Sushi Roll Edamame Salad with Green Onion-Miso Vinaigrette

I've been eating a ton of salads this summer (which is almost over - yaey autumn!), and have been loving working my way through the salad chapter of Appetite for Reduction. Sushi is something I don't often get tired of, and I loved this salad version of it with lots of extra vegetables (carrots, edamame, lettuce, cucumber) and avocado. The only thing I can think to improve this salad would be to try adding vinegar to the rice (as is done with sushi rice). The green onion-miso vinaigrette was the perfect accompaniment - full of flavour and with no added oil too! And if you ever have an overabundance of green onions (as I did from my CSA - seriously who can eat that many green onions??) I highly recommend trying out this dressing.

On a random note, I'm trying out hot yoga today for the first time! I'm excited but also nervous. And drinking lots of water to prepare!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Japanese Salad with Ginger Magic Dressing
Last Minute Sesame Noodles
Soba Noodles with Zucchini Ribbons
Broccoli Slaw

Sushi Roll Edamame Salad
Adapted from Appetite for Reduction

Serves 4

There's only 2 of us we had this salad 2 nights in a row. I just kept the vegetables in one container, rice in another, and dressing in another, then mixed right before eating.

3/4 cup dry brown rice, cooked and cooled
1 cup shelled frozen edamame, thawed
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar
8 cups chopped/torn romaine lettuce
1 small cucumber, cut into matchsticks
1 medium size carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 cup thinly sliced green onion
4 tsp sesame seeds
2 sheets nori, chiffonaded
1 avocado, chopped
1 recipe Green Onion-Miso Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Cook the brown rice in a rice cooker or on the stove top. Allow it to cool.

Mix together the edamame, rice vinegar, and agave. Set out 4 bowls as the ingredients will be evenly divided among them. Place the lettuce in a bowl, topped with the rice, cucumber, carrot, green onion, sesame seeds, nori and avocado. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss.

Green Onion-Miso Vinaigrette

1/4 cup red miso
1 cup roughly chopped green onions
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp minced ginger
1 clove garlic
2 tsp agave nectar
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup water

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Chill until ready to use.

Rainbow Rice and Beans

I made this rice dish with the idea that it could be a stand alone meal. And I didn't find it to quite be what I wanted, maybe not flavourful enough. But it is a great side dish. A great accompaniment to a larger meal, like a potluck. While it wasn't a favourite of mine, other people enjoyed it so I'm sharing it here. To make it again, I think I'd double the spices.

Miss Abby.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Quinoa Corn Salad
Greek Basmati Rice
Warm Roasted Pumpkin & Shallot Salad
Greek Barley Salad

Rainbow Rice and Beans
Adapted from Vegan Yum Yum and Oh She Glows

Serves 3 as a main, or more as a side dish

1 cup brown basmati rice, dry

1 tbsp oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can (about 15 oz or 1 3/4 cups) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 medium carrots, shredded

Spices:
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Start the rice with two cups of cold water.

When the rice is almost done cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook until golden brown. Add spice mix and saute until spices begin to bubble up a little bit, being careful not to burn.

Add beans, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and simmer on low, covered, until rice is done. Add peas, carrots, and corn and for a few moments until defrosted. Add rice to pan, stirring well to mix in beans and veggies and coat with sauce.

Greek Basmati Rice

As suggested by Dreena, I paired this Greek basmati rice with lemon-herb tofu and it made for the perfect easy dinner. This rice dish comes together so quickly - basically you dump everything (tomatoes, olives, onion, garlic, lemon, oregano, uncooked brown rice) into a casserole dish and bake it for over an hour. Delicious and easy - perfect weeknight meal!

I'm so ridiculously excited as I just received 2 awesome new cookbooks in the mail!! Radiant Health Inner Wealth, and The Two Week Wellness Solution. I've been waiting for these books for weeks. We're going out for dinner shortly but I can't wait to come home and look through them!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Warm Roasted Pumpkin & Shallot Salad
Greek Barley Salad
Orzo Salad with Chickpeas, Dill and Lemon
Wild Rice Almond Cherry Pilaf

Greek Basmati Rice
Adapted from Vive le Vegan!

Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice
3 1/4 cups water
1 medium red onion, diced
4 small tomatoes (1 to 1 1/4 cup) tomatoes, chopped, seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. In a deep casserole dish, combined all the ingredients except the olives and parsley, and stir through to mix. Cover and bake for 60-65 minutes. Add the olives and stir through. Cover and bake for another 10-15 minutes or more, until the rice is soft and has absorbed all the water. Remove and stir in the fresh parsley.

Warm Roasted Pumpkin & Shallot Salad

Months ago my mom gave me a pumpkin. No I didn't wait until now to use it (don't think it would've lasted that long). This is just one of those many back logged recipes I have yet to post about. I was looking for something interesting to do with said pumpkin and came across this warm salad recipe. Roasted pumpkin and shallots, rice, and a sunflower seed lemon cilantro dressing. Have you ever had a sunflower seed dressing? I made one once before for a delicious sunflower rice bowl and really liked it so thought this one would be good too and it was. The next day the lemon isn't as zingy, so you might want to squeeze a bit on if you have any leftovers. One sad thing was that after I had put finished putting together the salad, I broke a dish and some glass got in the salad. I was tempted to throw the whole thing out but I had just made it and was able to pick out the big pieces.

I think I was trying to artfully drizzle the dressing on top but it was more blobs than drizzle.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Butternut Squash Casserole
Greek Barley Salad
Autumn Panzanella
Warm Vegetable Salad with Sesame-Maple Dressing

Warm Roasted Pumpkin & Shallot Salad
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

3 cups of pumpkin (or other winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
12 shallots, peeled and halved
1/2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey (or agave to make it vegan)
2 tablespoons warm water
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375F.

Toss the pumpkin in a olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the shallots with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes, or until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the shallots, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft throughout by the time they are done roasting. You'll need to flip both the squash and shallot pieces once or twice along the way - so it's not just one side that is browning.

In the meantime, make the dressing. With a hand blender or food processor puree the sunflower seeds, olive oil, water, lemon juice, salt, and honey until creamy. Stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings (or flavors) to your liking.

In a large bowl, toss the rice with the dressing. Add the shallots, gently toss just once or twice. Turn the rice and onions out onto a platter and top with the roasted squash.

Serves 4-6.

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame and Tofu

I've seen people participating in Taste & Create and been intrigued, but this is my first time participating! I was really excited and eager to see who my partner would be so I could start poring over all their recipes to pick one. I was paired with Natalie of What's for Supper? and while going over her recipes found that we've made a lot of the same things - namely Dorie Greenspan (from Baking: From My Home to Yours) and Martha Stewart recipes! She's also working her way through The Food You Crave (with a blog event called Craving Ellie in my Belly), and I had just taken this book out of the library - perfect!

I settled on this recipe for fried rice because it had lots of ingredients I love (and had on hand) plus I love fried rice. Natalie made a few changes with the recipe but I decided to stick to the original. I loved the combination of the ingredients - red pepper, edamame, brown rice, corn, green onions, tofu, ginger, eggs. The fried rice was yummy but to make it again I'd do a few modifications - more ginger and garlic, more vegetables, add onion, and add the green onions at the end (as I find you can never taste them if they're too cooked). And I got to use our new wok for the first time! I can't believe I've been going this long attempting to stir fry things in a frying pan. Thanks Natalie for inspiring me to try out this cookbook - now I'm going to have to buy it!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Sunflower Rice Bowl
Wild Rice Almond Cherry Pilaf
Soba Noodles with Zucchini Ribbons
Lemon Miso Tofu and Eggplant

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame and Tofu
Adapted from The Food You Crave

Make sure you have all your ingredients prepared before you start as things will go quickly! Also, it's much better to use day old rice for fried rice because fresh rice will be too sticky/wet. You can easily make this vegan by omitting the eggs and adding extra tofu.

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
4 cups cooked brown rice
1 seeded and finely diced red bell pepper
3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions and drained
1/2 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels
6 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 large eggs, beaten
3 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rice, red pepper, edamame, corn and tofu and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Make a 3 inch well in the center of the rice mixture. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil, then add the eggs and cook until nearly fully scrambled. Stir the eggs into the rice mixture, then add the soy sauce and stir. Add green onions and stir. Serve hot.

Sunflower Rice Bowl

I took Fresh at Home out from the library and fell in love with it. The next time I buy cookbooks this will definitely be one of them. I can't remember everything that's in there but there are tons of recipes for interesting "bowls" like this sunflower rice bowl (among other things). And while it may seem complicated because there are so many components, most components are quite small so it's not too time consuming. I was astounded at how delicious this was - delicious AND healthy? A truly rare find. I try and make healthy meals most of the time and most of them are okay, some not really okay and not very often at all they're really tasty. Actually that's why my blog has mostly baked goods - because while I do cook fairly often, if I don't love it then I won't post about it. And it's hard to go wrong with baked goods. ;)

The sunflower rice bowl is a perfect combination of marinated tofu steaks, creamy sunflower dressing (with grapefruit juice), soy/ginger/lemon sauce, mixed herbs, spinach, carrots, rice and more sunflower seeds. I warn you though - don't pour on more of the grapefruit dressing than is recommended as your bowl will not be as balanced and you won't have as delicious an experience. I was also amazed at how you could marinate tofu in water - well water, soy sauce and some spices but still. Everything I've read says you must press tofu before marinading it if you want the tofu to suck up the marinade - but this way works too!

This sunflower rice bowl is also what converted me onto grapefruits. I used to hate grapefruits - now I can't get enough of them. They're SO juicy. For a while I was eating one everyday and dreaming of grapefruits while at the gym - a serious obsession you can see.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Curried Tofu Salad
Lemon Miso Tofu and Eggplant
Matthew's Delicious Tofu
Asian Beet and Tofu Salad

Sunflower Rice Bowl
Adapted from Fresh at Home

Serves 2

6 marinated tofu steaks (recipe follows)
1/4 cup filtered water
8 cups fresh spinach
3 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 cup creamy sunflower dressing (recipe follows)
2 cups grated carrots
2 tbsp simple sauce (recipe follows)
2 tsp mixed herbs (recipe follows)
4 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds

1. Grill or broil marinated tofu steaks for 3 minutes per side or until lightly browned.

2. Put water and spinach in a skillet over high heat. Cover and cook 1 minute, just until spinach is wilted.

3. Divide cooked rice between 2 large rice bowls, and drizzle both with half of the creamy sunflower dressing.

4. Top with wilted spinach, grilled tofu steaks and grated carrot.

5. Drizzle with simple sauce and remaining creamy sunflower dressing.

6. Sprinkle with mixed herbs and toasted sunflower seeds. Serve.

Marinated Tofu Steaks

The recipe calls for a 250 g (9 oz) block of tofu but the ones I buy are sold in 350 g. There's definitely enough marinade to do even more than 350 g. I used reduced sodium soy sauce instead of tamari. The way they suggest to cut the tofu results in big pieces of tofu so I prefer cutting them into small cubes.

1 block firm tofu (350 g)
2 tbsp coriander, ground
4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
2 cups filtered water

1. Cut the block of tofu into 4 1/4" thick slices, then cut the slice diagonally into triangles.

2. Combine the coriander, garlic, soy sauce and water in a bowl; mix well. Pour marinade over tofu triangles.

3. Marinate for at least 1 hour.

Creamy Sunflower Dressing

2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup grapefruit juice
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup filtered water

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and frothy. Stored in a sealed container in the fridge, it will last for up to 3 days.

Simple Sauce

I used reduced sodium soy sauce instead of tamari.

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2" fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 tbsp lemon juice

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and cool. Serve.

Mixed Herbs

1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried marjoram
1 tbsp dried dill
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
1/2 tbsp dried sage

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.

Wild Rice Almond Cherry Pilaf

I bought ExtraVeganZa a couple of months ago and so far have only made this one recipe. There are lots of interesting recipes in the book including some intriguing pie crust recipes - pumpkin seed rice flour crust, almond oat crust, barley coconut crust, buckwheat hazelnut crust, etc. Okay looking over these crust recipes reminds me that I must make crusts more often and must try out these healthier pie crusts. Anyway, the wild rice almond cherry pilaf was yummy. It could be a meal on its own though I usually ate it with something else as well. It makes a ton so either be ready to eat it for at least a few days or have people to share it with!

Now onto something a little (a lot) more unhealthy. MyRecipes has started their cookie countdown - go here to sign up for the newsletter. I've already found a few I want to make (mind you there aren't many cookies that I wouldn't want to make. So far - lemon coconut snowballs, chocolate chip cookie bars and death by caramel bars.)

Oh and some of you asked what our kitten's name is - her name is Abby. She was sick for a while but now seems to be doing better, and acting like a psychotic little kitten running around. She also chases her tail! Which I've only ever seen dogs do. Mind you she has a very enticing puffy tail.

Other healthy meals:
Lemon Miso Tofu and Eggplant
Artichoke Rotini Pasta
Walnut and Mushroom Nut Loaf
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

Wild Rice Almond Cherry Pilaf
Adapted from ExtraVeganZa

My adaptations were to use less oil, more onion and more garlic.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 ribs of celery, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup brown basmati rice
1 cup wild rice
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp dried savory
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
4 cups water
3/4 cups almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp tamari

Toast the almonds in a small frying pan for 5-10 minutes on medium heat, until they begin to lightly brown. Remove from heat and allow the nuts to cool. When cool, chop into coarse chunks and set aside.

In a large cooking pot, saute the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. When the onions become translucent, stir in the basmati and wild rice. Add the salt, savory and sherry and allow the rice to simmer in the sherry for 5-10 minutes. Stir in the cherries and water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and allow the rice to simmer for about 45 minutes.

Check to make sure that all of the water is evaporated. You may need to cook the rice a few minutes longer to ensure that it is thoroughly done. When all of the water has evaporated, remove from heat and allow the rice to cool for 5-10 minutes. Stir in the toasted almonds, parsley and tamari. Transfer the rice to a serving dish and enjoy.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of my favourite things to eat. My friend taught me how to make it back in high school and I've made it many times since then. Recently I've started to eat more healthy, as some of you know, so I wanted to try using brown rice instead of white rice. I found a recipe for pineapple fried rice in Real Vegetarian Thai (my first recipe out of that book). I was really excited! But in the end, it really did not turn out so well. It was fine and it was edible, but I know that as much as I want to use brown rice for fried rice, I really should be using the evil white rice. Or maybe brown basmati rice? Using brown rice to make fried rice results in more of a gooey rice dish, almost like risotto actually (though not that creamy). Also, I tried not to use as much oil as I used to and that doesn't really work for fried rice either. Anyway, rather than post the pineapple fried rice recipe, I will give you my recipe for fried rice, and let this be a cautionary tale! Simple and delicious and I'm sure many of you don't need a recipe for this. But if you're like I was and need a recipe, here's an easy starting point for. For me, the key is adding lots of onions because I love the way it flavours the fried rice. I don't add any soy sauce or sesame oil or anything, though of course you can do that.

Fried Rice
Serves 1 (easily doubled, quadrupled, etc)

2 cups cold cooked white rice
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup of chopped veggies (including lots of onions)
salt & pepper
4 tablespoons oil

Heat the oil in a skillet at medium high heat. Once hot, add the veggies and sautee until onions are soft (or slightly caramelized, whatever you like). Add the cold rice and stir everything up. Once the rice is heated through and has browned a little bit (I like the browned bits, if you don't then just don't cook it as long). Once the rice and veggies are cooked to the point you want them to be at, pour the beaten egg (or add two eggs if you want lots of eggs) over the rice/veggie mixture. Stir everything up together quickly so the egg is well dispersed. Once the egg is cooked (a minute or two), you're done! I like adding cashews too.

Most Delicious Salsa

I've eyed the recipe in the Rebar cookbook for Parmesan corn risotto cakes many times. Of course this was always at times of the year when there was no fresh corn to be had. Finally it happened where I looked at the recipe and I knew I could get fresh corn. I set out to make these one day for lunch for a friend and myself, but without a lot of foresight. The risotto needs time to completely cool before it can be made into cakes. I spread it out on a cookie sheet and put it in the fridge (then was scared that that was the reason our fridge broke but no it wasn't) hoping it would cool down fast enough but it just didn't really work. It was really difficult to shape the corn risotto into balls (oh and did I mention that I completely forgot to add the Parmesan, it still tasted good though!) The next day when I had leftovers, I just took them to work instead of trying to make them into cakes again.

You can really see here how the risotto didn't shape very well into patties.

The risotto is made with corn stock (made using fresh ears of corn that have had the kernels sliced off), shaped into balls, covered in cornmeal, then pan fried. And of course you add the freshly cut corn kernels to the risotto. I had no idea how delicious fresh raw corn is when cut off the cob (and hopefully this is something that's okay to eat and not going to screw up my digestive system or something). The taste of the risotto was good, and the crispy cornmeal bits on the outside were good too. I have definitely discovered that I do not enjoy shaping things into patties and pan frying them though - unless the things I'm pan frying are really going to stick together. One time I tried to make potato patties but I must have let the potatoes boil too long because the patties were too moist - or maybe I should've just added some flour or bread crumbs to them. I really love the idea of risotto balls or risotto cakes (one time I saw Emeril using leftover risotto to make risotto balls that he stuck a piece of cheese in the middle of, then deep fried), so I'd like to say that I'd try it again. But if nothing else, the corn risotto was good on its own (with or without the Parmesan!)

Anyway, it was the grape tomato basil salsa that really stole the show here. I've seen the recipe before and thought I'd like to try it, but salsa was one of the many things I feared making (along with pie crusts savoury and sweet), and it requires fresh basil so I'd prefer to make it in the summer when basil is cheap. (Though now that I know how delicious it is, I'd like to make it all year round.) It was very strange that I had all the ingredients in the house to make this salsa (which was the salsa suggested to go with the Parmesan corn risotto cakes), because I don't usually have grape tomatoes or basil in the house. I'm extremely happy that I did though because this salsa is amazing. Truly truly amazing and so delicious. I will be making it again and again. (Which reminds me that I should make a list somewhere of all my favourite food so I have this wonderful master list to refer to.) There's balsamic vinegar in the salsa which seemed different because I've never had vinegar in a salsa (to my knowledge), but it was oh so good.

I served the cakes and salsa with sauteed zucchini on the side - local yellow zucchini at that. I was very excited about this yellow zucchini, but for some reason it ended up tasting very odd to me, like seafood or something. Now I want to stay away from yellow zucchini, though I really should give it another chance.

I wasn't going to post the recipe for the Parmesan corn risotto cakes but then after I wrote all about it, I'm sure someone might be interested in it so I'll just post both recipes. Though if you're only going to make one of them, make the salsa! Make it soon while things are still in season. If you're looking for other risotto recipes, you can check out the baked sweet potato and beet risotto with peas I made.

Grape Tomato Salsa
(adapted from Rebar)

1 pint grape tomatoes
1 garlic clove, minced
3 scallions, greens only, minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
salt and cracked pepper to taste

Slice grape tomatoes into quarters. Toss with remaining ingredients, season to taste.

Parmesan Corn Risotto Cakes
(from Rebar)

Fresh corn stock
4 ears fresh corn, kernels removed and reserved
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 bay leaves
few springs fresh oregano, parsley or thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp coarse salt
8 cups cold water

Risotto cakes
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups fresh corn
1 cup white wine
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup fine cornmeal

Note: Make the risotto the day before you want to make the cakes so the risotto has lots of time to cool completely. If you just want to eat the risotto and not make cakes, then obviously this doesn't apply.

1. Place stock into a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Strain to a boil and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Strain and keep warm (you will need 4-5 cups in total).

2. Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy saucepan and saute onion and garlic until translucent. Add the rice and cook, stirring until the rice is well coated. Add the corn, season with salt and saute for several minutes. Pour in the wine and simmer until asborbed. Now start adding warm corn stock, one cup at a time. Keep stirring and add the next cup of stock only when most of the liquid is absorbed. Now start adding warm corn stock, one cup at a time. Keep stirring and add the next cup of stock only when most of the liquid is basorbed and the rice still looks creamy. When the rice is tender but the grains still slightly firm to the bite, remove risotto from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese. (Stop here if you are just making the risotto and not the cakes.) Season to taste and spraed the risotto into a baking pan to speed cooling. Cover and refrigerate.

3. To saute cakes, form the risotto into 2 1/2" round cakes and dredge in cornmeal. Fry in hot olive oil unitl golden and crispy on both sides.

Baked Sweet Potato & Beet Risotto With Peas

I love risotto and the creaminess of it that comes from the starch in the Arborio rice (at least I assume that's mostly where it comes from). I love risotto so much that even when my coworkers give me disgusting images of why they don't like risotto (that I won't repeat here in an effort to sustain the risotto love), I still love it. I've only made it once, so I figured it was time again. I used my homemade vegetable stock, Giada De Laurentiis's basic risotto recipe, and some of my favourite veggies (sweet potato - not yams!, beets, and peas). I baked the yams and beets together for about 45 minutes with no oil (yes I'm sure they would've been more tasty with oil but this was a small effort to be healthy). They were a bit dry but once added to the risotto, totally fine. I've never baked beets before and while they still had their delicious beet essence, I much prefer them boiled (where they end up more succulent and tender). Maybe if I had tossed the beets in oil before baking them they would've turned out differently but I doubt they would've been as good as when boiled. I added frozen peas at the end and just stirred the risotto around a bit to heat them up.

I had quite the ordeal with the wine because first, I couldn't find the white wine, second, I couldn't find the bottle opener, and third, once I found the bottle opener I had no idea how to use and wasn't sure if the cork was ever going to come out and when it did if I was going to jab myself in the eye. But it came out and my eye is intact. And the wine smelled so delicious when added to the risotto, so it was all worthwhile.

I think one of the reasons I haven't made risotto more often is because of the $5 it costs for a small bag at Safeway (if they have it in stock). When I went to Eat Vancouver several weeks ago, Bosa Foods had a stall set up (well actually it was more like a mini store) selling a selection of Italian food items. I picked up a box of Arborio rice for about $3, which ends up being about half the price of the rice at Safeway. I haven't been to the actual Bosa Foods store yet, but apparently their new one on Kootenay St is huge.

Bosa Foods
562 Victoria Dr & 1465 Kootenay St
Vancouver, BC
Phone: 604-253-5578

Giada's recipe is for basic/plain risotto, so you can feel free to add whatever vegetables, meat (wait why did a vegetarian just suggest meat...), or cheese (probably only hard cheese like Parmesan and Asiago?) to it that you want. It's best to cook the vegetables separate from the rice so they don't get mushy. As for how much of each to add, it's up to you but for this amount of risotto, I did one sweet potato, one beet, and about half a cup of peas. I should've used some of the leftover risotto to try making risotto cakes (risotto that's been shaped into patties and then pan fried) or maybe deep fried risotto balls with mozzarella on the inside (I think I saw that on Emeril).

Basic Risotto
(Adapted from Everyday Italian)

4 cups vegetable stock
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth a simmer. Cover the broth and keep hot over low heat. (My note: this is a really important step, because it will take forever for the broth to incorporate into the rice if it's not already hot.)

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender but now brown, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining tablespoon of butter, and the salt and pepper. Serve immediately.