I’m feeling a little under the weather today, but it’s nothing a little Mushroom Farro Risotto can’t fix. Whenever I get a cold, I always tell myself I’ll take it easy, but I always end up cooking something extravagant for myself and kind of drowsily stirring a pot of some penicillin I’ve invented. This is how you know you love cooking. Feeling sick? Just cook some chicken stew. Feeling blue? Roast a whole chicken stuffed to the gills with butter. Tired? Nachos. Always nachos.
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I’m waffling back and forth between eating and not eating meat. A part of me just loves a challenge. I like creating arbitrary rules for myself just to see how stringently I can follow them. I’m back to documenting every dinner I’ve eaten in a notebook, and I just love a good list, in true Virgo form. This Pumpkin Risotto is vegetarian bliss. It has fresh sage, creamy arborio rice, and parmesan cheese. It’s the perfect way to celebrate fall flavors. If you have leftover pumpkin, you can use it to make pumpkin pancakes in the morning, like me!
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There is a lesson in every dish. Red Beans and Rice teaches us patience, watermelons teach us joy, roast chickens hard work. Risotto teaches us mindfulness. Despite the heat, I mentally needed to focus on cooking today. Risotto is made with constant stovetop attention and repetitive stirring until you think your arms are going to fall off. But there’s beauty in making something that requires all of us. My Sun-dried Tomato Risotto is made with a chunky homemade pesto, and I invite you to be as creative with this dish as you can! If you don’t have walnuts, try pine nuts or pecans. If you forgot cherry tomatoes, skip it. This is about improvisation, and I guarantee you that this dish will be amazing no matter how you modify it. The only requirement is that you stir and stir for just twenty minutes.
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Leeks are like the cooler older brother of the onion. They’re a little more subtle, slightly sweet, and they soften up like butter when you saute them. Now that it’s spring, I’m totally swapping out my onions for leeks in just about every recipe. They’re in season, fresh tasting, and in their prime. Add leeks to risotto with some mint, fresh peas, and goat cheese, and we’re in business.
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This is where my blog peaks, and no other recipe will live in infamy like this miso butter and mushroom orecchiette. Which I have misspelled and spelled again fifteen times since writing this post. ORECCHIETTE. Why so many letters? I’m here to tell you that this pasta is an umami bomb. The savory miso butter…
Sam once told me he didn’t like carrots, which I took as a challenge to craft the most delicious carrot recipe that even the most dedicated carrot-hater couldn’t hate. I used to hate a lot of vegetables until I found out that everything is good roasted. Everything. Even a brussels sprout. I made this amazing…
Hi Friends! Every year I fall in love with autumn all over again, and I’m reminded why. I took a step outside and watched the rain fall on a big oak tree in our backyard while all the yellowed leaves fell to the ground. It smelled like dirt and leaves and those scented crayons that…