It’s simple and easy to make and makes a perfect accompaniment to most any meat dish, can be served as an appetizer,

or if you’re like us, it can also be enjoyed by itself with a little fresh bread. In fact, that’s what ... [read more]]]>

It’s simple and easy to make and makes a perfect accompaniment to most any meat dish, can be served as an appetizer,

or if you’re like us, it can also be enjoyed by itself with a little fresh bread. In fact, that’s what we had for dinner last night…a little risotto with bread fresh from the oven. Yummmm!!!

The other thing that’s wonderful about risotto is that the recipe can be changed and modified easily. It’s so versatile that you can make taste different every time you make it by using different vegetables, such as peas or garlic, and you can even use different types of wine and seasonings to change the flavor. Hope you enjoy it.

Risotto

Recipe is adapted from the “Real Italian Risotto” recipe on the back of my box of BelAria Arborio rice

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. (16 oz) of arborio rice (I used BelAria brand)
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 oz. salted butter
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 10 baby carrots, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• 1 glass white Zinfandel wine (dry white wine is usually used but I didn’t have any on hand)
• 9 oz. chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 4 oz. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Vegeta to taste (you can substitute with your favorite blend of spices or just use salt and pepper to taste)
• Optional: dried dill or oregano flakes for garnishing

Instructions:

• Dice the onion and celery, and then finely chop the carrots.
• In a medium-sized stock pot over medium-high heat, dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in a quart of water.
• After the cube has dissolved, reduce the heat to warm and add the chicken broth, stirring occasionally.
• Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium-sized stock pot until the oil gets hot.
• Reduce the heat to medium, and the carefully add the vegetables. Saute them until they’re soft and golden brown.
• Add the uncooked rice to the olive oil/vegetable mixture and stir constantly for two minutes so each of the grains of rice can become coated with the oil/butter mixture.
• Add the wine and stir constantly until the wine evaporates.
• Turn the heat off the chicken broth mixture, and then add some of the warm broth until the rice is covered.
• Reduce the heat to low, stirring constantly while the rice simmers.
• When the broth becomes almost completely absorbed, add more broth to the rice mixture, stirring constantly.
• Repeat this step until you’ve used all the broth mixture.
• When the rice is cooked and when the broth is not completely absorbed, remove the rice from the heat and add the Parmesan cheese. If you like, you can also add one to two tablespoons of butter, but it’s not necessary.
• Stir the rice until the risotto reaches a creamy consistency.
• Serve warm and garnish with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and dried dill or oregano flakes if you like.

Today something totally magical happened. I made a rice pudding for Kemal, and ... [read more]]]>

Today something totally magical happened. I made a rice pudding for Kemal, and when I tried it, I fell in love! I was oooohing and aaaaahing while I enjoyed every rich, creamy bite! Kemal really enjoyed it as well and said I did a really good job.

So how did this recipe come about?

Well, a while back when I made Russian Hat Cake, Kemal and I sampled the cream filling and thought it was excellent. He said he could imagine that filling being used as a base for rice pudding, and today, I made the pudding the way he envisioned it. I just basically cut the cream filling ingredients in half and added some vanilla. Then I added the soft, milk-soaked rice and presto…a rich, creamy rice pudding was born! Thanks to my friend, Vesna, for the cream filling recipe, and to Kemal for the idea and inspiration! Also, thanks to my mom for the bread basket liner she made which I used as a background when I photographed my pudding.

If you decide to make it, you’ll need about an hour or so, and you’ll be doing a lot of stirring. My fingers were aching by the time the rice was done, but it was definitely worth the time and effort.

Rice Pudding That Makes You Oooooh and Aaaaaah!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, salted
• 6 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 7 1/2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 pkg. vanilla sugar (Optional)
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla

Instructions:

• Put the stick of butter on your counter top so it can soften.
• In a medium-sized saucepan, mix together 5 1/2 cups milk and rice, and then bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.
• After the milk begins to boil, reduce the heat to low, stirring constantly until the rice becomes soft.
• Remove it from the heat when the rice is done, and then stir in 1/2 cup sugar. Set it aside to cool a little.
• Next take 1/2 cup milk and 7 1/2 tbsp. flour and whip it by hand with a whisk until there are no lumps. Set it aside when you’re done.
• Put 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, and vanilla sugar in a sauce pan and heat it on medium well heat until it boils, stirring constantly.
• After it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and then add the flour/milk mixture that you just whisked together, stirring it in with the warm milk/sugar very quickly.
• Keep stirring it on low heat until it has the consistency of a pudding.
• When the mixture becomes pudding-like in texture, mix in the 2 tsp. vanilla.
• Then refrigerate it so it can chill.
• After the cream cools and is nice and cold, take your mixer and beat the stick of softened butter into the mixture.
• Then stir the rice mixture into the cream mixture, mixing well.
• Serve warm or chilled.
• Optional: You can garnish the top of the pudding with cinnamon sugar or with a sweet cocoa powder if you like.

This Balkan soup is mild in taste, light ... [read more]]]>

This Balkan soup is mild in taste, light on your stomach, and tastes wonderful. It can be eaten as a main dish or a side item. We had it as our meal, and it really hit the spot.

Pirjan od Spanaka (Spinach and Rice Soup)

Ingredients:

• 16 oz. fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 7 cloves garlic, diced
• 10 baby carrots, diced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup butter, salted
• 1 1/2 quarts water
• 2 vegetable bullion cubes
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Dice the onions, garlic, and carrots.
• Cook the rice in the water for about 10 minutes on medium high heat.
• While the rice is cooking, fry the onions, garlic, and carrots in the olive oil and butter on medium heat until they’re soft and when the onions start to turn yellow.
• After the rice has cooked about 10 minutes, put the spinach on top of the rice and water. Then cover the pot just until the spinach is steamed and it can be incorporated into the rice/water mix.
• Then remove the lid and add the fried vegetables. Cook on medium until the rice is done and until some of the water evaporates. How long you cook it depends on how much broth you want your soup to have. If it looks like the rice is going to be overcooked, you can remove some of the water.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

We don’t make our soup the same way every ... [read more]]]>

We don’t make our soup the same way every time. Most of the time, we add both potatoes and rice, but there are times, like tonight, that we skip the rice. Sometimes we make our chicken soup thin and leaky, while other times we thicken it up so it’s dense and heavier.

Tonight we made the soup denser and without rice. If you want your soup to be thick, just add some potato starch to it. Cornstarch would probably work okay too. The soup is pictured here with some slices of polenta sunflower bread.

Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts (or you can use chicken thigh meat instead)
• 5 large potatoes, diced
• 5 celery stalks, diced
• 30 baby carrots, diced
• chicken broth (1 can)
• water
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• Optional: cornstarch or potato starch
• Optional: rice

Instructions:

• Wash and quarter the potatoes. I leave the skins on but if you prefer to peel them, that’s fine.
• Put the chicken and potatoes in a large pot with water and the chicken broth and cook on high until the water comes to a boil. If you want to add some rice to the soup, add it with the potatoes and chicken.
• After the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to medium.
• While the chicken is cooking, dice the carrots and celery, and then add the carrots to the pot.
• Cook the potatoes and chicken until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is cooked (165 degrees).
• Turn the heat down to low and add the diced celery.
• Mix about 2 tbsp of potato starch with 3/4 cup of cold water, and then add it to the soup to thicken it up.
• Mix in the spices. How much you use is up to you.
• Stir the soup for a few minutes until it starts thickening up. If you want your soup thicker, add a little more potato starch to some cold water, stir, and then add to the pot.
• Let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes or so and then serve.

If you’ve been following my little cooking blog, you’ve probably noticed that we eat a lot of bread, vegetables, and legumes. We do eat meat but not a lot of it. Why do we prefer more veggies and legumes over meat? Well, we both find vegetables and beans more satisfying and tasty. I used to ... [read more]]]> If you’ve been following my little cooking blog, you’ve probably noticed that we eat a lot of bread, vegetables, and legumes. We do eat meat but not a lot of it. Why do we prefer more veggies and legumes over meat? Well, we both find vegetables and beans more satisfying and tasty. I used to be vegetarian, and while I could easily become a vegetarian again (and Kemal is also interested in this), I feel stronger and better when meat is a small part of my diet.

If you’re interested in meat dishes, they’ll be coming in the future. We enjoy eating buffalo, and I’ve got some great recipes to share with you soon….buffalo lasagna and buffalo chili. We also love buffalo and veggie stuffed peppers, as well as buffalo tacos. But since we haven’t prepared any meat dishes recently, I hope you won’t mind if I share another vegetable dish with you that we enjoy.

Kemal and I adore zucchini…love it grilled, fried (with or without breading), baked in bread, or stuffed with rice and veggies, occasionally adding a little ground buffalo to the stuffing. Not this time though. We normally don’t follow any recipe for making stuffed zucchinis…just stuff it with whatever vegetables and rice we have on-hand.

We found an interesting recipe for stuffed tomatoes and peppers in the Greek cookbook we recently purchased, and since we didn’t have any peppers or slicing tomatoes on-hand, we decided to stuff the zucchinis we had in our refrigerator. The recipe calls for raisins and almonds in the stuffing. We weren’t sure how much we would like it, but wow…it turned out to be quite delicious!! :)

Stuffed Zucchini (Adapted from Rena Salaman & Jan Cutler’s Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers, from “The Complete Book of Greek Cooking,” page 182, Anness Publishing Ltd. 2005, 2008)

Ingredients:

• 4 small zucchinis
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 head garlic
• cherry tomatoes
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/2 cup white rice (regular or quick cooking)
• 4 tbsp. raisins
• 4 tbsp. finely chopped almonds
• olive oil, approximately 3 tbsp.
• mint to taste
• parsley to taste
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• tomato paste, approximately 4 tbsp.
• water, approximately 1/2 cup, for cooking the rice
• bread crumbs if necessary (we used panko)

Instructions:

• Wash all the vegetables.
• Peel and dice garlic and onions
• Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
• Cut the zucchinis in half, and then take a corer to remove the inside of the zucchini. Don’t throw away the insides of the zucchini. Set it aside in a bowl. Put the cut and cored zucchinis aside.
• Peel the eggplant, and then dice it into small pieces. If you prefer to keep the skin on the eggplant, slice the eggplant and soak it in salt water for 15 to 30 minutes so it’s less bitter.
• Chop the almonds. You can use a blender or a chopper.
• If you’re using regular rice, cook it in some water for about 5 minutes. You don’t need to cook it all the way because the rice will cook in the oven. If you’re using quick-cooking rice (5-minute rice), then you won’t cook your rice at all; you will just add it to the stuffing and let it cook in the oven.
• Put some olive oil in a pan (1 to 2 tbsp.) and then add ALL the ingredients in the pan EXCEPT the cut and cored zucchinis. You will, however, add the insides of the zucchinis that you set aside.
• Cook everything in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. If it looks too dry, add a little water. If it looks to moist or like it has too much liquid, add some bread crumbs. You want the filling to have just the right consistency…not dry and crumbly and not watery. When it’s the right consistency, you should be able to form a little ball with the stuffing without anything dripping out of it.
• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Prepare your baking dish by oiling the bottom of it. We cooked our zucchinis in a covered baking dish.
• Let your stuffing cool a bit until you’re able to touch it without it being too hot for you.
• Take some of your stuffing that you cooked and stuff your zucchini halves. You can use a spoon or your hands, whichever is easier. Don’t worry if you have a lot of stuffing left over because you’re going to use it.
• After you’ve stuffed all your zucchinis, place them in your oiled baking dish.
• Take whatever stuffing is left in the pan and transfer to the baking dish, placing it around the zucchinis. You can even put some on top of the zucchinis if you like.
• Bake it covered for about 20 to 30 minutes or so. It all depends on how soft/firm you like your zucchini. If you’re cooking with regular rice instead of quick-cooking rice, you need to make sure the rice has time to cook. Thirty minutes should be enough time, but you can easily taste it to see if it’s done.
• Serve piping hot from the oven.

Note:

This recipe is very flexible. If you have other vegetables in your refrigerator you want to use, feel free to add them. We would have loved to have put some peppers in our stuffing but we didn’t have any on-hand. If you prefer cashews or pine nuts instead of almonds, use what you prefer or have on-hand. If you don’t have any bread crumbs on-hand, you can always use mashed potato flakes or some oatmeal instead. You can also make your own bread crumbs by baking a couple slices of bread and crumbling it up. If you don’t like the idea of mixing sweet with salty, just skip the raisins. If you don’t have raisins on-hand but do have some dried figs, dried apricots, or dried prunes instead, try substituting with one of them. I’ll bet it’ll taste great!