Risotto with Mascarpone, Lemon, Asparagus and Lamb Sausage

This was a recipe I created by combining three or four other recipes I found online. This one-dish meal is super rich, but a real treat. The flavorful lamb adds a unique spin to traditional lemon risotto.

• 1 lemon
• 1/ bunch of asparagus, chopped into fourths
  
• 3 cups water
• 3 cups broth (veg or chicken work)
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Coarse salt
• 2 cups short-grain Arborio rice
  
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
  
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
• 6 lamb sausages

1. Remove 2 teaspoons grated zest from 1 lemon. Cut the lemon in half and juice it. Reserve both the zest and the juice for later.
2. Prepare the asparagus: Wash, trim ends off, and cut each stalk into fourths so that your pieces are about 1 1/2 inches long. Place all of the asparagus in a bowl with about 2 inches of water. Microwave, covered for about 2 minutes until asparagus is still crisp, but not raw.
3. Bring stock, water, and bay leaf to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low.
4. Melt butter with oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add rice, and stir until coated, about 1 minute. Pour in wine, and cook, stirring, until wine has almost evaporated, about 3 minutes.
5. Add enough hot stock (about 1 cup) to just cover rice. Cook, stirring, until stock is almost absorbed. Continue adding stock, 3/4 cup at a time, waiting for each addition to be absorbed before adding the next; cook, stirring, until rice is tender but still slightly firm in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat, and discard bay leaf.
6. While the rice is cooking, chop the sausage into coins. Fry the sausage in a tsp of olive oil on a non-stick skillet over medium heat until cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
   
7. Stir in chopped thyme; season with salt and pepper. Add mascarpone, parmesan, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, and the lemon juice, sausage and asparagus; stir until cheese is melted and rice is moist and creamy.

Blueberry Brancakes with Orange Zest and Walnuts

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
1 cup bran flakes
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and place walnuts on a baking sheet inside the oven.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and then stir in the milk, butter and zest. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

Place non-stick skillet on medium heat. Spoon about 1/3 cup of batter onto the skillet for each pancakes. Cook the first side until small bubbles appear throughout the pancake, roughly 3-4 minutes. Then flip and cook until the pancake stops steaming, roughly 2-3 minutes.

Keep cooked pancakes in the warm oven on the same pan as the nuts. Serve with warm maple syrup and room temperature butter.

Travel Food Pics: Around the Kfar-East Jerusalem, Eilat

I LOVED studying abroad in Israel, but living in East Jerusalem wasn't great. We had a nice apartment but no oven, microwave, blender, toaster...you name it. I had to make do with only a stove. Can you imagine. It meant basically eating this for lunch every day:Quinoa with frozen spinach and a poached egg with zaatar and smoked paprika.

or this:
Shakshuka!! Basically a freshly made tomato sauce with eggs poached in it and cheese and herbs on top- eaten in a pita.


But we did have some cute birthday parties, considering all my roommates were Spring babies:
And I learned how to make some killer date treats. Simply melt some milk with some semi-sweet dark chocolate. Replace the date's pit with the melted chocolate and an almond and refrigerate for a couple of hours.



And thank god for French Hill Falafel. I'm not just saying this because I lived so close (2 minute walk from my apartment) but this was honestly the best falafel I've ever had. ever. I loved going on a run and ending it at French Hill. Defeating the purpose of the run? I think of it more as a fair trade.

And sometimes, well okay a lot of times, we sought refuge in other wonderful areas of the country.Such as beaches in Eilat where we sipped limonana (mint lemonade slushies) and chocolate milkshakes.
Or a bedouin tent where this Jack Sparrow look-alike named Tali made us pita from scratch and let us lounge in his tent in a food coma for hours afterwards.

Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners

The following three delicious one-dish meals don't require a lot of prep time or ingredients that you wouldn't already find in your pantry. The first two recipes come from my handy Mark Bittman book, and the last--weeknight pizza--includes pre-made, non-refrigerator/freezer whole wheat crust, canned tomato sauce, veggies, mozz and parm.


Whole-wheat veggie pizza


Soba noodles with Peanut-Sesame sauce


Crustless quiche with pesto, riccotta and spinach

Travel Food Pics: Italy Edition

I don't have to tell you guys that Italy is known for its food....and we definitely made it our jobs to prove that fact. We ate many delicious treats during our 8 days of Italian glory, but not everything was wonderful.This was the nastiest THING I can remember ever choosing to put in my mouth. We had decided that each day on the trip, one of us would by an exotic treat for everyone to share. Right outside the Colloseum was this innocent-enough-looking cart selling pizza and sandwhiches and this year-old stale dried fruit "pastry." blech.


Giolitti's- the most famous gelateria in Rome. Known for their nut flavors such as hazelnut, almond and pistachio.


The only salad I think I ate the whole week and it was amazing. Beef, apple, walnut and a sweet creamy dressing.

A delicious and sinful dessert drink in Venice.


Talk about a food obsessed country! This sweet shop did not in fact sell any food items. Everything you see above are soap products disguised as food! How weird is that?


The central market in Florence is incredible. Above you can see super touristy shaped pastas. See if you can find the penises!


Balsamic glazes and other sauces.



Yum?

Travel Food Pics: Istanbul Edition

Kebap timez! totz typz turkey timez....

they let us stay in our own private room practically all night because we told them we had nowhere else to go!

the food on the first night was amazing- everything else was kind of downhill from there after that first great meal.

So many different kinds of pudding!

Turkish Baklava



At the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul you wonder if you've entered a food market or an art museum. Half the items were gorgeous but I'd never want them to enter my mouth.

I made these figgy treats once when I was really young.

Turkish delights from Turkey. What more could you really ask for?


Turkish viagra? really? maybe i should start an importation business....


Arab pastries are amazinggggggg

A 101 Cookbooks Meal

Jamie came over and we made two dishes from one of my favorite blogs, 101 Cookbooks.
The first was a squash tart recommended to me by my friend Becca. It was super simple to make as long as you use a premade frozen pie-crust.
The second was a delicious quinoa, broccoli, and pesto dish- again, with store-bought pesto, it's a piece of cake. I majorly simplified this recipe by not making broccoli pesto, but next time I'll definitely give it a try.

Caramel Apple Blackout Cake and Mujadara for a Veggie Potluck

Barbara headed up this vegan cake project which we brought to a vegetarian pot-luck. Whole wheat flour, no dairy....actually really delicious!


The key was the homemade caramel that Patrick quickly mastered on the first try, and freshly picked Autumn apples. Recipe Here.

I tried to repeat an incredible dish I had in Arad, Israel--unsuccessfully may I add. It's called Mujadara, and it's a lentil and onion dish, that when made correctly, melts in your mouth. Mine just kind of tasted like all of the ingredients I put into it....oh well. Not providing the recipe because I want to spare you all from trying it. I think the one I had used A LOT of oil...:)

Thai Peanut Stir-fry with Coconut Jasmine Rice

Stir-fry may be your boring go-to dish when you have no other inspiration, but it turns out, cooking stir-fry with a recipe can actually turn out quite extraordinary, as was the case when we made this Thai Peanut Stir-fry from Everyday Greens, one of my favorite cookbooks. This dinner was in honor of my friend Matt who was visiting from St. Paul.



The key to this stir fry is the peanut sauce which is just: natural peanut butter, peanut oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and fresh garlic. The veggies were cooked in sesame oil and the tofu was fried separately. The rice was cooked in coconut milk. Altogether, yum. Had to photocopy this recipe for all attendants upon request.

New Years Hors D'Oeuvres

For New Years this year, Ali O and I decided to take advantage of our open schedules and cook as much as we possibly could. We came up with seven hors d'oeuvres to create and spent three and a half of the busiest hours of my life producing them. In actuality, only five hungry people showed up to eat them; I guess 8:30 is a little late for dinner? Anyways, the process was worth it and the final products turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.


Mini Apple Cheddar Bacon Quiches from Closet Cooking


Spicy Pumpkin Hummus on French Bread Crostinis with Fresh Parsley


Carrs Crackers with Goat Cheese and Mango Chutney. (not homemade)

Classic Stufed Mushrooms- (Note to self: Make sure to buy big enough mushrooms to stuff next time!)
Top Row: Dates wrapped in Bacon stuffed with walnuts, inspired by this amazing post on Mark Bittman's blog.
Bottom Row: Filo Samosa Turnovers from one of my favorite cookbooks: Everyday Greens

Happy New Years!