Sunday Supper, part 2

My first experience with Sunday Supper at JCT Kitchen came about a year ago. After saying a thousand times that I want to go again, we finally made it back there, using Bulgaria's Independence day as an excuse. Even though she's not Bulgaria, Snooki also tagged along.

As before, the table shared biscuits with apple butter and brown butter, a large salad and deviled eggs. And after what seemed like an eternity, we finally got our entrees. JCT Kitchen, you need to get your act together because it's not OK to make people 30 min after the salad to get their meals. I suspect our dished were just waiting on a counter somewhere because they were cold by the time we got them. Everything was still delicious, but I know it would have been a lot better if warm. Oh yeah, here's what we ordered: I had the pan-seared steak with mushrooms, Snooki had the pork tenderloin, my dad got the grouper with beets, and my mom ordered the fried chicken with cornbread. It's funny how it works out this way so many times, but I liked Snooki's dish (the pork) a lot more than my dish (steak). The pork was very tender and moist compared to my dry cold steak...  At least the mushrooms were great...

I think my favorite part of the Sunday Supper are the sides, especially the mashed sweet potatoes that we had last time. I've been dreaming about them! Well, day-dreaming ;) But they didn't have them on the menu this time! I'm outraged! Now I'll have to figure out how to make them myself. In the meantime, we had to choose something different and settled on mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms with Parmesan. However, our not-so-good waiter brought us mashed potatoes instead of mushrooms. Thankfully, he let us keep to potatoes and brought us mushrooms in addition to that. So in the end, we got a free side out of it :) Plus, the mushrooms turned out to be different from what we expected. We thought that they'd be sauteed mushrooms with cheese on top; instead, it was a mushroom risotto with cheese. It wasn't bad, but not the deliciousness I was waiting for. As to the other sides, the mashed potatoes were good, albeit too greasy; the Brussels sprouts were cooked perfectly, not bitter at all, and the mac and cheese was spectacular - very, very cheesy and with huge chunks of pancetta. By the way, if my parents like the Brussels sprouts, they must have been good. My dad especially is not too eager to try new foods.



And at the end of the meal came the dessert - caramelized pear pie. We were all complaining (in a good way!) how stuffed we were after the side overload. I was even telling myself that I'll have only a couple of bites of the pie. But boy oh boy! This pie is one of the BESTTTTT things I've ever had. The pears were soft and gooey, they were fragrant with warm spices (cinnamon, etc.), there was a little bit of custard, and the pie was sooo flaky and soft to the fork. It probably took me all but a minute to devour a pretty huge slice! At some point I did remember to stop for long enough to take a picture... It doesn't look that impressive, but you all should be jealous that you didn't try it. Well, that pie made us all forget about some of the mishaps earlier during the dinner :) And yes, it's up there on my list of amazing foods, right next to the French Toast at La Boulange :)

Recipe: Veggie Risotto

I decided to change things a little. Instead of only writing about things I eat out, I will start posting some of the things I make at home as well. I do cook a lot. I come up with my own recipes a lot, and they turn out delicious about half the time :P This was the case just now, so I decided to share what I made for dinner.

I had some left over things in my fridge that I didn't know what to do with: chicken stock, celery, carrots, tomatoes... I suppose I could have looked up a recipe that uses all of those things, but I decided to just add them to a risotto. Making a professional chef-quality risotto is a tricky thing, and I don't claim to be a risotto specialist. But I do love the way mine turn out. Plus, the number of variations are limitless. The key is to start with good arborio rice or other risotto-grade rice; simple write or brown rice doesn't work here...So here's my recipe for risotto with veggies, along with a few suggestions for variations:

Ingredients:
1 large carrot, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon canola (or vegetable) oil
2 plum tomatoes, or any other tomato, including sun-dried, diced
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
1 cup arborio rice
2.5 cups stock (chicken or vegetable) or water, warmed a little on the stove or in the microwave
Salt and pepper to taste
Oregano, parsley, basil or any other combination of dried herbs
1 wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (I used Chipotle and Queso)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pot. Add the onion and cook until it's softened. Add the garlic and stir. Add the carrots and celery and cook 2-3 minutes, until their color intensifies. You can use any vegetable you have. After all, the purpose of this risotto is to use up old things in the fridge.

2. Add the rice and stir frequently until the rice grains turn mostly opaque. Then, start adding the liquid of choice, 1/2 cup at a time. Simmer the risotto, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed. Then add the next 1/3 cup. The general rule of thumb is 3 cups liquid per 1 cup rice. I added only 2.5 cups risotto because the tomatoes have some liquid in them. If the rice is not all the way cooked after adding all of the liquid, add some more.

3. After the addition of the first or second portion of liquid, add the tomatoes and the capers. Season with salt, pepper and herbs. Don't add too much salt because the capers are very salty even after rinsing them. You can taste the broth to see if it's seasoned enough.

4. When the rice is soft and cooked, turn off the heat before all of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the cheese. Real risotto is made with 1/2 cup parmesan or other hard Italian cheese, but I didn't have any :-/ I assume any melting cheese will work well. Stir the risotto until the cheese has melted. Let stand a few minutes and then serve!

Note, you can substitute the FIRST 1/2 cup liquid for white wine. It does make the risotto taste better, but I didn't have white wine :( DO NOT add red wine. It will turn the risotto an ugly purple color. Yes, I know that from experience... Thankfully, the taste is not compromised.

I hope someone will try this and like it :)