Roasted Carrot Risotto and Yellow Squash Capri Salad

So I wanted to make a fancy dinner for Lindsay since she had been traveling for work for a week. I knew that I had some Abodro rice for quick a while so I figured it was time I finally got around to making some Risotto. I search around until I found a recipe for Caramelized Lemon and Soybean Risotto which looked really good. I did know where to get soy beans so I changed it to roasted carrots.

All and all it was just ok in my opinion. I learned a lot about making risotto, the most important fact being to follow directions and use all the ingredents. I forgot the butter and the cheese. Also next time I think I will add some water in place of the chicken stock since it was a bit too salty and not really creamy. (that might be because of the omission of butter).

Next time I should follow the directions from How to make basic Risotto From Video Jug which will hopefully help.

For an appetizer (which I am glad I made because we were both hungry) was a variation on a Capri salad. Since we don't really like tomatoes it didn't make sense to make a tomato salad. In place of the tomatoes I used roasted yellow squash. I roasted the thinly sliced yellow squash at 425°F for about 10 minutes and then layered fresh mozzarella, yellow squash and a basil leaf with a little salt and pepper. I drizzled with a little bit of olive oil but I need to omit it next time.

Overall it was a pretty good meal and has a lot of potential so I should make again.

Grilled Eggplant Rolls (7/10)

We had some left over little Italy pasta sauce from last week when we had some Ohio City ravioli. I searched around the internet and how a list of 50 things to do with left over pasta sauce. They weren't really recipes but just ideas.

Left over Pasta Sauce Ideas

It was a toss up between the pizza baked potato and the stuffed eggplant. I thought it would be fun to make something nice for Lindsay so I went with the eggplant since she likes it so much.

The recipe looked a little bland so I thought I would change just a few things.

1) I got fresh mozzarella cheese and added a slice to the top of each roll.

2) I didn't have any fresh basil since the herb garden isn't up and running yet so I just used some dried Italian spices

3)I used Asiago instead of Parmesan since we like the flavor a little more

4)I added a little pasta sauce to the filling to give it a red coloring.

I bought 2 medium eggplants and it made quite a bit. Next time I would only buy 1 and cut it much thinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/4″ slices (next time try cutting very thin)
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 12 ounces fresh, whole milk ricotta (about 1 1/2 cups) – other types of ricotta would be great too!
• 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling (used Asiago)
• 1/4 tsp each salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup of chopped basil or flat leaf parsley
• Tomato sauce
• pinch of garlic powder if on hand
• pinch of onion powder if on hand

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
2. Stir olive oil and vinegar together in a small bowl and brush onto both sides of the eggplant slices; season both sides with salt and pepper. Or just add the salt and pepper to the basting mixture to make it easier
3. Grill eggplant slices, turning once, until tender and golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. This won't take very long if you cut it thing
4. In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and half of the basil. Add couple of spoonfuls of sauce for color
5. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture onto each slice of eggplant at the tapered end – 1 inch from the bottom edge with a 1/4-inch border on each side. Roll each slice away from you and arrange rolls, seam side down, on the baking sheet.
6. Spoon tomato sauce over rolls, add slice of mozz and sprinkle a little more Asiago for looks. and place them in the oven until warmed through, about 15 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with Parmesan and remaining basil and serve immediately.

Overall these were pretty good. I'm not sure if I will make them again. Overall they were pretty easy for how fancy they were. They might be good over a bed of pasta or if you really wanted to make a fancy rich meal you could make a cream sauce for a dinner party.

African Peanut Stew (8/10) - Fall/Winter Soup

African Peanut Stew. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes . I obviously didn't take the photo. I was going to take a picture of my pot but I knew it wouldn't have turned out very well so I thought I would just post this one instead. The soup was very good and worth making again so I am adding it here.

I had some left over pepper chicken that my parents brought up so I thought it would be a good time to use it for a soup that called for heavy pepper flavor. I also bought sweet potatoes from GE which I always thought were yellow but the ones in the bin for sweet potatoes were white. I got 1.5 pounds of those plus 1 pound of yams so I could get some of that orange flavor.

Overall the soup was really easy to make but make sure you have a very large pot if you follow the recipe. I also used a 28 oz can of tomatoes since that was the only size they came in for "crushed". This recipe filled our largest pot to the brim.

Another change that I made was that I added cumin since I love it as a spice and I left out the coriander since I only had whole and didn't want to overpower the bites with it in. I doubled the cayenne because Lindsay and I like things with a little heat. It could have used a little more since it is African after all.

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 pounds chicken legs, thighs and/or wings
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
• A 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced (omitted because I don't like ginger)
• 6-8 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
• 2-3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes (used larger can)
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander (omitted, didn't have ground)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (doubled)
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

METHOD

1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot set over medium-high heat. Salt the chicken pieces well, pat them dry and brown them in the oil. Don't crowd the pot, so do this in batches. Set the chicken pieces aside as they brown.

2 Sauté the onions in the oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes, then add the sweet potatoes and stir well to combine.

3 Add the chicken, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, peanut butter, peanuts, coriander and cayenne and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer and taste for salt, adding more if needed. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 90 minutes (check after an hour), or until the chicken meat easily falls off the bone and the sweet potatoes are tender.

4 Remove the chicken pieces and set them in a bowl to cool, until cool enough to touch. Remove and discard the skin if you want, or chop it and put it back into the pot. Shred the meat off the bones and put the meat back in the pot.

5 Adjust the seasonings for salt and cayenne, then add as much black pepper as you think you can stand—the stew should be peppery. Stir in the cilantro and serve by itself, or with simple steamed rice.

Yield: Serves 6-8