Deviously Delicious

I had never made risotto before and was totally shocked at how great this came out. The goal with risotto is to keep it from being crunchy/undercooked while also avoiding mushy, bland, or too salty-- these seem to be the normal concerns when making risotto. This risotto was creamy, flavorful, and not too heavy.

I served this risotto with a piece of salmon perched on top of it.

The real key to making risotto the right consistency is the method of adding simmering broth (and wine in so inclined) to the risotto rice one ladle at a time while constantly stirring and replenishing absorbed liquid.

The video below displays the proper technique to make your risotto the right consistency. What we're looking at for in the video is the method and visuals of the desired consistency, I 'm using completely different ingredients-- but the method remains the same. The video chef made a mushroom risotto (which my husband won't eat) which sounds good too, or I've chocked my risotto full of spinach and broccoli, adding vitamins and flavor of the green variety.





Tip: As with all the recipes I post, you can change the ingredients based on your preferences or what you've got hanging around the house. The most important thing about adding ingredients is making sure you add them at the appropriate time. for example- broccoli should be added the last 5-7 minutes of cook time, or spinach should be added the last minute or two of cook time.

Let's make risotto:

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

Tips: A wooden spoon is best for cooking risotto with if you have one. Also, this recipe is best done when you have about 25 minutes to available to allow for stirring the risotto every minute or two.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 onions diced
  
• 2-4 cloves garlic crushed
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, or salted is fine too
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 cups risotto rice rinsed in a colander, and looked through to make sure there's no foreign objects in it (I used Arborio)
• About 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth-- if using stock instead of broth dilute 1/2 water & 1/2 stock
• 1 or 2 cups fresh or frozen chopped broccoli (I use fresh)
  
• 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach (or rocket if you prefer)
  
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, or up to 1 cup if you like more

The method:

1. Heat the broth/stock in a saucepan until almost boiling, then lower heat to keep it lightly simmering.
2. In a large saute pan or heavy pot, heat the butter and oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until clear, do not let them brown.
   
3. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
4. Add the rice and stir to coat rice until shiny, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add one ladle of hot broth to the risotto and stir until absorbed.
6. Repeat step #5, adding broth one ladle at a time, stirring until absorbed, then add another ladle at a time, for the next 18-20 minutes until most or all of the broth is used, when there's about 5 minutes left add the chopped broccoli and continue stirring.
7. After 18-20 minutes taste a spoonful to make sure it's cooked (and not crunchy)-- DO NOT OVERCOOK, if it's not crunchy-- it's done!
8. Turn off the heat and add the spinach (or rocket), blue cheese (optional), and Parmesan cheese, leaving a little to put on top when serving. Stir thoroughly and cover for two minutes to let rest.
9. Serve in immediately, topped with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Yum.

The other night I made a salmon dish I got from my new blog friend Must Love Chutney.

She called it Baked Honey Dijon Salmon, but I've been referring to it as Honey Mustard Crusted Salmon. It was delicious, I would say one of the best ways I've prepared salmon to date.


All dressed up and ready to bake.

Click here to see a great way to make delicious salmon and show off to family and friends. Must Love Chutney's Baked Honey Dijon Salmon Recipe

The only change I made was omitting the pecans due to a nut allergy in our house.
Thanks Must Love Chutney!


Even my picky three year old loved it.

This recipe kills three birds with one stone-- wow, that's really doesn't sound like a nice thing to say. This recipe can be made three ways: Rocket Pesto, Arugula Pesto, or Spinach Pesto- yum, yum, and yum.

As you will see below, cream cheese is an excellent complement to pesto, so they are very often paired together.

Here's some ways I recommend using your pesto:

• Over pasta as a sauce.
• On pizza instead of tomato sauce, or in little dollops- as a topping.
• Toast a hearty bread, spread some cream cheese on, then spread pesto over the top. Add a tomato on top, and a basil leaf if you're so inclined. This is my favorite use for pesto.
• On crackers with cream cheese.
  
• Make into a torta by layering pesto, cream cheese, and sundried tomatoes-- probably best done on a springform pan.
• Use on sandwiches instead of mayo or mustard.
• Coat chicken in and bake.
• In/ on omelettes or quiche.
  

Pesto on toasted 5-seed bread, topped with cream cheese, pesto, tomato, and basil.

How to make it all happen:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups either rocket, arugula, or spinach
• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
• 3/4 cup (approximately) pine nuts
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (I used mostly freshly grated, but when I didn't have enough I added some store bought grated from a bag)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Making pesto is super easy:

1. Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes. I just stuck them in the toaster oven on baking paper and turned the dial to "lightly toast". Some of them burned on, but I tasted them and they were delicious burnt, so I still used them in the pesto.
2. Throw toasted pine nuts and all remaining ingredients in the food processor, or blender if you don't have a processor-- and turn it on.
   
3. Turn off and scrape the sides, then give it a go again-- add more oil olive if it's too thick. Personally, I like it thicker and less oily, but if you like it thinner (for using over pasta especially) add more oil.
4. Taste it before serving it to people, to make sure it's delicious-- if not salty enough, add more Parmesan or a little salt.

Whenever I feel like eating real Italian Homestyle Cooking in the comfort of my own home, I go to these meatballs. I usually make a double batch so I can freeze some, or we just eat them in all sorts of way over a few days.

The trick here is that they taste best when you use a combination of meats-- or you can use just ground turkey/chicken if you want turkey or chicken meatballs. I bought 2lbs (1 kilo) of ground meat-- 1/3 chicken, 1/3 veal, 1/3 pork. You could also use beef instead of chicken, I don't think it makes a big difference in taste either way.

Way to use your meatballs:

• The obvious-- Spaghetti and Meatballs
• As a topping on homemade pizza
• Meatball sandwiches, top with a little red sauce and possibly mozzarella cheese
• Heat them up and put on top of a salad-- no, I'm serious-- it's really good

Here's how to make delicious Meatballs:

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Tip: For the 2lbs (1 kilo) of ground meat required I recommend using 1/3 ground chicken or turkey, 1/3 ground veal, and 1/3 ground pork. More traditional Italian cooking will use 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground veal, and 1/3 ground pork. OR they are excellent using only ground chicken or turkey!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground meat (see tip above for which meats are best together-- chicken, turkey, pork, veal, & beef)
• 2 eggs (a good rule of thumb in this type of recipe is 1 egg per pound (1/2 kilo) of meat
• 1/2 cup of milk or less-- to make moist
  
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup or more finely chopped flat leaf (aka- continental) parsley (preferably) OR about 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 cup either grated Romano cheese or grated Parmesan cheese-- I've used both and they taste almost identical
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil for frying

How to get on top of spaghetti:

1. Wash your hands, because you're going to mix with them.
2. Combine all ingredients except olive oil, and mix with your hands until everything is incorporated together.
3. Form little meatballs with your hands-- mine are normally a little larger than a ping-pong ball-- you get to choose your own size here.
4. Pour about a 1/4 inch of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan and heat on medium low.
5. When oil is hot, carefully place meatballs in pan making sure they are not touching each other. Make sure oil is not too hot (splattering).
   
6. Let first side brown --probably about 5 minutes. Then using tongs (so they don't break), flip them over and brown the other side.
7. After about 5 minutes check browness (I like mine well done-- see photo).
8. Lastly, with tongs-- I like to turn the meatballs on their sides and cook the edges-- so basically I end up with somewhat of a crispy outside, all the way around.
9. When all sides of the meatballs are browned I place them on top of paper towels on a plate to cool.
10. See above for numerous ways to devour your meatballs. Yum!
    

When I tag a recipe as Deviously Delicious, it means that this recipe is full of unexpected, secret ingredients which are healthy, nutritious, and actually improve the way things taste!

The main 3 components in my nutrition arsenal are as follows:

Wet ingredients for baking: Until you have baked with zucchini, beets, or carrots you don't realize they actually add huge amounts moisture, flavor, and nutrition to cookies, cakes, breads, and brownies... it's incredible. No seriously-- it's shocking, try it-- you don't substitute with these items, simply add them to an existing recipe.

Dry Ingredients for baking and/or breading: When working with dry ingredients, I like to substitute some or most of the white flour with ground flaxseed (also known as linseed), stone ground whole wheat flour, oat bran flour, and rolled oats. I think both children and adults alike, prefer the heartier textures and tastes that these minimally processed, more satisfying ingredients bring to the table (literally, of course).

Ingredients for cooking (sauces, casseroles, etc.): I have some staple items which I incorporate into just about everything. Spinach is probably numero uno on my list. I chop it finely (so it looks like an herb) and throw it into sauces, rice, pasta, casseroles, chili, quesadillas-- seriously---anything! Tip: The trick to spinach is to add it only the last 2-4 minutes of cooking. This is short cook time is important and beneficial for several reasons: a) the flavor will not permeate into the entire dish b) if cooked too long spinach can taste bitter c) the longer you cook it, the more nutrients you lose. So listen-- and listen good-- do not add your spinach for more than a few minutes!

Other favorites I throw into stuff I make are: finely diced carrots, frozen peas, cauliflower chopped very small (like pea size pieces).

So this is currently my most used repertoire of healthy stuff I shove in my family's food and they eat with huge smiles on their faces. In fact, in my house it's not really all that devious-- because my kids actually wash and tear apart the vegetables we are adding to sauces, rices, etc. And they measure the cups of flaxseed we use when baking-- so they know it, and they are all over it- and begging for more!

So now you know-- when you see Deviously Delicious after the name of a recipe on my site-- we're talking delicious, and full of stuff that makes you feel so good!

When I went to the butcher the other day and my older one said, "Mommy, will you make brussel sprouts with that?", I beamed with pride-- all my efforts have paid off (for now of course, I'm not that naive).

Everyone I meet says they don't like brussel sprouts-- but they probably just don't know how to make them taste delicious!

I on the other hand, have never been a fan of cauliflower-- that is, until a couple of weeks ago when my organic delivery service sent me a "mixed box" and I decided to venture out and threw them in the mashed potatoes. I think they're kind of a less flavorful- more mild tasting, broccoli-ish vegetable.

Brussel sprouts are really like eating teeny, tiny, and very cute cabbages. I love them now that I know how to prepare them in a couple of fabulous ways.



Here's the scoop on how to get the yum factor:

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. (about 500 grams) brussel sprouts (the smaller and harder the better)
• 1/2 lb. (about 250 grams) cauliflower cut into small/bite size pieces
  
• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt (preferably a good sea salt)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  

Tip: If you buy a chunk of Parmesan it will stay fine for months in the refrigerator, and it takes 30 seconds to grate it with one of these.) OR, Costco sells this huge bag of refrigerated, good quality grated Parmesan cheese. You can keep a cup of it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator, and store the rest in the freezer-- when you are ready for a refill, it's like an endless supply at your fingertips! --Thanks Erika for that advice a few years ago, see I am a good listener.

The path the your veggie dreams:

1. Cut the end off each brussel spouts (the flat bottom part), then slice brussel sprouts in half -slicing down the middle of the flat part (you want them to stay held together while sauteing).
2. Pour about 2 tablespoons olive oil into a non-stick pan.
3. Before heating oil, add the brussel sprouts to the pan with the open- flat side facing down (this will cook them inside before we start moving them around in the pan with the cauliflower).
4. Turn heat on medium low, and make sure pan is doesn't get too hot, so they don't brown too quickly.
5. Sprinkle some salt over the top (probably about 1/2 tsp.), and let cook untouched for approximately 5 minutes or until they are brown (but not burned) on the bottom.
6. Add chopped cauliflower, a little more olive oil, and another sprinkling of salt to the pan and stir.
7. Let saute about 5-10 minutes more, they are cooked when you can stick a fork into the brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
8. Generously sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over top before serving.
   

I've been making this fried rice for years. The most important thing here is to use leftover refrigerated rice. When we eat Chinese or other Asian food we usually order an extra side of white rice so we can make this later in the week. You can also use leftover brown rice, rice pilaf , etc... it's fine.

This is so fast and easy, great for a quick dinner or fast side dish.
Making this is in a wok is easiest if you have one.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: (Use as much as you like of each item. More onion? More egg? It's all good).

• 2-4 cups cold cooked rice
• 2 tsp. oil (vegetable oil, rice bran oil, or grapeseed oil)
  
• 1 yellow or brown onion diced
• 1 carrot finely diced or cut into matchsticks
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 or 2 eggs
• 1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli florets
• low sodium soy sauce or regular if you prefer
• a little salt
• a little pepper
• feel free to use other veggies like bok choy, green beans, mushrooms, etc.
• 1-2 tsp. sliced green onion, for garnish (optional)
  

The way to make yummy fried rice:

1. Put diced onions and carrots in wok/pan with oil and cook for about 5 minutes on medium.
2. Add broccoli, peas, corn and any other veggies. Cook for about 5 more minutes, add a little more oil if too dry.
3. Add about 1/2 tsp. salt (a few pinches) and pepper (optional), and stir.
   
4. Move all veggies to sides of wok/pan, and make a "well" in the middle.
5. Crack egg/s into middle of well and scramble it up in the center of the pan until cooked.
6. When egg is cooked, mix it into the vegetables.
7. If rice needed to be separated-- pick it up in your hands and crumble in into the pan. Otherwise, put rice in wok/pan and mix everything together.
8. Once mixed, pour (and stir while you pour) some soy sauce over the top until the desired color/amount is reached. Don't pour too much or it will be too wet and too salty. You can always add more after tasting it.
9. After the rice is heated through, take a fork and taste it.
10. If it tastes bland, add more salt (and/or soy sauce) and mix thoroughly.
11. Garnished with sliced green onion on top, if you like it pretty.
    

Po-tah-to, potato, po-tah-to, potato, let's call the whole thing off, doo-wah. Wow, that's an annoying song, and I can't call the whole thing off because I live in Australia and I am the only one who says potato.

Whateva,--anyway-- I rarely make potatoes, but I think they are pretty much a requirement to go with brisket-- and since we ate brisket all week--- well, nuff said.

I just started throwing stuff in (as usual)-- and they were awesome. The four year old foodie ate them non-stop for the last few days.

Here's what I did to make it all happen:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 5 medium brown potatoes (I'm guessing about 2lbs or 1 kilo)
• 1/4 head of cauliflower
  
• 1/2 cup milk (skim, whole, 2%- your call) you can add more later if potatoes are too dry
  
• 3-4 tbsp sour cream (regular or light)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzerella, but you could use cheddar or colby jack)
• 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion
  
• 1 tsp salt-- or to taste
• a little pepper

The way to bring it all together:

1. Wash cauliflower and in a microwave safe dish microwave it covered for 3 1/2 minutes. Then set aside.
   
2. Scrub potatoes and pierce them several times with a fork or knife-- for goodness sakes-- be careful and don't stab yourself!
3. Put 1/2 the potatoes in microwave on a papertowel for about 5 minutes. When finished using an oven mitt see if they are soft, if not microwave for another 3 minutes. When you can squeeze them and feel soft- they are cooked. Remove from microwave and microwave the rest of the clean potatoes.
4. Put shredded cheese in a large mixing bowl.
   
5. Holding potato with oven mitt, cut in half and scoop insides of potatoes into the bowl with the cheese. You can save the skins if they are still in good shape to make potato skins later.
   
6. When potatoes are scooped into the bowl, add the cooked cauliflower and all remaining ingredients. Mix with a potato masher.
   
7. Serve immediately or pop into microwave right before serving.
8. Garnish with a little extra green onion on top if you feel like it.

My entire life my grandmother and mom made this amazing brisket, especially during the holidays. A few years ago I finally decided I would put on my big boy pants and try to make it myself. So let me just say that making brisket in the oven is a total pain. You have to take it out of the oven, baste it, add water, turn it, move the onions around... and then a mere 5-7 hours after you've begun it's finally ready. It is one high maintenance meal. Delicious, but who has the time for that kind of cooking commitment?

So I decided to try the brisket in the slow cooker. I'm thinking-- no basting, no flipping-- just let it stew on its own and at some point turn it off.


Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: About 10-11 hours of not having to touch it even once

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb. (a little less than 2 kilos) beef brisket
• 1 jar Heinz (it must be Heinz) chili sauce OR 2 cups ketchup mixed with 2 tsp. brown sugar, 2 tsp. dried onion flakes, and a little garlic powder
  
• 2-3 yellow or brown onions sliced thick
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Technique:

1. On a cutting board, trim all visible fat from brisket- I do this was a cheap serrated knife.
2. Put 1/2 of the sliced onion in bottom of slow cooker.
3. Put brisket on top of onion, if too big fold edges up the sides or fold the whole thing in half. It is going to shrink in a big way.
4. Add about 1 cup of water to the crockpot.
5. Pour chili sauce or ketchup mixture over the whole thing, use the back of a spoon to coat top of brisket with sauce.
6. Put remaining onions on top of brisket.
7. Turn slow cooker on low and cook 8-11 hours, until meat can easily have a fork stuck into the middle of it.

Serving it up:

• After it cools about 30 minutes to an hour, remove brisket from crock pot and slice with a large serrated/ or bread knife against the grain-- this means if the brisket is shredding do not cut it the same way the beef is shredding-- cut across the shredding, not with the shredding. Ladle some sauce with onions over sliced meat on each plate.
• Excellent served with sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes, and green beans.
  
• Store meat in separate container from sauce/onions.
• If you have a ton of sauce (like I did), freeze a small container of it to use to bake chicken in at some point.

This is how much I ended up with-- when you make this in a slow cooker it makes a ton of gravy.


To give you an idea of scale...that meat container is about 8 inches high.