The last few days have been a bit of a social whirlwind. I have had some activity every single night since last thursday . . . and I all of a sudden I realized there is a reason I am not normally quite so outgoing . . . I like to come home and cook myself dinner. So last night, after another incarnation of absorbtion pasta (cook absorbtion style, then add shallot sauteed in butter then add, parmesan and crack an egg into a bowl then put hot pasta over it and toss giving you a nice thick sauce--delicious but okay I wanted something different) I pulled out some cookbooks and decided to try something different. I ended up bringing Cooking For Mr Latte to work because I hadn't cooked from it in a while and figured I would find something in there worth cooking.
Excitement, she has the recipe for Lupa's spiced dates-- I went there a few months ago and had them for desert and they were delicious . . . best desert I have ever had, so I can't wait to try to make them.
But on to what I actually decided to make: creamy lemon risotto (first time making rissotto), and roast vidalia onion and beet salad with aged balsamic (first time roasting beets, and my first time purchasing fancy balsamic, because in the recipe Ms. Hesser admonished me to not bother with the supermarket kind--ironic of course since my supermarket is Fairway with a whole section of very fancy balsamics, but I digress). The beet salad was delicious. I roasted the onions and the beets coated in olive oil for about an hour and then tossed them with that nice balsamic (which I have been using with olive oil and a little salt as a dressing for my asparagus this week-oh man is the fancy stuff better) and some salt and pepper. I served the salad in my bright yellow bowl which just made the color of the beets pop.
I was somewhat apprehensive about cooking rissotto because all I know of cooking it is a joke I have with Alice (What's the secret to rissotto? --Answer always whispered--"Cook it slow"). So I was under the impression that when cooking risotto you just stand over the stove constantly stirring, as it can't be left alone, which proved to be the case for at least my first rissotto attempt. I am sure I will gather confidence as I cook it more, but this time around I ended up pulling my roasting vegetables out of the oven and leaving them to cool on the floor right outside of the oven, while continuing to stire the rissotto with my other hand for fear of leaving it alone for too long.
As soon as I began roasting the beets and onions I began cooking the risotto. When half of the liquid had been added and absorbed I added zest of one half of a lemon (or half of the zest from a whole lemon) and even while the rice was still crunchy I could taste the lovely flavor the zest added. When the rest of the liquid was absorbed (and then some more) and that magical thing happens where the risotto becomes perfectly al dente, I added a half cup of creme fraiche and the rest of the lemon zest. And here is where we come to my secret cooking weakness. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of grated parmesean. I ended up grating more like half a cup. And in the back of my head I am saying that's half a cup not a quarter, maybe don't add it all. In the front of my head I am saying, more is better, I love parmesean, what could possibly go wrong?
Well here it is . . . my rissotto was a tad bit over salted. The parmesean is intended to cut the sweet flavor of the zest, instead when you add too much, it just overpowers what would otherwise be a nice delicate flavoring. This is a lesson I have needed to learn for a long time however. And I think maybe it has finally sunk in. I made the same mistake with the green sauce . . . I think I like lemon juice so why not add more, but as it turns out, not necessarily. Even with an ingredient so wonderful as parmesean, too much can ruin the flavor.
To be fair, the risotto wasn't ruined. It was still pretty great. But I can't wait to make it again, now that I know the secret to risotto and my secret cooking weakness.
