Pasta "Risotto"

I served this as a side dish with some fish, and it turned out to be the star of the meal. My crew doesn't especially care for real risotto, but this was popular. I happened to have some tiny pasta lying around, so I used that, which gave me a much shorter cooking time. But I bet this would be good with small elbow macaroni as written.

This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table; since she suggests playing with her recipes, I added the wine and the peas. Cooked bacon and/or mushrooms are other suggested additions that I bet would be great.

Dressy Pasta "Risotto"

2 T. butter

1 small onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

1-1/3 c. elbow macaroni

1/4 c. white wine

3-1/2 c. chicken (or vegetable) broth

1/2 c. cream

1 c. frozen baby peas

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

3-4 T. mascarpone (I think cream cheese or something similar would work here--about 2 oz.)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, salt and pepper it, and sauté it until translucent and just starting to turn color. Add the macaroni and white wine and stir; let the wine boil down to almost nothing. Then add the chicken broth, stir that, and let it cook uncovered at a steady simmer until the broth is almost absorbed (there will still be a bit of liquid at the bottom of the pan): this should take 20-25 minutes. Add the cream and the peas and cook for 3-5 minutes until some of the cream has been absorbed as well. Gently stir in the Parmesan and mascarpone and cook for another minute. Take off the heat, cover, and let sit for 3 minutes (I forgot to do this, and mine turned out fine...). Serve and enjoy.

Fresh butter beans with leeks

It's been a while since I last posted, and it had been a while since I last cooked. I really missed my kitchen! But I may post about cooking in an RV sometime...
It's August in Mississippi now, though, and that means certain things are really good at the farmer's market: squash, blueberries, peaches, watermelon, bell peppers, and shelled peas and beans. It's this last one that always gets me as a non-Southerner. They always intrigue me and I never know exactly what to do with them. Often I over- or undercook them or don't season them right and they're just a disappointment. But this time I used two blogs, What's for Lunch, Honey? and Orangette to figure out a pretty darned good recipe for the fresh butter beans I found at the market. I have to call them butter beans, because I have hated lima beans all my life, and I'm not about to stop now. Lima beans are mealy and mushy. Butter beans are tender and a little crunchy--not mealy at all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here is the recipe I came up with, more or less:

Fresh Butter Beans with Leeks
Serves about 4

3 leeks, halved, cleaned, sliced thin (white and light green parts only)
2 T. butter
Big pinch salt
about 12 oz. fresh butter beans (probably any of the fresh "shell peas"/beans you can get would work here)
Pepper and maybe some nutmeg
Water
1/2 c. cream (I used evaporated milk, which I think was a mistake)


In a big saucepan or even a deep skillet with a cover, sauté the leeks in the butter with the salt until they are all soft and melted; this will take at least 10 minutes. Add the beans and the pepper and nutmet, stir to coat in the leek-y goodness, and then add enough water to barely cover. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste to see how they're doing. If they're just about done, go ahead and add the cream, turn up the heat, and let the liquid cook down until it's saucy. Then serve this with some corn bread or rice or even a quinoa pilaf, which is what I did. Feel Southern.