Tag: fresh

Risotto/Arancini

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One of the best arancini I’ve ever had was at the Casa Loma Symphony in the Garden. It’s a wonderful evening listening to the Toronto Orchestra under the stars at Casa Loma, a historical castle in the middle of the city and one of my favourite places. Every Tuesday, during summer months, there’s a symphonic concerto of different composers. It’s one of my favourite events in the city and getting increasingly more difficult to get tickets to. This year with the pandemic causing all major events/concerts/gatherings to be cancelled, I’m feeling nostalgic for the last time my best friend and I were at the symphony and enjoyed dinner in a beautiful garden on the grounds of a castle. While the arancini on that evening was a seafood centre, I’ve opted for a beef filling. I can’t wait for next summer and (hopefully) another evening under the stars listening to the symphony until then, I’ll reminisce.

Risotto Recipe:

  • 2 cups arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 5 cups stock of your choice
  • 1/4 cup asiago cheese
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoon finely diced onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Directions:

In a saucepan heat your stock on low heat. In another saucepan on medium-high heat, add olive oil, and onions and let saute lightly, add garlic and mix. Now add your arborio rice and stir coating the rice with the olive oil, garlic and onions. When slightly toasted add white wine and a ladle at a time of stock and stir the risotto. You will continuously stir the risotto and adding the stock until the risotto is cooked. Add the asiago cheese and stir. Finish off with some parsley. Enjoy.

Arancini Recipe:

  • Leftover risotto
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/3 cup chorizo finely diced
  • 1/2 cup diced carrots
  • 1/2 cup black olives
  • 1/3 cup strained tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 3 tablespoons finely diced onions
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 crushed chili flakes
  • 1/2 tablespoon green onions
  • 1/2 tablespoon parsley
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/3 can of tomato paste
  • 1 cup finely diced green and red bell peppers
  • breadcrumbs for rolling
  • vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

In a large saucepan, add olive oil, onions and garlic stirring to saute. Add chorizo, ground beef, bell peppers, salt and pepper. Breaking up the ground beef while mixing. Add olives, carrots, tomato paste, strained tomatoes, basil, thyme and oregano. Stir and let cook. Check seasoning is to your taste. Let cook on low heat with the lid on for approximately 30 minutes.
Take a tablespoon of rice in the palm of your hand, while flattening make a little cup to fill with arancini with meat filling, close the rice back keeping the meat inside the rice ball. Roll the rice ball in the breadcrumbs. Your rice balls will be approximately the size of a tennis ball, you could make them smaller or larger, the choice is yours. Once all have been rolled you can start frying them or you can refrigerate them until you’re ready to start frying. You will fry on each side until golden brown, then add to a paper towel-lined dish until ready to plate. Enjoy.

Chrissie xo

Never Have I Ever

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I always want to challenge myself in the kitchen, create something tasty and wonderful is always such a great experience for me. There are some things I’ve not yet tried that are on my bucket list, things such as souffles. I remember as a child my mother would make incredible souffles. I swear one day, I’ll knock one out and hopefully, it will be as wonderful as hers.

But never have I ever made fresh pasta, that is until last week. I was overcome with the urge to make ravioli. OMG, it was such a rewarding experience. I know most people don’t get excited over such things, but I feel you need to celebrate the little accomplishments and joys. I won’t lie, making fresh pasta is hard work, but the end result is fantastic. You won’t regret it. I promise.

Pasta Ingredients:

  • 1 pound (approx. 3 1/3 cups) flour (I used “00” flour, which I was lucky to find during a pandemic where everyone is baking up a storm and flour is hard to find)
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • a large pinch of salt

Directions:

Place your flour on your workspace, making a large well in the centre. You want to keep you well walls high, but your well large enough to contain your eggs and olive oil. Trust me. I didn’t make my well large enough and had a breach of eggs over my well wall. LOL. I’ve learned my lesson there. That’s also why there are no photos of this process. I was trying to contain my eggs. Add your eggs, olive oil, and salt. With a fork you’re going to start by whisking the eggs with the flour, slowly incorporating it all together. Once the flour and the eggs are mixed make sure to get all the little bits of flour on your workspace. You’re now going to mix the ingredients with your hands, making sure to knead the dough as you go for roughly 10-15 minutes. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes. Now you can work on your filling.

I made a filling of meat and cheese. You can make a cheese filling, or a mushroom filling if you prefer a vegetarian option.

Meat & Cheese Filling:

  • 3 large pork Italian sausages removed from their casings
  • 454 g of ricotta cheese
  • 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup of finely diced onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 large eggs
  • **the following herbs and spices are to taste, so use what you like in the quantities you find palatable
  • salt, pepper
  • basil (fresh, chopped or dried)
  • crushed chili pepper flakes
  • cayenne (optional)
  • oregano (fresh, chopped or dried)
  • parsley (fresh, chopped or dried)

Directions:

Place a large pan on the stove on medium heat. Remove sausages from their casings, into your pan breaking up the sausage. Add your onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Make sure to stir all together while cooking, add your herbs and continue cooking. Once cooked, be sure to drain the fat and add the mixture to a bowl to cool. Once cooled, add ricotta, parmesan, 2 large eggs and mix everything together. You can set it aside and now you’re ready to roll your pasta dough.

I used my KitchenAid Pasta Attachment to roll out the dough. I do suppose you can roll it out by hand, with a rolling pin, but it’s so much easier with a pasta roller.

Add water to a large pot, add a good heap of salt to your water and let boil.

Cut your dough into four pieces and rewrap the dough not being used. Add flour to your workstation and knead your dough again for a few minutes, add some flour to each side of your dough to keep it from sticking to your rollers. Starting at the widest setting, run your pasta through once. Take the pasta on the back of your hand, now you will fold your pasta into three like a letter/envelope and run it through your roller again. Now you can go to the next setting on your pasta roller. I did run it through each setting twice and I used settings one through four as that was my desired thickness.*If your pasta sheet gets too long, you can cut it in half. Lay your pasta on your workspace and brush one side with water, add your filling and add the other half of your pasta sealing it closed. You want to eliminate as many air bubbles as possible as the filling may seep out while boiling the ravioli. I used a cookie cutter to shape my ravioli which is just under 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

Add your ravioli to the boiling water. Once your ravioli is boiled it will rise to the surface, remove and add to the sauce of your choice. Enjoy.

When I ran out of filling, I had leftover pasta dough and decided to make and dry fettuccine for another day. I’m looking forward to that.

Chrissie xo