Suppli

OK the main reason I wanted to make risotto was to have leftovers, to make suppli!! Or arancini, but that's the sicilian version. Basically, these are balls of risotto stuffed with cheese, breaded and then fried. YUM OH MY GOD.

Traditionally they have sauce, meat, even peas inside, but I wanted just cheese. Couldn't get a good pic of the inside but I tried. I think these were stellar. I made the sauce w/ tomato, tomato puree, basil, oregano, garlic and olive oil.

Lemon Tart

Another recipe from the Silver Spoon cookbook. I have to say I was disappointed in the filling -- maybe I used the wrong pan tho, because I used a removable bottom tart pan and my filling leaked out. My bottom crust was very soggy and the filling was very concentrated because so much leaked out. But it was extremely tasty!

Here is the crust. I am going to use it for a lot of things. Oddly, there was no water in the recipe. I had to add some! It wouldn't hold together with just butter and egg yolks. It contained a lot of sugar, and lemon peel as well.


Even adding a scant 1/4 cup of ice water, it was still crumbly.


Here is the filling, basically butter, eggs, sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel.


Baked. You can see the second pie plate under to catch what leaked out.


Dusted w/ confectioner's sugar.


Food porn close-up!

Asparagus Risotto

My first try at making risotto. I think next time I will not boil the asparagus, I like them a lot crispier. I'll just fry them at the beginning when I sweat the onion and garlic.

Coating the arborio rice w/ the butter:


Chopping the asparagus. See how limp? Not my favorite.


Adding ladle-fulls of stock to the rice. Took about 20 minutes and a lot of attention:


All absorbed. Added parmesan at the end. It was very creamy, toothsome and tasty!

Polenta pasticciata with anchovies and veal piccatta

My first recipe from The Silver Spoon, a highly-regarded traditional Italian cookbook. I made this minus the cream and all the butter.

Shredded parm, mozz, romano and something else I forgot. Polenta, white wine, garlic and anchovies.

Sauteeing the anchovies with garlic, in some olive oil and butter:

After cooking the polenta in water and wine, whisking in some cheese:


Pan frying the veal, which was just dredged in flour:


The anchovies are soft and browned:

After cooking the veal, tossing together capers, shallots, lemon, white wine and a dab of butter:


Plated the soft, cheesy polenta, a swipe of the anchovies, half a veal cutlet and the piccatta sauce on top, with rough-chopped parsley. This was a quick meal before going out for drinks and a concert last night (The Cinematic Orchestra, in North Beach) so it was a very small meal. This was actually served on a small bread plate.

I took the leftover polenta and mixed in the anchovies and the rest of the parsley, and spread it to solidify in a glass dish. We broiled some later and had it with the stuffed peppers from Friday.