Brown Rice Risotto

Sauteed onion, celery, carrot, shallot in canola oil. Added short grain brown rice (I like Lundberg varieties), toast a bit. Added the last of the sherry, and water, stirring. I kept adding water and stirring (off and on) for about 45 minutes. Then added Parmesan and shredded Swiss cheese. Served with braised sirloin.

Turkey Soup

I Sauteed onion and carrot in canola oil, added celery seed, turkey stock (frozen from Thanksgiving), dash of smoked paprika, poultry seasoning, bay leaf, dried red chili, and the seasoning packet of a boxed dried chicken and dumpling soup that was in the pantry. Added chopped turkey, frozen chopped spinach.
Gnocchi: made with fresh ricotta, flour, salt, and egg. I was going for a dumpling that would retain it's shape and texture for a couple of days in the fridge (had it for leftover's for today's lunch, yummy).

Rice-n-Ricotta

Boiled some leftover Basmati rice with some milk and orange zest, thickened it with cornstarch/milk slurry. Let it cool slightly, then mixed ricotta (made fresh with 2% milk and vinegar), and rice pudding in a bowl, don't over stir. Topped with honey and orange zest.

Lentils and Rice

Saute diced onion, carrots, garlic in oil. Add a dried red chile, smoked paprika, coriander seed (crushed), celery seed, curry powder. Cook until fragrant. I didn't have a tomato product (like paste or crushed tomatoes) on hand, but had some leftover spaghetti sauce with hot Italian sausage; I added some of that. Cook until the tomato caramelizes a bit. Add broth, I had some ham stock. Add lentils, bay leaf. Cook until tender, a couple of hours.
Serve with Basmati rice. I toasted it first, until it smelled lightly of popcorn. I made some fresh cheese earlier, so used the whey as cooking liquid.

German Pancake

Preheat oven to 425F. In a bowl (or blender), mix 3 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar. Melt 1/2 stick butter (4T.) in hot pan. Add batter, cook 20 minutes. Serve with maple caramel apple sauce (leftover sauce with maple syrup added). Top with whipped cinnamon cream.
Great with bacon.
(duh.)

Easy Spaghetti Sauce

Brown Italian sausage with prepped veggies (prepped in advance, from yesterday's Newburg), onion, shallot, celery, carrot, parsley. Dash of garlic powder. Drain extra grease. Add tomato paste, cook with the meat on top of the stove. Transfer to a slowcooker, add a can of your favorite sauce (yep), and a bay leaf.

Just me...

Nothing fancy.
obviously.

Apples in Caramel Sauce

Cut up apples, put in pan with butter, brown sugar, Madeira, heavy cream, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg. Cook. Spoon into a puff pastry shell. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream with cinnamon.

Beer Newburg Bisque

Too simple: leftover Newburg (see previous blog), thin with chicken stock and beer. Consume heartily.
or feed to a wandering musician...

Lobster & Crab Newburg

Prep veggies, some for stock, some for the dish. Cook the lobster with stock veggies, water, some chicken stock. Use skewers to keep tail relatively straight, easier to handle. Remove to ice bath, return shells to stock. Reserve meat, simmer stock for awhile, strain. Assemble all prepped ingredients. Make a blond roux, add some celery, carrots, onion, shallots. Add tomato paste, Madeira and lobster stock. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add cream, parsley. Stir some cream into egg yolks. Temper the yolk mixture by ladling hot liquid into yolks gradually, then pour yolk mixture back into hot liquid. Add lobster and crab meat. Heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with puff pastry shells, or toast points.