Risotto

On Tuesday, my daughter turned 12.  She asked for salmon for dinner.  In addition to the salmon, we ate mashed sweet potatoes (made just like your favorite mashed potato) and risotto.

Risotto is such an interesting dish, time consuming and delicious.

I'll give you the basic rules that I used, although it sounds like there are a few ways to make it.

I used 2 cups arborio rice which I purchased in bulk at Sprouts.  In the bottom of a large skillet or pot heat up approximately 2 tbsp olive oil or butter or coconut oil, etc.  Place the rice in and brown it.  The rule is that you need to keep it at a medium heat and add in about six cups of stock or broth about half a cup at a time only adding the next half cup when the previous is absorbed.  This can be a vegan recipe by using vegetable stock, but I used chicken stock.

Alright, that's the concept, here's the additional information.  Half a cup of any dry wine, pretty much any Pino____ wine can be used before you add in the first half cup of stock.  Same rule applies, stir until it's absorbed.  Butter can be added into the mix.

Your favorite veggies, mushrooms, shrimp, sausage, etc. can all be added as well (try not to overwhelm the flavor by picking more than two at a time).  You can add these in at the beginning and let them cook with the rice or near the end.  By adding the flavors at the beginning, the rice will absorb more flavor as it's cooking.

The rice will become softer over the course of the broth or stock addition, so you keep adding stock (even if it goes over the amount you expected) until it reaches your desired texture... then it's done and delicious.  This takes about half an hour of nearly constant stirring, so be prepared to focus on nothing else (it's worth it)

With the right mix of add-ins, wine and stock, you shouldn't need to add much in the way of seasonings, but you can do so, as needed, according to taste.  My risotto was simple with mushrooms.

ENJOY!!!

Steak Sauce

My posts will not consist of recipes as much as concepts of recipes.  Why?  Because everybody has different tastes and this accommodates all of them.

One of my favorite foods EVER is steak.  Take a good steak with nice marbling, sprinkle it with your favorite steak seasoning blend, mine is McCormick's Montreal Steak blend, and cook it to 120 degrees, then wrap it in foil for about to 15 minutes to "rest".  This will continue cooking it but leave it with a beautiful pink center and a tender texture that melts in your mouth, even with the least expensive cuts of steak.  If you prefer yours a little better done, simply wait until it's a bit hotter.  Each stage of done-ness is between 10 and 15 degrees and remember that it continues to cook in the foil, so while 120 may look like the temp for a rare steak, it comes out as medium rare.


However, this is just  a helpful tip about steak... today's real topic is my steak sauce, my mouth is watering as I think of this tangy but kinda spicy delicious sauce that makes your salivary glands ache... ***wipes drool from the side of my mouth***

Oh, yeah, you might want to actually make this, so here it is.

There are a handful of decent steak sauces out there, but there is simply no comparing to your own. The concept is easy.  The two key ingredients are:

Catsup and Worcestershire Sauce.  Yep, that simple.

The proportions are up to your individual taste.  I would start with a smaller amount of catsup (maybe 1/4 cup) and then add a tablespoon of W. Sauce at a time until it has the consistency you like.  I prefer mine thin, like A1 sauce, but if it gets too thin for your taste, add a little more catsup.  Simply go back and forth until you like the thickness.

Okay, so what makes mine different?  Exactly what will make yours different, the "accessories".  I have been known to add the following extras into my sauce:

• Mustard... pick your favorite, it will be great no matter which kind you use.
• Black Pepper... the more you add, the greater the kick, so be generous if you like a kick.
• Brown Sugar or Honey... whether you like it sweet or in case you added too much pepper, this will balance it out. :)
• Fresh minced, chopped or powdered garlic (do not add garlic salt as it is salty enough already)
• Anything else that sounds yummy to you.

If you go online, you'll see a lot of other recipes adding vinegar, mushrooms, white wine, water, cloves, cinnamon, anchovies, hot sauce, multiple varieties of herbs and spices, and any number of other ingredients.  I have no problem with these, but the more complicated the process, the less likely you are to make it regularly.  Sometimes it's fun to go out of your way and make it fancy, but I love simplicity for this sauce.  Heck, you may even enjoy it with just the catsup and W. sauce.

This stuff lasts forever, so you're fine to store it in a sealed container in the fridge for a while.  It's a great sauce for just about any meat and potatoes kind of meal.

Our local grocery store, HyVee, is wonderful.  For Valentine's Day, they offered a food package (pictured here) for $35.  

 The day before this meal, we had asparagus for dinner and I wanted to do something unique.  Additionally, the crab legs can be very messy at the table.  Some meals should stand by the saying, "if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face" but when a candle lit dinner is the goal, I don't think this applies.

 So, I added some extra pieces of bacon to the above bacon wrapped asparagus

YUMMY BACON!!!

  

Even Yummier Bacon!

Bacon Grease... which can make other things yummy!

Like chopped Asparagus

Cooked in bacon grease

Crab legs

Remove the meat which is messy, but worth it!

From here, just chop it into bite sized pieces

Add a little flour to sop up the bacon
grease (this is called a Roux).

The concept here is called a Roux.  Basically, it's simply a combination of liquid fat (which could be butter, your choice of oils or meat grease) and flour.  However, I learned a couple of things the hard way with this particular soup.  First, less is more.  You only need a couple of table spoons worth of flour to thicken up the fat or it becomes a bit too dry... 

and then requires too much liquid which will diminish the flavor. 

 The second lesson I learned is that sometimes a stock or broth is a much better companion than milk or cream.  So, imagine this with a little less flour and milk, but a far more distinct flavor....

A flavor that comes from the bacon, crab and asparagus rather than the seasonings needed to make up for the bland flavor of the milk and cream.

The great thing about soup is the ability to adjust it as necessary.  You can change, add or combine flavors; and mistakes are easily remedied.

It still worked out well with the milk and the overall meal was spectacular!

Course 1

Course 2, with moistened and warmed up baguet

Course 3, medium rare rib-eye steak
with my delicious home made
steak sauce (which I will post here
at some point soon) and a
twice baked potato.

The kids' dinner for Valentine's Day while they watched movies and let Daddy and Mommy enjoy their date.

Soon, I will explain how soups can be made in a variety of ways, including the Roux, which you got an idea about here.  They're so easy that it's like an empty canvas waiting for the flavors of veggies, fruits, meats, beans, squash or anything you decide to add to it.

A Ladle Bit About Me:

Let's start simple: I love soups and I love sauces.

There, now that you know that, you know what this blog is about, if you hadn't already figured it out.

Growing up, I was raised with casseroles that consisted of cream of mushroom soup or spaghetti sauce from a can.  By the time I was in high school, and the last of four children in the home, I was lucky if we ate at home at all.

Some people rebel against their childhood by doing the bad things they were taught not to do.  While I can't say I didn't do a little bit of this also, the majority of my rebellion that I stand by as a full fledged adult and mom of almost five awesome kids, is that I cook.  I don't just cook,  I LOVE to cook, and I'm pretty okay at it.  While I can make meatloaf and tuna casserole with the best of them, you're more likely to see enchiladas with a home made green sauce on the menu in our home.

When restaurants fail, or even when they succeed, my goal is to go home and make what I ate, just better.

So, in my blog, you'll not just find recipes, but rules.  You see, I can give you a recipe on how to make soup, but you'll have an opinion regarding how salty it is, how sweet it is or that it's too bland. One of my favorite recipe sites is www.allrecipes.com and I'm consistently amazed by the negative complaints until I realize that these people didn't understand the rules behind the recipe.  That's not to say there aren't some awful recipes, but for the most part, there are ways to make it better, or at least to your own liking.

I hope you enjoy the food you'll make when you join me in being a ladle bit crazy!