Grilled Pineapple with Rosemary

I got Suz the "hot" new cookbook called the Flavor Bible. I, er, bought her the present a week before I wrapped it so I could, ah, do some "quality testing." It was pretty cool, it lists just about every edible ingredient and then the flavors that go best with those ingredients. I looked up pineapple and lo and behold, there was all this talk of rosemary. I thought it was just hooey, but I tried it and it was great. All I did was cut up the fresh pineapple, chop up some fresh rosemary and sprinkle it on top, then broil (or grill) until get browned in spots. Couldn't be easier, but it seems impressive, so you get lots of points with guests. You can't really taste the rosemary, it's not very strong, but it really mellows the sweetness of the pineapple.

Harper and I saw a rainbow on our walk today. (This picture is similar, although not exact. It was a pretty impressive rainbow.) I've decided that rainbows are the few things in real life that actually resemble children's drawings.

I'm choosing to interpret the rainbow and the monarch butterfly caterpillar I also saw today as good omens for house hunting, which begins tomorrow.

Cheese Straws

Going to a potluck barbecue. I had some puff pastry in the freezer that I've been needing to use up + It's strawberry season again (the market smelled so gooood) = I thought to make something for the potluck with puff pastry and strawberries. And then I tasted the strawberries. I'm not sharing. They're all for me. So I made these instead. My friends need never know....

From the Gourmet cookbook, that giant yellow behemoth:

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17 1/4-ounce package), thawed
• 1 large egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup finely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (about 4 ounces)
• Course sea salt (I don't think table salt would work at all. Use course salt or nothing.)

1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 425.
2. Generously butter two baking sheets (I used my silicon sheets and skipped the butter)
3. roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-by-12-inch rectangle. Cut crosswise in half to form two 12-by-7-inch rectangles. Brush both with the egg wash. Sprinkle cheese evenly over one rectangle and top the other rectangle, egg wash side down. Press firmly on the pastry to force out any air pockets, then roll out gently to make the layers adhere (it should end up about 12.5 by 7.5 inches). Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with course salt.
4. With a pastry wheel, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, cut pastry crosswise into twenty-four 1/2-inch pieces. Twist each strip two or three times and place on the baking sheet, pushing down the edges to keep the strip twisted. Put 12 strips on the sheet.
5. Bake until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes, then let cool for a couple minutes on the sheet.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the strips for the other baking sheet and bake when the first batch is done.
7. Loose baked strips with a metal spatula (I could just pick them up from the silicon) and cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS: These might be all for me, too.

Asparagus and Lemon Risotto

I finally got to the market early enough today to find asparagus. Thusly, this from Alice. Good ol' Alice...

4 servings

Snap off the ends of 1 lb asparagus. Cut spears on the diagonal into 1/4-inch pieces. Remove the zest from 1 lemon and juice. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Ass 1 small onion, diced fine. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add 1.5 cups risotto rice. Cook the rice, stirring occasionally, until translucent,* about 4 minutes. Do not let brown.

Meanwhile, bring 5 cups chicken broth to a boil.

Stir the lemon zest into the rice, then pour in 1/2 cup dry white wine. Cook, stirring, until all the wine is absorbed. Add 1 cup of broth and cook at a vigorous simmer, stirring occasionally. When rice starts to get thick, pour in another 1/2 cup of broth and add a little salt, depending on the saltiness of the broth. Keep adding broth, 1/2 at a time, every time the rice thickens. Do not let the rice dry out. After 12 minutes, stir in the asparagus. Cook until the rice is tender but still has a firm core, about 20-30 minutes in all.

When rice is about done, stir in half the lemon juice and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Stir vigorously to develop the creamy starch. Taste for salt and lemon juice and adjust as needed. Turn off the heat, let the risotto sit uncovered for 2 minutes, then serve. Add a splash of broth if the rice becomes too thick.

RESULTS: ok, first of all, whenever I see a recipe that calls for a heavy-bottomed pan, I get "Fat-bottomed girls" by Queen stuck in my head. And now you will, too, ha, HA!

I like making risotto because I think my culinary Achilles heel is that I lack patience. Risotto sort of seems to demand patience to get the best texture. Today I was making this at the same time I was making some Cheese Straws, so my attention was split, which may explain why the risotto turned out so great today. It was neither mushy, nor was it crunchy in the middle. It was perfect. Woo-hoo! Oh, I also liked the flavor a lot. Things I changed: left out the cheese, didn't have a lemon so I used lemon juice at the end, no wine, and I only added the butter at the end, I used olive oil at the beginning. Also, the farmer's market had onions, but they were the young onions with green stalks still attached. I wanted to use the greens, so I added those, chopped up, when I added the asparagus at the end. I might have also gotten by with adding it later, but not earlier.

*I think this must be a typo, rice turns opaque, not translucent. It starts translucent. Or am I misunderstanding the terms?

Well, as you've probably been able to guess from the lack of posting, life has been busy lately. First, work was so hectic that the last thing I wanted to do was look at the computer after hours. Now life outside work has sped up a bit as we've had some very welcome visitors and been amping up moving preparations. Stay tuned for a couple recipes from Jean's trip here last weekend.

Origin of the Swine Flu

Chris sent this to me a while ago, been meaning to post it.

Mixed Nuts with Rosemary

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mixed nuts (pecans and walnuts work really well b/c of their ridges)
• 4 Tbs (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (NOT dried!)
• pinch of cayenne pepper (optional, but highly recommended)
• Coarse salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. On a rimmed baking sheet, roast nuts until golden and fragrant, about 12-15 minutes. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter and rosemary over medium heat. Add sugar and stir (you may need to use a whisk) until combined .Add nuts; stir until butter mixture is golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Stir in pinch of cayenne.
3. Spread nuts on prepared baking sheet. Season with salt. Cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 15 minutes.

RESULTS: I first tried these nuts at a friends party and I couldn't stop eating them. I called to ask for the recipe and she said she would not only give me the recipe, but she's also give me about a quart of the nuts that she had leftover (her mom made a quadrupple batch). I still couldn't stop eating them, so I tried to make them myself and I burnt the heck out of the sugar. It was fairly awful. So, I changed the recipe around (that's what I wrote here) so that the sugar isn't added until after the butter melts, and the temp is at medium, not medium high. It's not as good as Gina's mom's nuts, but it's way better than a house that smells like burnt sugar.

Go easy on the cayenne, it's stronger than you think.