.

Brown Rice Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1 quart water

3 Tbs. salt

1/2 cup green beans cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup zucchini cut into a small dice

1 cup of Brown Rice

3 Tbs. chopped herbs (parsley, mint, basil, oregano, marjoram, chives)

1/4 cup toasted nuts (almond, cashew, walnut, pine)

1/4 cup currents

2 scallions, minced

Juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of 1/2 lemon

4 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Bring water to a boil and add salt. Blanch the green beans in the boiling water till tender- 5 minutes. Lift beans out of boiling water with a slotted spoon. Add the zucchini to the water and boil for 1 minute, to get the raw edge of but not cooked through, lift the zucchini out of the water and set aside with the green beans to cool (shock the vegetables in ice water if you like. I just run them under cold water for a few minutes to stop the cooking)

Add the brown rice to the water and cook at a rolling boil for 30-40 minutes until the rice is tender. Drain the cooked rice in a strainer and put it into a bowl with the green beans, zucchini, chopped herbs, toasted nuts, currents and scallions. Toss to combine ingredients, then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Toss again. Add the olive oil and taste. Adjust seasonings.

Allow to rice to cool to room temp before refrigerating. Serve chilled or at room temp. Can be made the day before and stored in a covered container in the fridge.

Makes about 3 cups.

Amanda

Deb, you shared this recipe at the perfect time! I am currently undergoing my annual "body cleanse". My diet for the next two weeks consists of all things natural. Nothing processed,  or out of a box (rice is OK). Just veggies, fruits, brown rice, eggs...you get the picture. So far, so good. We just have to see now how I get by this weekend without any wine.

A great hot weather wine that would be perfect with this light, summery rice salad would be Vinho Verde from Portugal. This delightful white comes from the Minho region in the northern part of the county. Low in alcohol, it is a pleasure to sip on a hot afternoon. The name means "green wine" - not in reference to the color, but rather its youthfulness. It is made to be drunk within a year. While it cannot qualify as a "sparkling" wine, it does have a "fizziness" to it.

With its characteristic citrus/herbal flavors, it would be wonderful paired with Deb's brown rice recipe. The rice salad (but not the wine) will definitely be on my menu over the next two weeks!

Can't Beet This

Amanda
If you are enamoured by wine, and have a love of food, I highly recommend entering the wine industry. One of the many perks of the trade is being involved with, and attending, a myriad of food and wine events. Not to mention tasting upwards of 5-10 wines daily, sometimes in the company of the new-on-the-scene, or world-renowned winemaker. Definitely makes for an interesting, exciting career!


The other day I was thrilled to be invited to a luncheon featuring the wines from Stephan Asseo and L'Aventure. These wines would make any California wine lover's palate jump for joy. The wines are superb, (definitely not cheap), and are always very well received by the experts. And, they are very limited in production.


We dined at Chez Catherine in Westfield, NJ - a very quaint, pretty, classic French Bistro owned by Didier Jouvenet since 1979. A five course meal was prepared for our table of eight, each course paired with a different wine. Michael Young, marketing director for L'Aventure, talked about the wines as we sipped, ate, and indulged.

Michael making a toast. All of the glasses in front of the empty seat to his right are mine :)

The highlight of my meal was the Baby Beet Risotto with Ricotta Salata. It was so mouthwatering-ly delicious, and so, so pretty! The Risotto was paired with the L'Aventure Optimus, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot. This is a big, juicy wine full of spice - but it worked with the dish. Probably because of the cheese content of the risotto, rendering it creamy and flavorful. The Risotto was definitely able to stand up to this wonderfully concentrated, fruit-forward wine.


Deb - last summer you shared a recipe for Risotto with Tomato and Fennel with us. To date, this is one of my favorite recipes of all time. It was incredible. Do you think you could give us your own take on the Risotto I have written about? I would love to re-create it!

The Baby Beet Risotto with Ricotta Salata (and finished with a touch of Parmesan Foam)

I'm fine with omitting the Parmesan foam! Deb, how would I go about tackling this?

Deborah

Hmmm... "enamoured by wine and have a love of food" that sounds like me! What would I be doing in the wine indusrty? Do they need more tasters? :-)

Your beet risotto dish looks lovely. The color alone gives it a festive air, perfect for a formal Spring lunch or dinner. Truth be told, beets have never been high on my list of things I like to eat. It wasn't until I went to culinary school that I learned to appreciate their role in a vegetarian diet. Obviously the color can't be beat (ha!), but that inky red juice can wreak havoc during kitchen prep on hands, clothes and countertops and overwhelm a dish that may not have wanted to be red in the first place. 

No, I didn't cut myself! Just some of the mess of beets.

I am still not a beet lover and am only interested in them if they are well roasted with a serious caramelization going on, which somehow tames the cloying sweetness of your average beet. That's right, I don't like beets. 

If they are cut small beets and carrots take about 35 minutes in a 400 degree oven to roast.

Sooooooo, if I were to make this dish I would approach it a little differently and start by cubing up a beet  and roasting it, then make the risotto and stir in the roasted beets at the end. Rather than a homogenous pink it would be more of a white risotto with dramatic flecks of red. I decided to experiment a little further rather than just shooting my mouth off- so here I go:

Two Beet Risottos

With the first risotto I attempted to recreate (or at least approximate) the dish Amanda sampled at her tasting (did you say there were openings in the wine business, Amanda?) I boiled the beet till tender, then chopped it up fine and added it to the risotto early in the cooking process. I used the water I boiled the beets in as the liquid for the rice to further dramatize the color of the dish. The scarlet-pinky color in Amanda's photo reminded me of classic Borscht so for fun I added a shot of vodka to the saute pan and finished the dish with sour cream. I never achieved the exact color I was after (darn those beets) and I believe I would have to add more sour cream to get there.

My borscht-style risotto never quite got as pink as the one Amanda sampled at her tasting.

With the second risotto I allowed myself to play with the idea of a beet risotto that would appeal to the non-beet lover. In addition to the roasted beets I included some roasted carrots to add some additional color. Near the end of cooking I added some chopped swiss chard for yet another color.

Rustic kitchen style beet risotto. 

The results:

Both dishes tasted very good. The "borscht" style risotto was very rich from the sour cream and had a pronounced BEET taste. The second risotto- the more country kitchen version, was great too, with more variety of flavor and a lot less sweet. I begged my teenage daughter (who does not like beets) to try each one for me and she balked. I begged further and got her to try a tiny bite of each. She instantly liked the rustic version better and asked me if she could finish it. Yeah, sure!

Borscht Style Beet Risotto

1 beet peeled and quartered

3 cups of salted water 

3 Tbs. Butter
2 Tbs. extra virgin Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teas. salt
1 cup arborio rice
1 /4 cup vodka
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese

Place beets in a sauce pan with the salted water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until beets are tender. Remove beets with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Reserve the cooking liquid and keep it on a low simmer. When the beets are cool enough to handle chop them finely.
Heat the butter and the olive oil in large sauce pan. When butter is warm and melted add the onions and 1/2 teas. salt. Sweat the onions a few minutes until they are soft and translucent. Add the rice and stir in pan until all grains are coated and begin to look a little clear. Add the finely chopped beets and cook another minute. Pour in the vodka and let the pan simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Begin to slowly add the simmering beet water by the ladleful, allowing the liquid to absorb into the rice before adding the next ladleful. When the rice becomes creamy  and bit al dente, but cooked through, add the sour cream and grated cheese, stirring to combine.
Serves four

Rustic Style Beet Risotto
1 beet peeled and cut into small cubes
1 carrot peeled and cut into small cubes
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 teas. salt
3 Tbs. Butter
2 Tbs. extra virgin Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teas. salt
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups simmering salted water or vegetable stock
1/2 cup swiss chard, chopped
1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss beets and carrot with the olive oil and salt and roast in the hot oven for 35-40 minutes until tender. When cooked, set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, roughly chop the roasted vegetables into even smaller cubes and set aside.
Heat the butter and the olive oil in large sauce pan. When butter is warm and melted add the onions and salt. Sweat the vegetables a few minutes until they are soft and translucent. Add rice and stir in pan until all grains are coated and begin to look a little clear. Begin to slowly add the simmering water or stock by the ladleful, allowing the liquid to absorb into the rice before adding the next ladleful. the rice is done. When the rice is creamy and a bit al dente but cooked through stir in the swiss chard and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Add more hot water as necessary. WHen the chard is wilted, stir in the roasted beets and carrots stirring to combine. Add the cheese and adjust seasoning.
Serves four

giddy!

Deborah
After a long Winter the emergence of Spring just seems so, well, improbable! Suddenly bare tree branches are loaded with cloudy powder puffs. Intensely perfumed flowers pop up from the bleak, brown dirt. It is amazing and catches me by surprise every year. That must be the reason it holds such delights. We have endured much weather to get here.

 Spring arrives in Queens, at last!

Easter with the family was a happy, sunny day.

Our family of passionate cooks rose to the occasion and we feasted on seasonal treats like artichoke hearts, asparagus and peas. I recreated the stuffed fish I had made in the Caribbean, giving it a Queens, NY spin by adding fresh sorrel from my garden to the stuffing.

The other dish I contributed to the table was a rice pilaf. My idea was to infuse the rice with sauteed red onions for some decorative flecks of pastel color. What I did not expect was that while the rice was cooking the red onions turned the entire dish pink. Sadly, not the most ravishing pink you would want, more of a grayish pink. Undaunted I garnished the pilaf with bright green pistachio nuts and chopped parsley to give it a little holiday swagger. The flavor was mild and savory, which is what I was going for, a perfect foil to all the rich dishes on the table. Nobody commented on the color. whew.

Pink(ish) Rice Pilaf with Pistachio Nuts
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. butter
1 red onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup rice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water or stock
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pan. Add the onions, celery and garlic and cook at a low heat for 10 minutes till vegetables are soft and translucent. Add the rice to the pan and stir to caot the grains with the oil. Continue to sautee the rice, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add the water or stock and the salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover, simmer for 20 minutes. In a small non stick pan toast the pistachio nuts at medium heat for about 6 minutes, then add the chopped parsley and toast an additional 3 minutes.
Remove cooked rice to a serving platter and garnish with the nuts.
Serves 4

Amanda
I'm right with you on the ubiquitous signs of Spring! It is sooo exciting! A few weeks ago, I took my kids to the store and bought a nice variety of seeds, dirt, and a "starter" kit. We planted sunflowers (their choice), parsley, oregano, chili peppers, basil, parsley, chives and thyme (all my choices), and more is yet to come. Several days later, little sprouts began popping up, and now they are thriving! I cannot wait to transfer them to their own planters and set them outside where they can flourish beneath the sun!


Deb's Rice Pilaf sounds simple, delicious, and looks pretty. There are no strong seasonings in it - everything seems pretty mild. Therefore, no one particular wine is jumping to mind. This rice can really work with red, white, rose, sparkling - whatever you prefer. The one word of advice I will give is to concentrate more on the main dish being served. Deb served the stuffed snapper with stuffing flavored with sorrel. Either a light, crisp white or a lighter-style red would be fine.


For this particular combination, the snapper with the pilaf, I would actually pour a Champagne, especially for a festive, sit-down dinner. People generally think of Champagne as something to toast with, or sip as an aperitif before dinner. Champagne actually is made to be enjoyed with food, and makes an incredible accompaniment to many a meal! It just pairs so beautifully with so many different cuisines and styles of cooking.

Louis Roederer Brut Premier is a light, creamy Champagne that would be a delight to quaff alongside this type of meal. It works well when paired with lighter foods. There are, however, bigger, more powerful Champagnes that are made to be savored with heavier foods. Another Champagne to seek out which is absolutely lovely is the Paul Roger Brut NV. At $34.99, this is a true bargain in Champagne!


So - to sum up - when serving a single meal with various components, I would focus on the main course when pairing a wine with it, as opposed to the "sides". But, if you are serving a 3, 4 or 5 course dinner, it's most fun to pair a different wine with each individual course!

something different

Deborah
This week's episode of No Reservations got me hankering for something exotic. Anthony Bourdain was wandering all over Istanbul eating everything in sight. The one dish that really caught my eye was part of a home-cooked meal; baked artichoke hearts with peas and fava bean puree. Wow.
As I generally do after watching one of his shows, I wandered over to my cookbooks and scanned around for further inspiration. This time I  immediately gravitated towards Paula Wolfert, someone I consider a high priestess of Meditteranian cookbook writers. Her meticulous research and devotion to authenticity always provides interesting reading. The two books of hers that I own (Mediterranean Cooking and The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen) did not have the recipe I was looking for, but I got distracted by her Turkish Red Lentil Soup.

Dried Red lentils are so pretty AND they are easy to cook. Too bad they lose their pert orange color; when cooked and tender they turn a pale yellow.

The soup recipe sounded easy to make so I gave it a try. The procedure was basically just cooking onions, garlic, red lentils and rice in water till softened. The unusal part of the recipe is that as a finishing touch Wolfert has you create a roux from butter and flour, cooking until it is "hazelnut brown" in color and then adding stock to it before adding this to the soup. This was an unfamiliar technique for me as far as soups go, so I was excited to try it. Leave plenty of time to cook the roux, if you try this. I cooked mine on the lowest heat for about 45 minutes, which was as long as it took for the lentils to cook.
The other intriguing finish was a SIZZLE created by melting butter and then briefly sauting paprika and dried mint and then stirring that into the soup as a garnish.

tada!

Well, the soup came out great, very smooth and creamy, almost too smooth, I think.  I would probably only puree half the ingredients next time and leave some texture. The flavor was surprisingly exotic and unfamiliar considering the simple ingredients. I really felt like I was tasting something different. What a nice treat, and I did not have to leave home!

Turkish Red Lentil Soup

adapted from Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

For the Soup:

1Tb butter

1/3 cup grated onion (one small onion)

1 clove of garlic, mashed

1 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained

2 Tbs white rice

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 quarts water

For the Roux:

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs flour

2 cups vegetable stock

For the SIZZLE:

1 Tbs. butter

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried mint, pressed through a sieve to make a powder

To make the soup- In a large soup pot, saute the onion and garlic in the butter for 5 minutes, till golden. Add the lentils, rice, tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Cover pot and lower  flame to a simmer, cook for 45 minutes.

MEANWHILE- to make the roux- In a small sauce pan melt the butter, then add the flour and whisk to combine so there are no lumps. Slowly heat the mixture under a VERY low flame and stir from time to time. The roux will gradually take on a warm golden color. Wolfert says go for a hazelnut brown, which took me about 45 minutes to achieve. Slowly add in the stock, whisking to prevent lumps. Cook for 5 minutes.

Back to the soup- Transfer half the soup with a slotted spoon to a food processor or blender and the other half to a clean pot. Don't add all the liquid, you wont need it, remember you are going to be adding two more cups of the roux liquid into this. Blend the soup until it is very smooth and add it to the pot with the unblended half. Add the roux liquid to the soup pot and warm  everything together for 5 minutes on a low heat.

Make the SIZZLE: In a very small pot, melt the butter and add the paprika and the mint. Cook for 5 minutes and then drizzle the sizzle into the finished soup.

serves 4

Dinner Simplicity

Deborah

Halloween is over and still the weather remains magnificent!

The sky was so clear this weekend it was impossible not to stay outdoors. We actually grilled lunch in our backyard on Saturday. After a long hike on Sunday dinner plans needed to be simple. Stir fry seemed to be the way to go. This is the perfect way to clear out all the odds and ends in the fridge and make everything palatable again.

I like to cut carrots into what I call a ROUGH julienne. Not so fussy as a classic julienne, but still with slim angular shapes. I decided to combine the carrots with a few leaves of swiss chard I had on hand.

Hot oil in the wok gets seasoned with chopped garlic and ginger (about a Tbs of each), then the carrots and roughly chopped chard gets a quick cook. I finished the dish with a drizzle of soy sauce, rice vinegar and a tablespoon of oyster sauce.

The chard really cooked down and the carrots kept their shape and firmness. This dish really tasted good and was very simple to prepare.

A large batch of fried rice is always popular with my WHOLE family. Amazing. I chopped up about a cup each of cabbage and onions. I had a half of a cooked sweet potato left over that got cubed up to be included in the mix.

Celery chopped on an angle helps it to stir fry quickly and still keep the crunchy texture.

I like to add something green to the fried rice. I used edamame rummaged from the freezer. Peas and green beans work well too.

Again, I season the oil with garlic and ginger, then add all the vegetables to soften up and get a little golden.

When the vegetables are about done I added cooked rice. After tossing the rice around for awhile I created a well in the center of the wok and poured in 3 beaten eggs which I quickly scrambled and then stirred to combine with the rice. To finish I added 2 Tbs. tomato paste, a splash of soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.

We ate really well and I managed to get a myriad of vegetables into everyone's belly with a minimum of fuss to boot. Is there a wine that would complement this meal Amanda? Alan had a glass of merlot, but we both agreed it was not a particularly inspired pairing.

Amanda

I would have to agree on the Merlot. It would not necessarily be my first choice. If red is the preferred wine for these dishes, I would recommend something a little lighter with plenty of fruit, like a Barbera from Italy. It is the most cultivated vine in the region of Piedmont. I would definitely go with a younger Barbera, which  typically has fresh and bright fruit. Due to the low level of tannins, the wine is soft, and elegant. Barbera is a very versatile, food friendly varietal and often results in easy-drinking reds. You can definitely find Barberas in a variety of price ranges, from $10-$30. There are plenty of well-made wines out there for under $15 though. Some of my favorite producers for this wonderfully food-friendly wine are Vietti and Giacomo Conterno.

So, Barbera would be my first choice for red. That being said, my personal preference would actually be Rose. Something again with an abundance of fruit. In my opinion, the ripe fruit flavor of the wines would create a nice harmony and balance with the saltiness of the soy sauce. One of my favorite Roses is the Crios Rose of Malbec from Susana Balbo. It is full, rich and loaded with fruit and spice. I think this would be the ideal match for these recipes.  Susana Balbo is one of my favorite producers from Argentina. She creates more expensive wines under her own name. The Crios wines make up her line of more affordable wines, though the less expensive pricetag is no reflection of quality. Her Crios wines typically sell in the $15 price range. Though the Rose of Malbec can be found for around $10. If you can find her wines locally, I highly recommend them. They are truly special!