Busy. Busy. Busy.

Well, next week we will have the briefest of breaks in this holiday whirlwind. By the time we get home from this long weekend, there’s only a handful of days before the next big blowout on the 31st. As you can imagine, all of this hub-bub throws off the meal planning train. In fact, this month has been a real challenge for me because of all the activity. I suppose its good to acknowledge that solid meal planning requires a stable life, day to day at least.

That said, the three meals I know we’ll prepare next week are looking mighty tasty! Here’s what I’ve put together for next week’s 3 days of guaranteed cooking and eating time.

• Butternut squash risotto (Check out this post on making the risotto.)
• Lamb Moussaka
• Winter vegetable soup

It should be a good week for us and an equally good week for all of you. Enjoy the long weekend. Drink you drinks, eat the delicious food and love your family. That’s what the holidays are all about.

Related posts:

1. Sorry for the Delay (weekly menu 17)
2. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)
3. Bring Me the Meat! (weekly menu 13)

For most people a simple meal is one they don’t make – they eat out. For others, a simple meal might be cooking from a box or can. For me, ‘simple’ is defined by the list of ingredients, the required prep work and the time needed to make the meal. By the end of every week I want to plan a simple meal – minimal prep work and little time used. And yet, come Friday when I post my menu I see that this goal of mine is again, disregarded. In my attempt to write an easy menu for next week’s pre-Thanksgiving meals, I may have failed myself all (again.) That’s the bad news. The good news is that we will be eating some more fabulous dinners. Maybe this is a win-win paradox?!

Starting tomorrow and following through till Tuesday, here is what I put together:

• Coconut curry squash soup
• Baked lamb shanks with mashed sweet potatoes
• Pasta with tomato cream sauce and steamed broccoli
• Fennel risotto with dried chili and ricotta

My desire for simplicity originated with Mark Bittman, and he is still a guiding force in my food-focused thinking. I recommend his modern bible, How to Cook Everything to anyone new to the kitchen. When I think about simple foods I think about Bittman. The soup recipe I’ll use this week comes from Bittman, specifically an article he published this week on 101 simple holiday meals. It’s almost mechanical how easily he creates easy to prepare meals. I didn’t take the time to read through the list, but I imagine if you are interested it would be a good site to bookmark for future use.

The lamb and risotto come from another favorite chef of mine, Jamie Oliver. He’s another celebrity chef hailing from Britain and eager to spread the gospel of healthy eating. I won’t go into great detail here, but if you come across any of his cookbooks or his website, I highly recommend reading about him, his philosophy and the numerous recipe ideas he creates. I would say he is a step up from Bittman, at least when I compare their recipes. Oliver is especially honed in on fresh, seasonal and sustainably-raised ingredients. No matter who you choose, both gentleman are excellent starting points for novice home cooks.

The grand irony of the week is Thanksgiving. For the first time in my life I will not be going home (to Virginia) for the holiday. The trip is too costly and too short in length to make sense. And so, an almost dream-come-true scenario is born this week. I will be cooking and hosting our Thanksgiving meal. One day I hope this will be one of the traditions we take on as a household; a day when my East coast family travels West for the celebratory turkey day.

I digress. The irony of the holiday is my strong desire to cook as simply as possible, something I rarely do on a daily basis. I will write more on this later next week, as I want to share the menu I planned and discuss the tasty possibilities of single-ingredient dishes. Until next Thursday though, it looks like I’ll continue to complicate my kitchen plans!

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving Menu
2. Between the Holidays (weekly menu 14)
3. The Recipe vs. Spontaneity (weekly menu 11)

Butternut squash risotto with parmesan shavings

Last week we deviated from the plan. The “rice dish” for last week was intended to be a Thai curry with vegetables, but unexpectedly, the desire for more curry dissipated during the week. This turn of events was rather serendipitous though, for it forced me to consider the realm of rice dishes beyond the stir-fry model. When we plan meals for the week we almost always include a meal with rice. This whole time I had forgotten the risotto option. It is possible that this act of forgetting was Freudian at best, since I had bad experiences with risotto in the past.

As far as I understand and have experienced, risotto is a daunting task; and as I hope to share today, it is time consuming but also worth the work. If you do not know this, risotto is an Italian rice dish. Unlike any other ‘rice dish,’ risotto requires a specific cooking method – more than just adding water and waiting. First off, a dish of risotto uses arborio rice, not brown or white or black rice. Arborio is a short-grained white rice grown in Italy (originally.) Almost all risotto recipes you might find also include another vegetable, meat or mushroom to add flavor and texture. For the meal I made, butternut squash played the leading role.  As I explain the method I will use the meal I made as example.

I began with 1 3lb butternut squash, which was twice the size necessary because I wanted to double the recipe. The squash was sliced in half lengthwise and one half was completely peeled and diced. The other side was left in tact, dressed in olive oil and laid next to the cubed pieces.

Thanks to the assistance of a horizontal peeler, the processing time was cut in half.

While the squash roasted in the oven, I had time to prep the remaining ingredients. Every risotto recipe I have seen uses 4 main ingredients – arborio rice, onion, stock and white wine. I often see butter as the fat to cook with but I’m not certain it is a risotto staple. For this recipe I also had garlic and ginger to spice it up a bit.

Sliced, diced and minced.

Once all the knife work was complete I could begin the actual cooking.

The first step includes melting butter in a pot and then adding the onion, garlic and ginger. This cooked until softened and took maybe 10 minutes. I would like to add that meals like this make me realize that butter is magical, and is way under appreciated in our modern ways. I’m not sure if butter is always used for risotto; but I have learned that the rice must first cook in the fat before any liquid is introduced. Once the grains are added to the pot, they are stirred and cooked for about a minute.

   

The star of the show!

Now another important trick to making risotto is the stock. All the while the squash has roasted and the onions, ginger and garlic softened, there is a pot of chicken stock (though it could very well be vegetable stock too) barely simmering on an adjacent burner. Once the rice is added and covered with fat, you add some white wine and cook until evaporated. Then, the real time consumption begins. Once the wine has evaporated, you add stock a little bit at a time and stir constantly so that the liquid is fully absorbed. It is here where the real risotto is distinguished from the crummy stuff.

In the past I did not respect this process, and I think it is important to let all the liquid diminish after each addition. While the stock is stirred with the rice, the hot liquid removes the starchy shell of the rice and results with a creamy texture. It takes roughly 18 minutes to add just enough liquid and cook it through over the course of multiple additions. Once the stock has been completely incorporated, the vegetable is ready to join the party.

While adding stock and stirring the risotto, make sure to move the spoon all over. The risotto can not get burnt nor stick to the pan, all the while the liquid must be equally distributed.

Throughout the cooking process, taste the rice to determine its doneness. Risotto grains are to be served al dente, providing just enough resistance to each bite.

As you can see to the right, the squash is mixed into the rice mixture. At this point you can also add some parmesan cheese and salt to taste.

When you serve the risotto use a flat plate, making sure that no liquid is there to ruin the presentation nor the final taste of the dish. In the case of this meal, the parmesan shavings were an excellent aesthetic touch and really finished the flavor of the meal.

Even though this meal required some standing time and lots of stirring motions, the result is a rich and satisfying meal with plenty of leftovers!

Related posts:

1. If time is money, then we eat like king and queen
2. Chicken Stock
3. Simple, healthy and delicious