Daring Cook's Challenge - Risotto

Blog check in line:
The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

First we had to make our own stock. The recipe called for chicken stock.

But you probably all know how I feel about that!

No ladies in my soup, thanks very much!

I used the same recipe here that I used to make the soup for the Potato Dinner Party.

Roasted onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, bay leaves, garlic paste, basil, thyme, miso and water.

I used about 3 quarts of water.


Brought everything to a boil.
Let it simmer.
When the carrot was soft, I tasted the stock and adjusted the flavors.



Then I strained the stock.
I had 2 quarts and 1 1/2 pints of stock.

Ingredients for risotto.

I had a little bit of trouble making this, because the rice was vacuum sealed.

Which is weird for me, but I suppose it keeps the rice fresh.

Saute onion.

Add rice and 3ml wine.

1 quart stock.
Stir, stir, boil.

Add 2nd quart of stock.

Repeat stir, stir, boil.

Done!

It was OK.

But I really liked it the next day.

I fried 2 cups of risotto in a little butter, added 2 of the Ladies' eggs and some frozen mixed vegetables.

That was good.

Daring Cook's November Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

~

I want to thank Audax and Rose for the challenge.

It truly was a challenge!

The recipe is really, really long.

I didn't post it, because I wanted more room for my pics, but go to Audax or Rose's blog to see the step by step directions.

~

Before this, I had never tasted sushi (or wanted to taste it).
And now that I've tasted it-

I hate it.

Let's just get that out of the way.

The nori tastes and smells like a stagnant lake.

The rice is sticky and sweet. And not in a good way.

Although, you might remember I said here in my Pumpkin/Bulghur post
that I wasn't crazy about white rice.

It also seems like a lot of work and mess for pretty, but inedible food.

~

First, the spiral sushi roll with baby corn, coconut black beans*, fried red and yellow pepper.

Ta da!



I like wasabi and peppers so I ate that.


See below for the fate of the sushi.
Bwahaha! (evil laughter)



The dragon roll.


So cute!


And so yucky!





I used fake crab sticks and fried peppers inside.


Avocado on top and red pepper for the flames.



Black beans for the eyes.




And the nigiri sushi.
I thought I might like these, because they don't have any nori.


But it's a huge chunk of rice with toppings.


I ate the tops.


Yum! Smoked cheddar cheese, rum/ginger/cinnamon syrup raisins and kiwi slices.










I ate some of the rice with coconut black beans and topped it with avocado.

It was tasty.


What did I do with all of that sushi?




My girls had a sushi party!

They didn't like the nori.

Or the rice.

Too sticky for chicken beaks.

They picked out the fillings.

Silly chickens!

They usually gobble up rice.

*Coconut Black Beans

1 cup dry black beans, rinsed

1 can coconut milk

1 small dried chile

1/2 tsp dried onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger powder

salt to taste

Rinse beans. Add beans and 6 cups water to med. saucepot. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 mins. Remove from burner, cover and let soak for 1 hour.

Drain beans and rinse (again).

Add rinsed beans, coconut milk and spices to the saucepot.

Simmer at med./low heat until the coconut milk volume has been reduced in half.

About 1 hour.

Beans should be tender by now, but still holding their shape.

Add salt to taste and serve.