It is officially that time of year again, when
eating starts to get seriously heavy, we increase our cardio 300%, and we take
serious naps. Thanksgiving tips off when the holiday eating gets a little out
of control. When I think of holiday food I think of satisfying several
cravings, 1)salt, 2)something hearty, 3) something rich, and 4)definitely some
sort of carb is involved. Michael and I have come up with a simple Thanksgiving
day side which hits on all of these notes.
Our side is roasted brussel sprouts, tossed with
long grain rice, and then topped with crisped pancetta. For vegetarians, just
remove the pancetta, then voila, welcome to tasty town.
Ingredients: serves 8
1 ½ lbs brusssel sprouts
2/3 cup diced pancetta
½ cup long grain rice
¼ cup olive oil
½ a lemon
Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Start by cleaning and slicing the sprouts. In a
colander rinse the sprouts with water, pulling off any outer leaves that look
browned of to have holes. Cut the bottom of the sprout of and then cut in half
lengthwise. Place in large bowl, and pour in most but about 2 Tablespoons of
olive oil and mix, sprinkling with salt three separate times. Lay the brussel
sprouts out onto two baking sheets and place in oven for 40 minutes.
Be sure that 20 minutes in to flip some of the
brussel sprouts around and turn the actual trays around in the oven.
To make the long grain rice, follow the direction of
water to rice that they give you (not all rice is the same). Set aside.
While those are cooking in a large sauce pan place
all of your pancetta and render it down until it is nice and crispy. If you
cannot find already diced pancetta, render the whole pancetta down and dice
once crispy. Once crispy, layout on a plate covered with a paper towel. Set
aside.
Once the sprouts are done, place all the ingredients
in a bowl, pour the rest of the oil in, and squeeze the lemon. Mix and serve!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Who cares if Valentine’s day was a week
ago! Love is always around you! So surprise someone you love with this gorgeous
risotto. It is not only tasty but it is also a very sexy dish. Michael made
this for me a few months ago, and we added the touch of the beet hearts. You
will be sure to love this parmesan and beet risotto.
xoxo
Ingredients: serves 6-8
2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups vegetable stock
3 cups water
¼ cup parmesan reggiano
2 medium beets
1 Tablespoon olive oil
To start preheat the oven to 450
degrees, and coat you beets in olive oil. Create a pouch out of tinfoil and
place your beets in it, and stick in oven for 50 minutes to an hour. Your beets
will be done once you can easily pierce them with a fork. Take the beets out,
let them cool, and peel the outer rough skin off with your fingers under
running water. Slice the beets into ¼” slices. Take about ½ of one beet and
dice, set aside. Take the rest of the slices, and cut heart shapes out and set
aside to lay on top of risotto.
Grate parmesan and set aside.
In a medium sized pot heat the
Tablespoon of oil on medium high heat, add the Arborio rice, and stir, cooking
for about 7 minutes. This allows the rice to soak up some of the olive oil
flavor, and will allow the rice to cook a little faster. Add all the stock and 2
cups water and cover the pot until the liquid starts boiling. Once it reaches a
boil, leave on medium high heat and start stirring frequently until the rice
absorbs the liquid. Once it is absorbed, add the remainder of the water in
quarter cups allowing the rice to absorb the liquid and repeat. Do this until
all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked.
**If you need to you can add more
liquid. You will know the risotto is done when the rice has a slight al dente
feel to it, but is really creamy. It is a frequent mistake to either not cook
it enough so it is hard, or overcook and it is mushy.**
Next add the parmesan and diced beets
and stir until the cheese has melted and the pink of the beets has colored all
of the risotto.
To serve, place a heaping spoonful of
risotto onto a plate and lay two hearts over each other! Tada! Now that is true
love!!
