It is interesting being in a foreign country on a holiday distinctly associated with the United States of America. It is increasingly interesting to be surrounded by other US citizens and their varied experiences and associations with the holiday. It's clear some folks neither to the family thing nor the cooking thing, both of which I am missing today.
I wouldn't say it was really in celebration of the day, but I worked all day and then ate at a lovely restaurant (Atlantic--I had the sea bass with mushroom risotto). And I highlighted articles as I ate. But their music was this amazing Andrew Sisters-style cover band. They did Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' and Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' in addition to standards like 'Bei Mir Bist du Schon'.
On the mushroom risotto topic: Ben, I have attempted to learn Gabry's recipe for mushroom risotto and I am eager to recreate it with you!
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Heh heh heh. Risotto. My favorite. Want a recipe? Well here's a way to try it...
Ben's Risotto Funghi e Carciofi
1 onion
maybe 2 cups rice (arborio)
Dried Woodear Mushrooms
Marsala Wine
2 small Artichokes
Maybe an inch of butter off the stick
1/2 lemon
1 Cup Grana Padano Cheese
Salt
and for a hot pot of stock ( chicken is good )
carrots, celery, onion (trimmings of these are cool too)
gizzards hearts, bones of a chicken
fresh thyme and a bay leaf
salt + pepper
Make the stock with bones and gizzards and livers and all and strain it back into a clean pot, and keep warm. Soak the mushrooms in marsala to cover. Clip off all the inedible parts from your artichokes and quarter them, rubbing with lemon.
Dice the onions and get them going in the butter at medium. Meanwhile, cook your mushrooms in the wine until the wine is gone, then add stock or water to cook them until they bounce.
When the onions become translucent, add the rice. Stir it around and very lightly brown it. Before it burns, add a ladleful of stock and stir constantly. Add some stock to the mushrooms too if they are dry. When the rice cooks off, add another. and another and another and another and another. And never stop stirring for longer than 30 seconds.
Salt and fry the chokes on med-high in an inch of oil. When they're good and brown, lay them out on paper towels. Don't forget the rice, which must always be stirred. The risotto is cooked when the outside of a grain of rice is totally creamy but it still has a tiny harder part in the middle that requires a little biting.
Cook off the rest of the mushroom juice, and make sure they are edible. If not, you have not added enough liquid to cook them long enough. They should be springy. Go to the rice and stir in a cup of Grana and add a little cream if you want. Taste now and adjust salt.
Lay a bed of cooked mushrooms your plate and put a big ball of risotto on top. Then decorate with fried artichokes. Ta Da!
Hey, well, you asked for it... kinda...
Love you megan.
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