French Onion Soup Risotto

After thoroughly enjoying the Dirty Cauliflower Risotto I made a few weeks ago, I've been dying to make another red wine based risotto. Once again it was a Friday night, the eve of grocery shopping, and I had to scrounge around the fridge and pantry to make dinner. I was in the mood for French Onion Soup, but we had no bread in the house. I contemplated making bread, but it was already seven o'clock and I was hungry! I had pasta, rice and potatoes on hand, and decided risotto would be fantastic.

This risotto was absolutely delicious, very creamy and flavorful. If you're not vegetarian, you could certainly use beef stock as that's a more traditional way to make French Onion Soup, but I love the Rapunzel vegetable stock cubes with herbs. This would be a great side dish for a dinner party, but it's quite substantial on it's own. To make it a complete meal, I'd serve it with a nice salad, some crusty bread and add cannelini beans to the risotto (stir in just before serving). But for a smaller meal, it's perfect as is.

French Onion Soup Risotto

Veggie by Season original

2 tbsp. butter

2 small or 1 large yellow onion, peeled, quartered and sliced

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 c. arborio rice

1 tbsp. cognac

1 c. dry red wine

1 bay leaf

2 fresh sprigs or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

2-3 c. vegetable stock

1/2 c. shredded Gruyere cheese

Heat a deep skillet over medium-low, melt butter and add onion.

Stir occasionally, and allow onions to caramelize for about 10 minutes.

Add rice, stir and allow rice to toast.

Season with kosher salt and black pepper.

Add cognac and red wine, turn heat to medium-high and allow wine to reduce by half, stirring as it reduces. 

Turn heat back to medium-low, add bay leaf and thyme.

Add ladles full of stock every few minutes as it is absorbed by rice, stirring well after each addition. 

After the rice is plump and isn't absorbing stock, turn heat off, stir in 1/4 c. of the Gruyere.

Dish into individual bowls, sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve.

Roasted Cauliflower Dirty Risotto

I always forget about risotto, and I don't know why. Every time I make it, I must say, "oh my gosh this is soooo good!" about ten times before I finish. It's also one of my favorite dishes to get in restaurants. When I received two heads of cauliflower in this week's CSA share, I remembered seeing a recipe for a cauliflower risotto float around the blogospehere a few months ago. On a lazy Friday night, nothing sounded better than a warm bowl of creamy risotto. Friday's are always a little tricky for us dinner-wise. I pick up the CSA share on Thursday, and go shopping Saturday, so I'm inundated with produce, but don't have a stocked pantry or fridge to cook with until after I shop. I surveyed the fridge, but didn't have white wine or parmesan cheese for a traditional risotto, so I improvised.

Dirty risotto is a concept I've seen on cooking shows, where you use red wine rather than white. Luckily we always have a bottle of red in the wine rack, so that was covered. We had blue cheese in the cheese drawer, which pairs well with cauliflower, some thyme from the previous week's CSA share, and a sole onion in the vegetable bowl, so this recipe came together out of fridge scraps, but you would never have known! It may look a little funny with the purple-ish tint, but this risotto was so full of flavor, creamy, pungent, earthy and comforting. I would definitely serve this at a dinner party, or make it again just for myself. Even my non-cauliflower-loving husband thought this was delectable. And once you've opened a bottle of wine for 1/2 c. in a recipe, you must also pour yourself a glass to drink while cooking, maybe one more to enjoy with dinner!

Roasted Cauliflower Dirty Risotto

Veggie by Season original

1/2 head of cauliflower or 1 small head

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. butter

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 c. arborio rice
1/2 c. dry red wine
1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp. dried
2 - 2 1/2 c. vegetable stock, warmed
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese

Preheat oven to 400*
Drizzle a rimmed cookie sheet with 1 tbsp. olive oil.
Cut cauliflower into small florets, toss with oil on cookie sheet, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the risotto.
Melt butter over medium heat in a shallow saute' pan.
Add onions, season with salt and pepper and saute' for 5 minutes, until softened and edges begin to caramelize.
Add rice, toast for about 1 minute, stirring frequently.
Add red wine, bring to a simmer, once reduced by half, add about 1/2 c. stock, stir well.
Continue to add stock 1/2 c. at a time, stirring with each addition, until rice is plumped and cooked, about 20 minutes.
Remove cauliflower from the oven, chop the florets into small, bite sized pieces and stir into risotto.
Turn heat off, taste risotto and season, if necessary.
Add 1 oz. blue cheese, stir well.
Spoon risotto into a bowl, top with remaining blue cheese and chopped cauliflower.
Serve - makes 2 large main servings or 4 sides.

Vegetables Bourguignon

I've never been a fan of beef dishes, but there are a few I would eat. My mom is a bit strange in her eating habits. She eats no poultry or fish, but loves beef and shellfish. Because of this, there was a lot of ground beef recipes growing up, and occasionally she'd treat us with beef stew, beef bourguignon, or rouladen. I vividly remember picking out the potatoes and other vegetables in those dishes, and leaving the meat behind. So for me, these dishes can still be made often with the meat either left out, or beans used instead.

 A few months ago, I dreamed up cannelini beans bourguignon, which was delicious! This time though, I wanted the dish to really focus on the vegetables, and leave out all meat. I used whole cremini mushrooms to get a meaty quality, and kept the remaining vegetables true to standard recipes. I think the addition of some peas or haricots verts would be wonderful though, and might try it again. Also, I've served this over noodles, mashed potatoes, but polenta would also be a great foundation. Basically, you can't go wrong when concocting a dish with a red-wine based sauce! And the best part - traditional beef bourguignon takes hours to prepare. This dish took me about 30 minutes, start to finish! 

Vegetables Bourguignon

1 tsp. EVOO

1 small yellow onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. small cremini mushrooms, cleaned and stemmed

1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/4" rounds

2 oz. tomato paste

2 tbsp. Brandy

1 cup dry red wine (I used pinot noir)

1 cup vegetable stock

3-4 thyme sprigs

1 tsp. fresh minced rosemary

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Parsley, chopped, for garnish

1 cup frozen pearl onions

6 oz. whole wheat pasta, or prepared polenta, mashed potatoes, etc.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt, add pasta, cook to al dente.

Drain, set aside.

Heat a soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat.

Add EVOO, grate in onion, stir to combine.

Add garlic, mushrooms and carrots, continue to stir and cook for 5-10 minutes, until mushrooms have softened and let out most of their water.

Add tomato paste, brandy and wine, stir well.

Bring to a simmer, reduce wine by half, add stock, rosemary and thyme.

Bring to a simmer, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for 15 minutes, until carrots are tender.

Add frozen onions, heat through.

Taste, adjust seasonings, remove thyme stems, serve over noodles.

Sprinkle with parsley.

*Note: This recipe is vegan, as written, but a sprinkle of parmesan cheese or grated gruyere is a fantastic addition.

Traditional (or Sparkling) Sangria

I absolutely love Sangria. I love a nice dry red wine and a splash of citrus and a bit of sweetness. I usually add a bit of sparkling water to mine to stretch it out (so I can drink more) and it also makes it much cheaper for a group. I decided to set up a little bar so people had the choice of regular or sparkling.
This is a pretty traditional recipe, it's really a personal preference thing. Recently a new, huge market called Sahara Mart opened in Bloomington. They had a big wine tasting event last weekend that JJ and I went to. We then went over to the store and checked out their wine selection, which was HUGE. Like most wine shops, it's sorted by country of origin. What I love about Sahara Mart is they also carry a large selection of organic wines. I decided to grab 2 bottles of an inexpensive Spanish Organic Red.

Traditional Sangria

1/4 c. Brandy

1/4 c. powdered sugar

3 lemons

3 limes

2 oranges

2 bottles of Red Wine

Sparkling water (optional)

Pour brandy and powdered sugar into a pitcher. Whisk until sugar dissolves.

Juice 1 lemon, 1 lime and 1 orange. Add to pitcher.

Add 2 bottles of wine.

Slice the remaining orange, a lemon and a lime. Add to the pitcher, stir and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or overnight.

Before serving, fill pitcher with ice and slice remaining lemon and lime for garnish.