Demystifying what you thought was a fancy pants meal!: Mushroom Risotto, with Fish in Basil, and Tomato

So this is a two-part recipe, let’s start with the Risotto! This risotto recipe comes from my favorite Italian lady, Mrs. Lidia Bastianich. The fish takes minutes quite literally so if this is the first time you’ve ever tried making risotto I’d say focus on that until you get the process down before trying to get ambitious by juggling; it will still be hot if its waiting to be eaten while the fish cooks. Here’s what you need for both recipes; Recipe #2 ingredients for the fish are in red.

3 to 4 QT Heavy Saucepan, “at least 10 inches wide to allow for evaporation”

Small Sauce Pan

5 to 7 cups Water, Turkey, Chicken, or Veggie Broth
¼ cup EVOO
10 oz or more Onion, Leeks, Shallots, or Scallion (Can be mixed! I would say more is better!)
1 tsp Salt
2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli (Short Grained Italian) Rice
1 cup White Wine
1 small pack mushroom of your choosing, ie button or cremini, etc.

4 to 6 filets white fish like Tilapia

20 or more Grape tomatoes halfed

¼ cup or more basil chiffonade (roll it up, slice it thin on an angle, making “strings”)

Juice of 1 large Lemon

EVOO, Salt, and Pepper to taste

Finishing:

2 tbsp EVOO or butter
½ to 1 ½ cups fresh grated Parmagiano-Reggiano or Gana Padano

Black Pepper to taste

After having done this I’d have to say that it’s really not as hard as people make it out to be, the key to Risotto is the same as any other good meal… when you are cooking, you must have patience, and never leave cooking food unattended. There is lots of stirring in this recipe but if you time it, it will go by in a Cinch! Start by putting your 7 cups water, or stock into a pan and bring it to a boil. In the meantime you can chop up your veggies; all your variations of onions and mushrooms, along with the tomato and fresh basil for the fish to set aside. (At this point while waiting for my water to boil I took a small sauce pan and sautéed my sliced mushrooms in a little butter, then set them aside.)

Your pot of liquid must be really hot during the entire process so make sure that it comes to a boil. Still you don’t want to boil any liquid off so to make sure you have enough liquid you need to maybe keep it at a low bubble once you bring it down from the boil, and add some water or extra broth.

Put the ¼ cup of oil in the pan with the onions, half teaspoon of salt, and set it over a medium heat. Stir, coat, and soften your onions without burning for about 8 to 10 minutes. Ladle in about 1/2 cup of hot water or liquid, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes so that all the liquid is cooked off. Now that the moisture is cooked off add in your 2 cups Rice all at once and stir to coat in the onions and oil; do this for about 3 minutes to toast, but not scorch and color. Standing by, have a timer set for 20 minutes.

Now pour in the wine all at once and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes stirring constantly until the moisture is evaporated. Ladle into the rice 1 ½ to 2 cups hot liquid, and start the timer… stir stir stir….. (you don’t have to break your wrist though, we are just trying to keep things from burning and sticking while soaking up all the liquid). Lower the heat if necessary to keep a perking bubble, and add a pinch more salt.

So you’ll be adding in about 3 to 4 additions of water depending on how soft you’d like your risotto. You can add as little as 5 cups if you want it al dente or if you like it super soft up to 7 cups. You’ll be adding water roughly every 6 minutes, stirring constantly and making sure nothing sticks and burns as the liquid evaporates. You are welcome to check for doneness after 5 cups of liquid are added. No more than 7 cups should be added to avoid over cooking.

After the second addition of water add in your sauteed mushrooms *this is optional but delicious!* Continue stirring and after another 6 minutes add ANOTHER addition of liquid whether you’ve decided to go for 5, 6, or 7 cups…keep track of how much you’re adding! When you’ve got it to the consistency of your liking, “al dente” or “creamy” you can stop. Turn off the heat, add in 2 tbsps of olive oil, your grated cheese, and black pepper to taste, guess what, you’re done!

Part 2! (this part is courtesy of Chef John Wilson)

The fish is super duper easy! Before finishing your risotto you can turn your oven on to broil and get it heating up. In a small sauce pan put in your tomatoes and basil chiffonade with a little salt and olive oil. Cook over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes. While you’re doing that…take your fish fillets and drown them in a little lemon juice, and then salt, and pepper them.

Stick them in the oven on BROIL for 5 minutes or so, and then pull them out. Scoop your tomato mixture over the top of the fish and Voila!

This combo is really yummy and it’s a good excuse to feel fancy. Best part is that it is pretty easy to do. After doing this I think my adjustments would be to use fresh chicken or veggie stock for sure, maybe puree some extra mushrooms with a little oil to add in as well, and definitely use a more varied bunch of onion. As seen in the picture, all I had at the moment was dried basil so that’s what you see there. Fresh Basil is worlds apart, and much, much, much, better so make sure you remember to pick some up before you get home and start cooking! As for cooking with wine you don’t have to go super fancy if you don’t want to. Trader Joe’s “2 Buck Chuck” works just fine! Mmmm.

A Simple Soup! Pasta e Fagioli (G.L.)

This recipe mostly comes from a Giada De Laurentis recipe. I have to be honest, I’ve made some of her recipes in the past and actually Not liked them, but this one is pretty dang tasty, affordable, and quick!

Here’s what you need:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp EVOO +

3 oz thin sliced pancetta (Give or Take)

5 ¾ cups of Chicken Stock --- don’t forget about the fact that you can easily make your own veggie stock, just fyi

2 (14 oz cans of Red Kidney Beans (*I altered this, only used 1 can bc I added green bean)

¾ cup Maccaroni (*altered this too)

Fresh or dried Thyme, Rosemary, and Bay Leaf (* had the dried and ground stuff on hand so that’s what I used)

1 cup chopped white onion

Est 4 tbsp Tomato Paste (*my addition)

2 cloves garlic (*altered! Of course)

Parmesan for sprinkling on top, grated

Fresh Green beans (small handful, *this was my own addition)

You can start by getting all your chopping out of the way. Chop up your Onion and Garlic* Recipe called for 2 cloves, I’m sure I used at least 5!* Now trim off the edges of your Green Beans *my addition in exchange for one of the cans of kidney beans; so instead of two cans I used one can and a small handful of fresh Green Beans* and cut each into 2 or 3 pieces so that they are bite sized.

Put your tablespoons of butter and olive oil in the pan on a medium heat, and begin to fry down your onions and pancetta. Add in the garlic a little later so that it doesn’t burn, you just want it to become fragrant; fry until fat is rendered. This takes maybe 5 minutes or more depending on how you like your pancetta.  

In the meantime take a little cheese cloth and kitchen twine. Cut a square keeping the fabric folded so that it’s double layered about 2x2, and put in your dried or fresh rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme. (I had the ground stuff, so I just chucked a pinch into the pot instead of putting it in the cheese cloth).

Once the fat is rendered from the pancetta, the onions are nice and clear, and the garlic is fragrant you can add in your chicken stock and *your tomato paste if using. I liked the idea of adding a little tomato paste because I felt it added another flavor layer to the soup! Also I only estimate that it was about 4 tbsp because about 1000 million billion years ago I realized that I was wasting tomato paste and it pissed me off. So I looked up some storage ideas and found out that you could take an ice cube tray and fill each with paste, freezing it in cubes, and saving it in a baggie in the freezer for whenever you needed some. So in order to at least try and adhere to measurements for different recipes…. And because you actually can MESS UP a dish royally with too much tomato paste (because its bitter in large amounts!), I measured it out and got about 2 tablespoons into each tray cube. I used 2 cubes. 2x2= 4 Ta Da!

Another Note * Since I didn’t get to actually make the chicken stock myself, or maybe some veggie stock (which I have to scraps for but was looking to go the quick route) I just decided to find some organic chicken stock, and use water to make up the difference since the container was only for 4 cups of stock.

Put in your sachet and the 1 can of kidney beans. Now that everything (except the green beans) is in the pot, cover it and bring it to a boil on a medium heat (if you were doing 2 cans kidney beans you could add them both in). After about 10 minutes, remove the sachet. Now take a measuring cup and remove a cup full of the soup. Pull out your food processor and chop it up until you get puree, then add it back into the pot! Sounds kinda crazy but this actually adds substance to the soup by giving it a little thicker bite, and even in the end it’s still plenty “soupy”.

Now you are ready to add in your handful of green beans and about a cup or so of elbow macaroni (or whatever small pasta you prefer). Because the heat from the liquid will continue to cook the pasta figure out your instructions for cooking it al dente and shave off at least a minute. If the box says 6 mins al dente pasta, go for 5 minutes. This should be long enough to cook your pasta without over cooking it after it sits, and it avoids making your green beans mushy!

Now you can add in another tbsp EVOO, and season with black pepper to taste. Grab a bowl and a spoon, ladle some in, grab some crackers if you like, and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. YUM!

Make Your Own StirFry! (Yum Yum)

So you feel like making your own stirfry? Awesome. You know how people always say silly stuff like “Make some stir fry! It’s easy and quick.” Well I got news for you, uhhhh---that you more than likely already knew--- *Wink * Yeah it’s easy but will it taste good, now that’s the question!

So having already sang praises for the delightful book of cross country Asian eats from Mrs. Charmaine Solomon (“The Complete Asian Cookbook”), I felt like using what I had left around in the fridge for a cheap meal, so I just decided to find a couple recipes and take a little from each.

We shall unlock the stir fry mysteries!!!!!

Here's what I used:

Honey

Sriratcha (Rooster Sauce)

Soy Sauce

Sesame Oil

Peanut Oil (for frying)

Corn starch and a little H2O

Snap Peas

Broccoli

Green Onion

White Onion

Carrot

Ginger

Garlic

Jalapeno

Sirloin Steak

Okay so I didn’t just have steak lying around, because lets face it, I’m the poorest loser in America and meat usually constitutes a date! But I had everything else lying around so I thought what the heck, went to the store and purchased a little tiny bit of steak because I was feeling rebellious.

And! this will probably annoy you but I measured almost NOTHING. But hey isn’t that the beauty of it all! (I’ll try to estimate).

Start by smacking the crap out of your meat with a mallet. You can get a less tough cut but you’re going to pay for it, especially now that gas is once again $8 billion dollars and 5 cents a gallon. But do me a favor, get it from your farmer’s market or at least a Publix; nothing worse than purchasing old meat. I FOREVER HATE YOU KROGER.

After your done pulverizing your steak, slice it into strips or bits and season with salt and pepper at least. For best results you can take the super duper step and do this the night before so that you can marinate it in whatever seasonings and sauces you like… that would be highly scrumptious. 

You are welcome to cut up your veggies however you like. I trimmed the tough bits off of my snap peas, sliced my onion long and thin, microplained about a heaping teaspoon of ginger (because biting into a hunk of ginger can be off putting), diced my garlic, green onion, and jalapeno, chopped my broccoli into bite sizes, and “peeled” my carrot until it was no more to get those peeling thin slices!

I always use a LOT of garlic (uh, in all my meals, yep). I stared with about 5 cloves only to add more later, at least half a medium sized white onion (added another 4^th  later), at least 2 tsp’s of ginger by the end, about 4 long green onion, half a small DARK green jalapeno (hot!), maybe 2 small carrots, a crown of broccoli, and a small pile of snap peas (see picture).

This picture refused to stand upright, so tilt your head ;-) 

So I started by browning the meat. I have to say, having a wok is pretty awesome. You always wonder why people do what they do and then one day you just understand. It was high heat and quick! I also used peanut oil (just a couple teaspoons) this stuff burns at high heat so make sure you keep a window open or a vent on and control your fire so that you don’t burn the house down.

I browned my steak on many sides because I find that wholly delicious. Then I removed my meat from the wok, wiped out the wok a little but not too much, and threw in the onion slices. Once they started to sizzle and turn clear (controlling my heat) I put in the ginger, jalapeno, and garlic. I mentioned the control the heat part just a second ago because there is nothing nastier than burnt garlic. After that I added the rest of my veggies and stirred around until they were "juuust before getting to a good soft/crunch combo". You can push things out of the way so that they don’t over cook when you are using a wok. Neat huh? But, you knew that already though, Smarty.

Finally, I swirled in some sauces. First I started with a little water in a cup (maybe a third of a cup), added about a teaspoon of cornstarch and mixed it with a spoon. Depending on how much food you have you may need to adjust this. I know this description is broad but I found that just using your eyeballs to adjust is easiest because once you start adding other sauces you may need to thicken more or thin it out!

Make a well in the center of the work pushing the veggies away. Pour that cornstarch and water mix into the well and let it heat so that it thickens. Add in generous swirls of soy sauce and a teaspoon or three of honey (you can use brown sugar here too, the honey was just in my face so that’s what I used). You only want to use about a teaspoon of sesame oil (that we can measure!) especially if it’s the dark stuff. If you have the nicer light stuff you can use that more liberally… it tastes better anyway!

After this cooks a little mix it in with the veggies and put the meat back in the pan. Mix it all up. I found that even after doing all of this it needed more flavor so I just went to town adding more honey, soy sauce, and a little sriratcha to get the sweet/spicy/tang effect going. Not too much though it’s hot. If you just put a little and then add more when you’re ready to eat you can control the heat to your liking.

Finally, I decided to use some Lo Mein I’d gotten about a thousand years ago from a restaurant supplier store and never used simply because I forgot it was there. Followed the directions on the pack. Mixed it in with my stirfry (now off the fire and taste tested) and then ate up with pure joy and happiness.

Main things I realized about stir fry? It’s usually about a couple things: cornstarch, lubricating sauces, addy-inny sauces ---after the fact, and lots of onion, garlic, and ginger. (the wok helps too) Soooooo.....

Eat uP!

The bowl is half empty and cold...

Okay so I know you may be saying to yourself, "Self, this is not about food. Why has The Bud strayed?" And to you I say, Yes it is. Shut up. Read. and Thankyou very much.

I guess I can say that I've known about this for a while but I think I just wanted to ignore the hideous truth. My favorite cartoon ever "CHOWDER" is no more. Those of you who watch and or listen to the buzz have probably known this since 2009 but I think I just didn't want to accept the cankerous truth.

You see, this cartoon is like no other, it's about extraordinary NONSENSE and FOOD!!!! What more could a human want in life??? I have only about a billion complements that I could offer Mr. C.H. Greenblatt on this masterpiece but alas I feel I'm choking up a little. Like I said, I knew the end was sadly inevitable but I think I felt it was finally time to swallow the cold crunchy truth when I saw the sad little drawing of Chowder disappearing on his blog.

http://nerdarmada.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-one-thing-fades-away.html

(if you love his work keep up with him... truly awesome)

He mentions work in the past that he's done on shows like "Billy and Mandy" and "Sponge Bob". When i read that I thought, "It all makes sense, I've also cracked up and peed myself a little watching both of these contagious shows." But I have to say my absolute favorite was Chowder. I love the animation and colors, all the characters, and I truly identify with our furry little "Crabbear" hero and his scatterbrained love of all things food. (Honestly, If I didn't enjoy exercise I'd be about a thousand lbs right about now.)

So here's some of the junk I will miss: 

Mung Dahl and his love of the Laaaadiees; When chowder couldn't pee after he, Mung, and Schnitzel got locked in the bathroom; the random hilarious crap like "the creepy guy who just hides behind the plant by the order desk of Mung's Catering company"; The feisty Meeches; Chestnut and his Tone Loc voice, Panini's infinite love and Chowder's exasperated cry "I'm not your Boyfriend!"; Gazpacho's fear of his mother; Cloffee; My favorite cruise ship entertainer Reuben and his song entitled "Hellooooo Thhhhhheeere"; Shnitzel's infinite aggravation; Marzipan's man in the sky; The up close shot of Truffle's face when she got sick; The offended crocodile in kimchi's swamp; That one time when Chowder thought away the show; Ms. Endive's GIANT TOILET; Chowder's "Inner Voice"; Kiwi's flailing arms; The scary Lollipop man selling Feetza Machine parts; and "Dinkalee Dinkaloo..."......... just to name a few things.

I really don't think i was the right money making target audience but they got me none the less.... I was even Chowder for Halloween '09 (take a look below, that costume was sewn by yours truly: Devotion!). You will be missed.... *sniffles*

Bamboo Grill; HotPot Restaurant *drool* S'more Please.

This loverly new restaurant is located in one of my favorite international areas of town… good old Buford Hwy. It’s a Vietnamese Restaurant with much deliciousness to choose from, and quite affordable menu! Searching like I often do when a friend says, “hey lets go explore!” I found this based off of a review in one of our local papers here in the ATL. Some may think that’s cheating, but I say why not go based on a recommendation? That’s why we here at the Bud do what we do right? In my fanciful opinion a recommendation is much better than a trial run and if we can get one before dipping into adventure, why not, we shall spread the good word!

My favorite thing about Vietnamese food is that there’s lots of fresh salad items and herbs mixed in with their meals; nothing like a good old pickled carrot if you ask me. Combine that with , broth, or some crunchy spring rolls divided up amongst a giant bowl of noodles… It’s kinda like the “light and fresh” version of what Americans think of as a typical Asian meal… (usually ignorantly assuming “Chinese food” covered in some sugar sauce).

Anyway on to the foooooooooooood!!!

We ordered probably exactly the same thing that was mentioned in the review. I think we even got the same waitress! I assumed this because her description was just like the review had mentioned, loud, bubbly, and a little bit sassy --I like her instantly. We let her pick the food and I noticed the similarity but I have to admit it sounded absolutely amazing! And! It’s perfectly alright with me because this meal can easily be characterized as palatable to the Asian food loving American with a little dash of adventure. Like many, I’ve had other Vietnamese meals, but as an introduction to a restaurant for the first time I don’t mind erring on the side of caution as things can get exotic quickly, so lets eat!

We ordered three things for a hungry group of four: Large (self assemble) Spring Roll Platter, Small Seafood Rice ClayPot, and a Large Lau Hotpot –which included assorted seafood, meats, veggies, and herbs.

First came out the Spring roll platter. This was the bigger more economic version of the normal 2 piece Spring Roll order. We were going to split one order for each couple, but she told us that for a couple bucks more we could assemble them ourselves (fun!), and get more bang for the buck. I’m game! She brought out a large platter with Vietnamese fried ham and chicken patties, as well as crispy fried rolls-some super thin and the others a little larger which featured shrimp and veggies mmmmmmmm! She also had in hand a bowl of water, dried rice paper, and a platter full of herbs, greens, and pickled accompaniments typical with a Vietnamese meal, and various dipping sauces. The fun part! Next she showed us how to assemble.

Take the rice paper and dip in the water rotating around a couple times so that you wet the entire circle so that it softens. Next take one of each roll and meat, combined with greens and veggies of your choice, wrap, seal, grab some delicious sauce of your choice, dip, and devour.

Some of said choice veggies included pickled mango… talk about delicious, I had a hard time getting myself to stop … this was just the appetizer.

After devouring that large assortment of deliciousness, she brought out the clay pot. She suggested we order a small one of these and a large soup. Either way we would be leaving with full bellies although I have to say we skeptical at first, and then pleasantly surprised. This was full of seafood: shrimp, squid, scallop etc. The rice was gummy and crunch at the same time. NO CLUE HOW THEY DO THAT FANTASTIC MAGIC. Sooo good, and not just your regular fried rice. It comes out in a clay pot literally! Steaming, and sizzling, and wonderful.

Finally it was soup time. Another large bunch of platters were delivered to our table. One was full of raw thin sliced beef, scallop, shrimp, mussel, whitefish, and green onion. The other was another, more complex version of the veggie/greens platter. This one she mentioned had a Vietnamese herb that Americans might say had a “funny taste” or potency similar to how people feel about cilantro. She warned that we only add a little at first, taste it, and then if desired, add more. It looked like curly purple green parsley and it did taste funny, and it was really good .. but in moderation, potent! Our soup was brought out over a little gas plate that was turned on once on the table. She said that we had to leave it covered for a couple minutes and when it came to a boil to add a half of everything to one side. When that was done, in only minutes, scoop out, turn down, and eat up. The other half was for seconds.

The broth was a spicy, chilli/tomato-ish, and fantastic. By the end of this entire meal it was a miracle that none of us sprang a leak. The total cost for 4 people tasting various delights (2 of which could eat horses) was only about $60 before tip. I can’t imagine being happier.

4646 Buford Highway NW
Atlanta, GA 30341

(678) 580-1727