Lemongrass Risotto with Peas and Parmesan and lemon grass oil {steam oven}

Of course risotto is a very sophisticated thing to serve but I can’t help thinking of it as a very sophisticated baby food… My kids love it.
This is your regular stove top risotto (stir, add, stir, add and stir some more) but I turned it around by using my steam oven and I must say it’s far less hassle and as nice as a stirred one.
Risotto Recipe:
1 shalot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs olive oil
250 gr risotto rice
1 lemon grass stalk (root end cut off and white part sliced)
100 ml white wine
500-600 ml vegetable broth, piping hot
20 gr butter
Fresh green peas
Parmesan cheese, grated
salt/pepper
* adding mushrooms would be nice as well
* sprinkled some chopped green onion on top

Combine and mix all ingredients in a bowl or the solid steam oven tray. Height 2, steam for 30-35 minutes on 100C. (or use the presetting: grains/risotto/weight)
Finally I used a dash of home made Lemon grass oil on the plates… sheer heaven!
Lemon grass Oil
4 stalks lemongrass (root end cut off and white part thinly sliced)
3/4 cup neutral vegetable oil such as sunflower
Combine in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it to steep for another 30 minutes. Sieve, discard the stalks and reserve the oil in a small glass bottle.
Will keep for two weeks in the fridge and is great to make a vinaigrette or sauté seafood, chicken or pork. Don’t forget to use a little as a garnish for finished dishes!
Serve with seared salmon or sauteed bass and enjoy!

Before you know it / Voordat je 't weet

They show you how to do it. Properly.

Oldest traded his newspaper round for a "real job". Taking orders at Domino's Pizza. He's wearing the cap and the shirt (tucked in the black pair of pants that didn't come with the job but nevertheless were obligatory... ). He is still 15 and as such not allowed to work at the "make-line". The "make-line" is where your pizza is hand tossed and made to order and is considered as heavy duty, not suitable for 15 yr olds. Hm. Ok.

He's been trained though so one day he came home and said mom, I'm going to make pizza tonight and I'll show you how to do it. They get preweighted balls of dough delivered so I showed him how to make dough using the breadmachine for the kneading. He prodded and pushed, tsk-ed at the dough, telling me that this wasn't exactly how pizza dough should feel... (Yes I huffed a little). But isn't it nice to know that they work pretty much from scratch, using fresh dough and fresh ingredients and the pizzas are made to order and not sitting there all made up indefinitely until you come along and order?

He did a fine job, showing me how to push the dough from the center to get a rim, making some sort of bowler hat, then working from there to get a nice thin pizza with a thick rim. Nice! Of course he himself wasn't satisfied, he wanted them to be picture perfect. I can tell you that they were!

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.... zijn ze zover dat ze jou vertellen hoe het moet. Niks aan je schort hangen terwijl je ze uitlegt.... Het kan nog wel hoor, dat uitleggen, mits je het verpakt in humor en net doet alsof ze het zelf bedacht hebben. Met een beetje geluk blijft dat nog hangen ook dan. Maar goed, in dit geval werd ik geínstrueerd te kijken, te luisteren en te leren. Met als beloning pizza!

De oudste heeft namelijk zijn krantenwijk ingeruild voor zijn eerste echte baan, namelijk bij Domino's Pizza. Voorlopig mag hij als 15-jarige alleen nog "voor" staan en orders aannemen. De "make-line", daar waar de pizza's worden gemaakt en bij de oven is namelijk verboden terrein als je nog geen 16 bent; het wordt gezien als zwaar lichamelijk arbeid en dus niet geschikt voor een 15-jarige. 

Maar ondertussen heeft 'ie het wel geleerd en op een dag kondigde hij aan dat hij mij zou laten zien hoe je nou een echte pizza maakt. Leuk om te weten trouwens dat die pizza's dus echt van vers deeg worden gemaakt  (en door pukkelige 16 jarigen worden gevormd en belegd op het moment van bestellen.. met schoongeboende handen hoor, dat dan weer wel). Hun deeg wordt vers aangeleverd, in afgewogen bollen dus ik was nog wel even nodig om deeg te maken. Volgens de pizzamaker was het niet helemaal zoals het zou moeten zijn maar hij deed het er wel mee. (Puh... het waren toevallig prachtige deegballen, ha!). Enne, ik moest hem er wel even aan helpen herinneren dat mijn keuken geen pizzakeuken was en het -dus- wel erg prettig was als er niet óveral semolina bloem lag. Dank u.  Hij heeft trouwens zelf gestofzuigd en gedweild daarna dus ik mag hélemáál niet klagen! Ze waren heerlijk die pizza's. Leuk he, toch, tieners. Ook niks mis met dat deeg.

Brown coarse Bulgur with Sauce Marocque

Write, write, before you forget! On one of my isle prowling in the Turkish shop a bag of whole grain bulgur found it's way into my basket. Sat for a while in the pantry because unlike the quick cooking bulgur you'll find in the aisle of your supermarket this one needed some time to cook. Another thing was that I wasn't too sure the kids would like this version. They love couscous, but this one definitely had a healthy glow to it...

Turns out I needn't worry, it was gobbled up like it was one of the big P's (pizza, pommes frites, pancakes). Cooking this bulgur resembled cooking risotto or pilav. Made a moroccan style tomato sauce to accompany.

Directions brown coarse bulgur:

(5 minutes active cooking, simmering 20 minutes, absorb 20 minutes. Serves: 6)

- 4 tbs butter/margarine

- 320 gr bulgur

- 600 ml broth (I used half chicken/half vegetable)

- 1 tsp salt

Melt butter in a large saucepan, add bulgur and saute for about 3-4 minutes while stirring continuously. Add heated broth and salt, give a quick stir, cover and let simmer over low heat until bulgur absorbs all the liquid. Stir every once in a while to make sure the bulgur doesn't get attached to the bottom and distribute the broth evenly. This takes about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and place a cloth napkin/teatowel (a napkin will do great) over the saucepan and replace the cover! Leave in a warm spot for another 20 minutes. It will stay warm and continues to steam while the napkin takes care of excess moisture, excellent way of cooking.

Sauce Marocque

(takes about 40 minutes, start when you add broth to bulgur or make in advance and re-heat when ready)

2-3 chicken breasts, diced fairly large
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
675 gr. fresh tomatoes, skinned, chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
10 dried abricots, quartered
1 tbs brown sugar
2 pinches (knife tips) hot spanish pepper
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp ancho chili powder
----
Optional: I added some broccoli and green beans
3 tbs parsley, fresh chopped
3 tbs coriander

In another large sauce pan, brown chicken in the olive oil to a light golden colour and remove from pan. Set aside. Saute onions and garlic over low heat in remaing oil and add peppers, saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes, the rest of the spices plus abricots and simmer to reduce moisture from tomatoes, half covered, on medium heat. Aim for a thickening sauce which will take about 15-20 minutes. Then add vegetables of your choice, chicken pieces and fresh parsley and coriander and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables and chicken are done.

Gadgets that work: I'd like you to meet Al

Al who?

Al Dente?

The guy in black that times your pasta and serenades you with aria's from famous opera's when he thinks it's done. (Technically, not completely "done" of course).

Just boil your salted water, put him in the pan together with the pasta...and wait for the right opera!

After 7 minutes, he performs the Triumphal March from Aïda....

after 9 minutes, you hear the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco....

after 11 minutes, it's La Donna è Mobile from Rigoletto...

Al comes in 4 colours, hands already tied, feet nicely anchored in a barrel with cement. As the instruction booklet says:"I've got a small hole in my hat. Take care - this is not a production defect. It merely ensures that I don't explode while in the pan. In real life holes in the head of a maffiosi typically have different reasons. The dents in my barrel have been put there for visual reasons and have no influence on my mode of functioning. As in real life, mafiosi for cost reason are drowned with used barrels only."

Al was a birthday present from a friend, isn't he fun?

Previous Pasta recipes:

- four cheese macaroni

- pasta e pesto (in Dutch, Nederlands)

- broccoli terrine with parmesan and pasta

- spring pasta (with salmon and asparagus)

- canneloni (with spinach and ricotta)