Beet Risotto

2 medium beets, trimmed
1 bay leaf
1 T. unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 T. orange zest
1 cup arborio rice
2 T. raspberry or lemon vinegar
pinch sugar
1 T. sour cream or yogurt cheese

Put beets and bay leaf in a saucepan with 4 cups water, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered until the beets are cooked through (about 40 minutes, depending on size). Remove the beets, strain the water and discard the bay leaf, and pour the beet cooking water back into the saucepan.

Skin the beets. Chop 1 beet and set aside. Pure the other beet in a food processor, return to the strained broth, and bring the broth to a simmer. Keep it on a gentle simmer, covered, over low heat.

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Add onion and orange zest, and saute over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Add the chopped beet and stir well. Add the rice and stir until it's well coated with the seasonings and glistening, about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar and stir until it evaporates, about 2 minutes.

Using a ladle, add about 1 cup hot broth. Stir constantly over medium heat until the broth has been absorbed. Add another ladleful and keep stirring until it's been absorbed. Continue the process, adding broth 1/2 cup at a time and stirring this way until kernels are plump and no longer chalk white in center. This should take 25 to 30 minutes altogether. It's almost done when the kernels are still separate but starting to bind, and there are pools of broth on the surface. It's done when the liquid has been absorbed, and the kernels are bound in what looks like very ricey, yet somewhat creamy, rice pudding.

When the risotto is done, stir in the sugar, sour cream or yogurt cheese, and stir well to blend.

This is from Diane Shaw's Almost Vegetarian. My changes: double the butter (I used salted), used balsamic vinegar (what I had), add more water after the broth is gone, skip the sugar, and just about triple the sour cream. We added a bit of salt at the end, and grated some fresh parmesan on top. Very nice.

Chard lasagna

Basically made a version of this recipe from Epicurious, using chard cut into strips as layers in the lasagne.  It was good.

Ravioli with prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and mozzarella

Pasta-making fun with Molly and Josue! Both pasta dough and filling recipes are from Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef.

Everyday Quick Basic Pasta Recipe
(serves 4)
1 lb. bread flour (3½ to 4 cups)
5 fresh, large eggs
semolina flour for dusting

Mixer recipe: use the dough hook. Add the flour to the eggs and mix at a medium speed for about 3 minutes or until it forms a firm dough. Take it out of the mixer and finish kneading by hand for about a minute or until smooth, silky and elastic. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 4 balls. Re-cover 3 balls and work with one at a time. Flatten the ball of dough slightly with the palm of your hand and run through the pasta machine on the thickest setting. Fold the two ends into the middle and run through on the thickest setting 3 or 4 times. Lightly dust both sides with flour, and run it through on a thinner setting, repeating until the sheets are 1-1.5 mm thick.

For ravioli, you want sheets of pasta that are 3-4 inches wide, and should work in small batches, keeping extra sheets covered with a damp cloth. Lay out pasta on a generously dusted surface and place a good heaped teaspoon of filling in the middle of the sheet at one end. Repeat this all the way along the pasta, spacing 2 inches apart. Then, using a clean pastry brush and some water, lightly but evenly brush the pasta. Lay another similar-sized sheet of pasta on top of the first.

With your thumb or the base of your palm, gently pat the pasta down on the long side farthest away from you. Starting from one side, with the side of your hand, push the pasta down at one end, then slowly curl your fingers and your palm around the filling, eventually cupping and gently pushing down on the other side of the filling. Repeat along the length, making sure it hasn't stuck to the work surface. Then trim and cut the ravioli into shape with a knife or cutter. They can be cooked right away, usually for about 3-4 minutes in salted, gently boiling water. Or you can store it uncooked in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours on a tray generously dusted with semolina.

Prosciutto, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella Ravioli Filling
(serves 4)
1 handful of finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 good handful of fresh basil, torn
12 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 7 oz. balls buffalo mozzarella cheese, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 good slices of prosciutto, fat trimmed
olive oil
extra basil and shaved parmesan to serve

Put the Parmesan, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella in a bowl, stir together, and season to taste. Cut the slices of prosciutto in half. Place 1 heaped teaspoon of the filling at one end of the piece of prosciutto, then fold in the sides and roll up so that the filling is enclosed. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients--you should have about 20 small balls. Fill the ravioli and cook in gently boiling salted water for about 3-4 minutes, until tender. Drain carefully. Serve sprinkled with olive oil, black pepper, freshly-shaved Parmesan and torn basil.

We made 2 recipes of pasta, one with all bread flour and one half semolina. We used slightly more than 1 recipe for the ravioli, and cut the rest by hand into pappardelle and dried for later.

Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Radicchio

From Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.

16 0z. egg tagliatelle
6 prosciutto slices
1 radicchio head
1 garlic clove
2 Tbsp. rosemary leaves
2 oz. Parmesan
1 stick unsalted butter

Cut the prosciutto and radicchio into ribbons the same width as the tagliatelle. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Chop the rosemary and grate the Parmesan.

Melt half the butter in a thick-bottomed pan. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for a minute. Add half the radicchio and prosciutto. Cook just to wilt. Remove from the heat.

Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain. Add the rest of the butter and half the Parmesan. Put into the cooked radicchio, then stir in the remaining radicchio and prosciutto. Toss thoroughly and serve with Parmesan.

--

Part of my quest to find a recipe that makes me like radicchio, and this one did far better than others so far, though I would have wilted all of the radicchio. Perhaps part of it is that we have rather wide noodles, and not a small head of radicchio, so the uncooked portion was very prominent in the final dish. Definitely use really good egg noodles. We made half of this recipe and had leftovers. And it was good! Which is a good thing, since we got more radicchio in this week's box.

Rabbit food?

Using up the vegetables before we get more tomorrow:

• radicchio risotto
• kale braised in chicken stock with bacon
• lettuce, radicchio, dandelion green & carrot salad

Radicchio Risotto

about 6¼ cups vegetable stock
6 tbl. butter
1 onion, chopped
7 oz. radicchio, chopped [we used a whole head for a half recipe]
2 cups arborio rice
5 tbl. white wine
2 tbl. Parmesan, freshly grated
salt

Bring the stock to a boil. Meanwhile, melt half te butter in another pan, add the onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in the radicchio, then stir in the rice and cook, stirring, until the grains are coated in butter. Pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add a ladleful of hot stock and cook,, stirring, until it has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18-20 minutes. When the rice is tender, season with salt to taste, stir in the remaining butter and the Parmesan and serve.

From The Silver Spoon.

Pasta with white beans, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes

We spent too much time gardening Sunday and then needed a quick dinner. So here's a spring thaw pasta to celebrate the bounties of last summer....quick, easy, yummy, and using things we made from our farm share produce and then froze last summer: oven dried grape tomatoes and pesto. We had this with the rest of Kelsey's no-knead bread, version 2, about which he'll maybe blog if he becomes satisfied with the result.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup pesto
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

8 ounces gemelli pasta

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine and pesto; simmer over medium heat until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Add cannellini and stir until heated through.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water.

Add pasta and cheese to sauce; toss to coat. Mix in enough reserved pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, to moisten. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

From Epicurious.

Osso Buco

This is good. Lamb shanks are expensive, and it takes a long time to simmer, but it's not that much work. The recipe below is a combination of one from The Silver Spoon and one from Mark Bittman. Serve with risotto. The only thing I might do different is use fresh thyme instead of dry, and cook it even longer than the suggested 90 minutes.

Osso Buco

2 tbl. olive oil
2 tbl. butter
4 center-cut slices veal shank, at least 2 lbs.
all-purpose flour, for dusting
5 tbl. dry white wine
¾ cup beef stock
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
½ tsp. dried thyme

For the gremolata:
1 clove garlic, crushed
zest of ½ lemon, grated
2 tbl. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Preheat oven to 325º F. Melt 1 tbl. of butter in an ovenproof pan with 1 tbl. of oil. Dust the lamb shanks with with flour, salt and pepper and brown over high heat, turning frequently. Remove the lamb to a warm plate and add the remaining butter and oil to the pan. Turn down the heat slightly, and add the onion, stirring for a couple minutes until they start to soften. Add the carrot and celery, cook for a few more minutes, then add the wine and spices and cook until nearly evaporated. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then return the lamb to the pan. Cover and put in a 325º F oven. Cook for at least 90 minutes, turning the lamb ever 30 minutes or so.
When the meat is very tender and falls off the bone, remove it to a warm platter, and place the pot with sauce over high heat on the stove. Cook until thickened, mix together the ingredients for the gremolata and add to the sauce, cooking a few minutes more. Serve the sauce over the lamb.

Serves 4.