Vegetable Gratin and Beans with Greens

Wow!! December has been a whirlwind for us, and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down until the Holiday's have passed. I apologize for the sparse blogging of late, but I've been cooking very little and making a lot of easy repeats (pizzas, quesadillas, and soups). We've also been eating out a lot.....in fact, way too much.

I did find some time for cooking last night though. It's been cold, gray, and rainy here for days. We've been so busy, running around from here to there, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, School Programs, and Dance Recitals. Yesterday we finally got to take a breather from all of our running and it was the perfect day for some hearty comfort food. So, I made a rainbow vegetable gratin and some crusty white beans with rainbow chard from Super Natural Cooking. It was delicious and perfect for the cold, rainy weather.

The vegetable gratin is a combination of red potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, carrots, and green onion all browned on the stove-top and then sprinkled with whole grain bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese before baking to a crispy golden brown in the oven. I've been wanting to try this one out, because I was planning to use it as part of our holiday meal. Well, it definitely makes the holiday meal cut, it was outstanding.

The beans are just some white kidney (cannellini) that I cooked up in the crock pot over the weekend. They too are browned on the stove top along with some onion and garlic, rainbow chard is then wilted in and the whole thing gets sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese before serving. Again, delish!! This would actually be a great meal all on it's own, possibly with some corn bread....yum!!

This isn't the type of meal that Rob is very keen on, but he did enjoy it none the less. Mairin of course, didn't even try any of it. And Stella, well, Stella is digging the beans lately, so she ate a big bowl of beans and some applesauce.

Mushroom Risotto

Last night I made mushroom risotto. It wasn't anyone's favorite, but it was good. Rob doesn't particularly like mushrooms, and the girls were both in a picky mood last night. I, on the other hand, love mushrooms and I love risotto (I had a fantastic risotto in Italy, tomato and basil, it was phenomenal), so it was a winner for me (and hey, I do the cooking right?? Sometimes they've gotta just eat what I like, plus, we needed a break from ED&BV!!). I started by heating 8 cups of vegetable stock in a saucepan. While the stock was heating I sauteed 1/2 a medium onion (chopped), and 3 cloves of garlic in about 2 Tbs of olive oil. Once the onion was soft and translucent I added in 4 oz of chopped mixed mushrooms (mine was a mixture of baby bella, oyster, and crimini) and sauteed those until they started to soften and get a nice brown color. Once the mushrooms begin to brown, I added in about 2 tsp of sea salt and a few turns of the pepper mill, 1 Tbs Spanish thyme, a pinch of oregano, and 1 bay leaf. I stirred all of the herbs in and added 3 cups of Arborio rice. I stir around the rice to coat it with the oil and then let it saute until it gets slightly brown and nutty smelling. Next, add in 3 cups of warm stock and stir. Let rice simmer, stirring frequently. As stock is absorbed add in more stock by the ladle full, stirring and simmering as rice becomes creamy. Keep adding more warm stock as the old stock is absorbed, until you've used all 8 cups. Once the rice was tender and creamy I added in 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and stir it in to combine. On the side I served rainbow chard, sauteed in sesame oil with a splash of tamari.

Once you've gotten the basics of risotto, namely, adding warm stock continually, creating a creamy texture, you can basically add anything you prefer. Just cheese is nice (and Rob's favorite risotto). Tomatoes are another nice thing to add to risotto. A while back I made a butternut squash risotto, that was perfect for fall, and I think next I'll be trying pumpkin risotto.

Risotto's are a very nice filling and warming dish. Just remember, if you decide to make this, or any other risotto, they do require a lot of stirring and attention, so it's not one you can put on while you are tending to clingy children. This one works best when someone is home to occupy the kids for awhile (try it as a Sunday dish sometime).