Lemon Cream Crepe Cake with Pomegranate Seeds

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Alisa

Crepe Cake with fuilltine and lemon buttercream

So yesterday, I got myself all in a fluster about crepe cakes – talked too much about it and had to go make one. Tough plight. I had some pomegranate seeds from a spectacular sale at the grocery store this week – two HUGE ones for $3, and thought they’d be so pretty on top of a cake. I sweetened up Alton Brown’s crepe batter and made a lemon zest butter cream that went perfectly with the delicate crepes and tart pomegranate seeds. I think this would be such a wonderful addition to a Christmas party spread – it’s so bright and happy! Those flecks of brown in the butter cream are a baker’s pantry staple called feuilletine, a ginger-snappy flavored crisp that is used for crunch in various confections at Momofuku Milk Bar. I remember it being a huge mess to make, and we had about 4 cups of it, just sitting there, unused, so I decided to add it in the cake for crunch and I really loved the addition! This step can be left out OR you could crumble up actual ginger snaps and I think that would be fabulous!

This cake is for a frosting lover. The buttercream makes a lot and I used all of it. Think: very slender, ladylike slices and you won’t be overwhelmed. Plus some black coffee or tea and you’ll have yourself an amazing bridal brunch/wedding shower/baby shower show stopper!

Vanilla Crepe Cake with Lemon Butter cream and Pomegranate Seeds
makes about a 20 layer cake

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 tbs sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan

1 cup ginger snaps, crushed fine
1 cup pomegranate seeds from one large pomegranate

In a large cup, place all ingredients except the butter and blend with an immersion blender for a full minute, making sure all the flour is incorporated. Then drizzle in the melted butter. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Heat a small non-stick pan over medium high. Add butter to coat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. This takes a bit of practice and your crepes might look like mine and have tiny fingers coming off the sides. They’ll taste the same, promise. Cook the first side for about a minute until edges brown and you can run your spatula around the edges to loosen. Slide your spatula under the crepe and flip over. Cook for another 10 seconds and set aside in a stack to cool for assembly.

For the Butter cream:

1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 lemon – zest and juice
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup butter, softened
3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 lemon, juice and zest of
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine butter, sugar and salt and beat till well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, zest and vanilla and continue to beat for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Assemble!
Place a crepe on a cake stand on top of a dot of buttercream to hold it in place. Spread about an 1/8th of a cup of frosting on the crepe, evenly spreading. If using, sprinkle with crumbled cookies and top with another crepe and repeat the process until you’re left with one crepe. Top with remaining buttercream and coat the top of the buttercream evenly with pomegranate seeds. Freeze, uncovered, for about 30 minutes for ease of slicing! Wrap before storing in the fridge, but the buttercream will keep the cake quite moist. ENJOY!

Savory Crepes

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Alisa

I am a lover of crepes. They are so versatile, the batter always makes enough for 4 or more people, and you can fill them with virtually anything. I’ve been slightly obsessed with making crepe cakes and made one for Matt for his birthday last year that had chocolate crepes layered with caramel buttercream and chocolate ganache. It was pretty fantastic and I think it was about 25 layers. I want to go bigger! The only thing is that those cakes are hard to cut unless they are semi-frozen, and even harder to eat! But I find it fun to peel away the layers one by one, enjoying each piece! That recipe will come soon. Very soon. Because I was inspired by my reflecting on crepe cakes, that I had to go make one – an hour ago.

So yeah..I just did. It’s pretty awesome. Post coming tomorrow or Sunday!

THESE crepes, however, were also wonderful. Stuffed with gruyere cheese, bits of leftover brown sugar ham and fresh chives, they were the perfect lunch. They fed me, my baby, my sweet friend, Katrina, and her baby! And he’s been known to pack away a man-sized meal 🙂

Make your batter an hour in advance and you’ll have much more pretty crepes that don’t fall apart!

Savory Crepes*

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan

Fillings:
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese – any melting cheese will be great!
1/2 cup diced ham
2 tbs fresh chopped chives

*adapted from Alton Brown’s crepe recipe on Food Network

Homemade Creamy Tomato Soup

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Alisa

Tomato Soup buried

It’s a beautiful, cold fall day! Yesterday it was dark and very cold and it called for a cup of soup in hand and little else. When Matt makes us his pizza on the weekends, I am always left with about 9/10ths of a can of tomatoes and inevitably during the week, that gets turned into tomato soup. I keep adding a spice here or there, fresh basil if I happen to have it, and no matter how I tweak it, it always turns out great. For this version, I had some stale bread from Matt’s weekly baking that I turned into croutons. I hate wasting his bread, even the stale stuff, so it gets turned into croutons, breadcrumbs or savory stuffings every time. The good thing about breads that are as plain and rustic as his, is that they don’t mold very quickly – they just dry out. Perfect! The croutons were tooth-shatteringly hard, but after a few minutes in the soup, they were extremely flavorful little sponges.

Happy Fall – it’s in the air! It’s marvelous! There’s a faint scent of wood burning in our neighborhood and it’s a treat to get to walk outside. It’s a treat to be alive, today, really. Tomorrow doesn’t exist, don’t spin all day for it. Yesterday can’t be changed, don’t regret it. Live today and today only! Yesterday I recalled one of my favorite quotes,“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.”
― Jean de La Bruyère, Les caractères. This quote challenges me to not waste my day thinking about what all I have to do, or what all I didn’t get done yesterday. It helps me to not sit around wasting time on my phone and it helps me to realize that time with 1 and a half year old Olive is extremely rare and won’t be here for long. So we make a mess drinking our soup and we laugh and I try to take her up on her offers while I’m working to, “mama pay? mama do somting?” a little more frequently.

Creamy Tomato Soup from Scratch
serves 3-4

1-28oz can whole tomatoes (I love Cento brand!)
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbs olive oil
Whatever herbs you like – dried thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano – they’re all good and they all work. Stick to about a teaspoon.
A splash of cream – eh, if I had to measure, I’d say 1/8th of a cup
Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Put the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the garlic clove. Saute over medium heat until starting to brown. Add in the entire can of tomatoes, red wine vinegar, herbs and stir to combine. With an immersion blender, pulse until completely blended and smooth. Add in the cream, stir to incorporate and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Let it simmer on the stove for about 10 minutes and serve hot with crackers, croutons, or the classic grilled cheese. Enjoy!

Overnight Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Alisa

Back when I was still a fairly new mom and my night’s sleep was a fun game of Russian Roulette, I started putting my breakfast on the stove the night before so that I wouldn’t have to use my brain in the morning. I bought these fancy steel cut oats and the side of the can said that they would take 40-60 minutes to cook, but THEN, at the very end of the directions, it said, “For quick-cooking method, let the oats soak in water overnight and then boil for 10 minutes.” This was the answer to needing breakfast after a who-knows-how-much-sleep kinda night! I would literally add everything to the pot the night before – the butter, the pinch of salt and even stuck my stirring spatula in there so that I would not have to use even one iota of brain cells to make breakfast.

I’ve been doing this a few times a week ever since! On days that I run out of steel cut, I just use plain rolled oats, except I don’t soak them overnight. I just like the steel cut – they are chewy and interesting and they don’t turn to glue and mush after they go cold, so they are perfect for making a big batch on Monday and then warming them up with a splash of milk the next day – it’s always a great texture! Most commonly, I make chocolate oatmeal. It’s Olive’s favorite and I love hearing her request it the first second she sees me in her room in the morning “Chock-ate oatMEEEEL?!” I’ll add that recipe to the end of this one for those who saw it in my Week in the Life post!

For today I recreated my favorite dessert bread at our grocery store – Apricot White Chocolate! I had a little of everything and so I went for it, and it was amazing! What’s fun about oatmeal is the various toppings you can add – so if you have guests for the weekend, make a huge pot and set out an array of dried fruits, nuts, fresh fruits or syrups and let them add what they want! Great for kids, for people watching their diet and for picky eaters!

Overnight Oatmeal with
White Chocolate, Apricot and Toasted Walnuts

2 cups water
1/2 cup steel cut oats (or one cup of rolled oats and skip the night before step)
pinch of salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract
tablespoon of fat – I use butter, but it’s GREAT with coconut oil and it’s probably just fine without it)
splash of milk or cream
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, pecans, almonds – whatever you have on hand

Right after Top Chef is over, before you check Facebook for the 75th time, put a large saucepan on the stove and add the steel cut oats, water, butter, vanilla and salt. Place a rubber spatula in the pot, too, so you won’t have to think at all in the morning. Go to bed.
First thing in the morning, or 10 minutes after your toddler starts talking in her crib, turn on the burner to medium-high heat and bring oats to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the liquid is absorbed. Add a splash of milk or cream if it gets too thick and taste for texture. If it’s to your liking, remove from heat, place a small portion in a bowl and stick it in the fridge to cool a bit for the toddler while you assemble yours. Stir in the white chocolate chips till they melt and then top with the dried apricots and walnuts. Take the kid’s portion out of the fridge, stir again, and then add a few chips so she can stir them around or pick them out herself and discard the rest. That’s at least how it happened to me.

Chocolate OatMEEEEEEL version:

same as above, except add:

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
sliced banana or dried cranberries

I love banana and chocolate. Near the end of the cooking time, I add the cinnamon to the pot and stir to incorporate. I take the pot off the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until an adequate darkness is achieved. This may call for more chocolate. Because I use 70%, I have no guilt and no shame. Top with sliced bananas and eat! Sometimes I shake it up and stir in dried cranberries. The cranberry/chocolate or banana/chocolate combo is always a winner. Do what you feel with the toppings, but more often than not, we just do plain chocolate oatmeal! Olive is never disappointed.

A Week in the Life

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Alisa

I did something different this week. All last week, I took very low-key, not styled, not properly lighted pics of most dinners we had (otherwise known as iPhone pics), as well as a few breakfasts and side dishes. I was asked by a couple of people to talk about the more day-to-day things we eat. So I stripped everything down of any pretension and decided to show you exactly what we ate for a little over a week. If you will hover over each image, you will see a description. Lunch pics are not mysteriously absent – we eat leftovers every. single. day. for lunch and I really only took a pic of one of the lunches because they are literally a repeat, usually, of the night before. My goal for the end of the week is to have a clean fridge, and for the most part, I achieve that goal. And the other absent pics are from when we went out or had dinner at our church or whatever. I vowed a while back to stop taking pics of my food at restaurants. You should do everyone a favor and do the same. Some recipes make a large portion like the brown sugar ham – made a TON! So I used it in savory crepes yesterday for lunch, diced up with cheese and chives. Voila – a simple lunch and CHEAP. Breakfasts are really low key. I make Olive some type of oatmeal about twice a week, yogurt at least once or twice, the other week days are usually “baby beetos” (scrambled egg burritos) and then Saturdays, I nearly always make something a bit more fun and indulgent like waffles, pancakes, crepes, whathaveyou.

Some of these pics look downright unappealing. But in reality, this is what our plates look like! Never picture-perfect, bad lighting in the dining room, no one styling our food, etc. I plan on blogging about a few of these recipes (the pea puree – oh my word, it was awesome), but for now, I’ll leave you with exploring the descriptions and getting a peek inside a typical week around here!

Happy Halloween!

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Alisa

These cute little pumpkin tarts took about 30 minutes. I had leftover pie crust in the fridge, and I only had enough to make three of these little guys. But that’s all we needed, anyway! Today was fun – lots of fall-ish events, the festival at the church, trick-or-treating at our friends house, having a greasy bacon cheese burger at Spanky’s – okay, so that last part wasn’t necessarily fall, but I associate that place with football season!

These little tarts could be made with any shape cookie cutter and of course, after tonight, jack-o-lanterns will be out! So use a leaf or circle and cut out some cute shapes – whatever you do, these are seriously fun and delicious!

Pumpkin Tarts

half a recipe of pie crust (or just store bought – one circle)
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
3 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix the puree with the sugar and spice and set aside. Roll out your dough, cut into shapes and run your finger dipped in water around the edge of the bottom layer. Place one to two tablespoons of filling on the bottom layer (will depend how big your shapes are). Slightly roll out the top layer a little more than the bottom, cut out designs that you wish, and place on top of the filled bottom layer, pressing down the edges. Brush melted butter on the tops of the tarts and sprinkle with coarse sugar, or any kind of sprinkles! Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

Shocking Red Pasta – just in time for Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Alisa

I’ve been busy working on a post about my week in food. By request, a few of you expressed interest in seeing the “normal, everyday” recipes we do around here, so every night since my Sweet Potato Pie post (below), I’ve been taking pics of some element of what we’ve eaten at most meals. There’s a few keeper recipes in there, so stay tuned!

For today – RED pasta! It looks almost gruesome. I got the recipe from Clotilde’s amazing vegetarian cookbook, The French Market Cookbook. She called it Shocking Pink Pasta, but mine was just not pink, it was straight-up RED. I wasn’t a huge fan of the addition of the cumin (no offense to the original recipe – it’s not you, it’s me,) so I swapped out dried thyme (in my head) and I think it would go great with the other flavors. This is a good use of beets, once again. I just love them. This dish had great flavor, was a stretch for the imagination and was actually pretty fun – not exactly the most common words you’d use to describe a simple dinner that took 20 minutes to make, was healthy and included beets. If I were you, I’d serve this for dinner on Halloween night. Then you could sit back and eat a side of leftover candy and not feel too much remorse with your blood, I mean beet-stained hands 🙂 Bwahahaha…

Shocking Red Pasta
serves 4

2 cups beets, about 4 medium – peeled and cubed
1 cup light whipping cream
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 pound pasta
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2⁄3 cup almonds, toasted

In a food processor or blender, combine the beets, cream, garlic, salt, and thyme. Process until smooth. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta and cook until it’s al dente. Drain, return the pasta to the pot, and fold in the sauce. Return to medium heat and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Divide among warm bowls, sprinkle with pepper, and top with the parsley and almonds. Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Pie with Butter Rum Sauce

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Alisa

Last weekend we were invited to our friends’ house for a dinner party. The theme was Cajun and so Matt made a humongous pot of gumbo, which has been many meals this week and is very good, and I made this sweet potato pie that was obliterated by the end of the night and I sadly didn’t have any leftovers for breakfast. I’m actually glad it got gobbled up because that’s instant portion control. I shared one slice of this pie with Olive, she ate most of it, and I enjoyed every bit. I had a lady at church last night say, “I’d love to live in your house so that I could eat your food, but then I’d be 7,000 pounds.” I’m not exactly sure this blog is conveying the truth if that’s the overall sentiment! I’m also not sure I’m conveying properly the amounts of these foods I DON’T eat. I made three batches of The Cinnamon Rolls over the course of two weeks and I think overall, I ate two whole cinnamon rolls, maybe three. But it wasn’t a couple each batch, or “the whole pan” like a lot of people swear they’d eat if they made it themselves at home. I don’t think people give themselves enough credit. Of course you wouldn’t eat the whole pan. How on earth would that be enjoyable to have a stomach ache because of something you baked? Maybe that’s the whole problem with portion control with indulgent foods. People get a feeling like they need to “eat the whole thing” to pretend like it never happened, to remove it from sight and further temptation. They feel “bad” eating it in the first place and so why not eat it badly?! Whatever the reason, it’s a wrong mindset. And one I hope to never impose on Olive-that rich foods are somehow bad and we should feel guilty or gain 7,000 pounds for eating them on a weekly basis.

During the week, we eat simply. Bowls full of beans, rice, sauteed chard and potatoes and steamed fish, beet pasta, roasted carrots, butternut squash soup-that was this week. These do not make the most riveting blog posts, nor do I always remember to take pictures of “regular” meals. Perhaps I should! Maybe it would help balance out peoples’ fear of the occasional pie or butter sauce. My hope for myself and anyone who loves to cook is that we find a good balance and that we effectively remove all GUILT from eating. Find a way. Whether that’s eating smaller portions or just meals made from fresh, good ingredients that couldn’t live in a box if they tried. Maybe if that was the norm, and eating at home was what we did 6 days out of the week, than a crazy good, gooey brownie on the weekend or a night out at a restaurant would seem like the treat it is, instead of the impending portion of guilt that it’s come to be.

This pie was light and fluffy almost like a souffle. It wasn’t overly sweet and so it went AMAZINGLY well with the butter rum sauce I decided to make at the last minute. I think it would be perfect without the sauce, but it was the gilding of the lily for a festive occasion like a dinner get-together. I also adore the website I adapted this from – The Gumbo Pages! That is the best website name, possibly ever. And the recipe was clearly from someone who never had to write it down. A lot of “approximate” measurements and “about this much” kinda talk. I love the nature of a recipe like that. And I love that this recipe came from someone with the nickname “Pie Man.” Honestly, how can you go wrong with that combination?

Sweet Potato Pie with Butter Rum Sauce
makes one, 9″ pie

3 cups cooked, peeled and mashed sweet potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
dash of salt
1/2 cup sugar

Boil the potatoes whole in plenty of water (covering them by about two inches) for about 30 minutes, until tender all the way through. Peel them after they’ve cooled a bit and give them a rough dice. Mix the potatoes in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until they are smooth and very few lumps remain. Mix the eggs with the cream and spices, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth and gradually mix it into the potatoes. Add the salt and sugar and let the mixture blend on medium for about 5 minutes. Pour filling into UNbaked 9″ pie shell, bake for 40-45 minutes at 350-325. Serve with butter rum sauce or whipped cream!

Butter Rum Sauce

1 stick of butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
a few pinches of kosher salt to taste
2 tbs rum

Let the butter melt with the cream and sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add salt until it tastes right to you – let it take some of the sweetness away and give it some depth. Add the rum and mix well and serve!

Pot Roast Pies

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Alisa

It’s official. I’m in fall-cooking mode. Bring on the orange vegetables and the slow cooked meats and the braising liquids. Bring on the pies with custard fillings and mulled wine. Let the apples stew in cider and the cinnamon sticks abound, we have officially fallen into the best time of year! I love how the natural seasons for foods are meant to put a little extra meat on your bones to survive the cold winter months. Even though most of us have climate controlled air year round, I still appreciate the way shopping seasonally will naturally guide you through the year. I am jumping the gun just a tad, but since the 10 day forecast has us in the 40s at night and the 70s in the day, I’m embracing the way things feel. I have waiting a long, hot summer to start dreaming of stews and caramelized butternut squash. I’m ready.

Let’s start with bringing back the Sunday pot roast. Matt and I want to have that tradition for our family. Growing up, we both regularly had pot roast on Sunday afternoons after church. It’s the natural ease of letting something cook on the stove or in a slow cooker while you’re at church. Mom always make yeast wheat rolls to go with it. Some of my favorite food memories came from that meal and I will feature her winning recipe on this blog soon! Matt has made a few amazing versions and I tried a recipe I saw on Pinterest yesterday and it was remarkably easy and very flavorful! Then, today for lunch, I played with the leftovers and came up with little pot roast hand pies, covered in pan juices.

Pot Roast Pie with Pan Juices

This was a good move in all directions. Leftover pot roast from yesterday with potatoes and carrots. Chopped up a few pieces of each component and tucked spoonfuls into the only pie dough worth memorizing and baked. I didn’t want to add too much of the leftover cooking liquid from the roast inside the pies because I didn’t want them to be soggy as they cooked and leak out everywhere. So, once the pies came out, I ladled warm, beefy pot roast juices over the pie itself and it soaked up just enough for the crust to not be too dry, yet it remained crispy and flaky and buttery. Best. Fall. Lunch. Ever. Too bad the baby wouldn’t partake. She really missed out. Too many eggs for breakfast, I guess. Although, I think on a day when she is super hungry, she will really like this. I can just see her cute little hands holding a tiny pie. Ah, well. Maybe next time!

Balsamic Orange Pot Roast*
serves 4-6

4 – 5 Lbs of Beef Chuck Roast
2 cups water
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbs of Soy Sauce
1 Tsp of Salt
1/4 Tsp of Red Pepper Flakes
3 Cloves of Fresh Garlic – Pressed
Zest of one orange
a few fingerling potatoes
4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 2″ pieces

Put the roast in your slow cooker and surround with the potatoes and carrots. Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the roast. Cook on low for 8 hours. Eat and enjoy and the next day…

The Best Pie Crust Ever
2 sticks of cold butter, chopped into little pieces
2 cups of flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/8 cup ice water

Put a cup of flour in your stand mixer with a paddle attachment and add the salt. Mix to blend. Add half the butter by small handfuls, beating on low until all the butter is fully incorporated into that cup of flour. Then, add the next cup of flour and beat on low until completely blended. Then, add the water sprinkle by sprinkle until the dough comes together and stays together when pressed with your fingers. Separate into two discs, wrap in plastic and let chill for at least an hour. Take out 20 minutes before making the hand pies so they will roll out easy.
2 sticks of cold butter, chopped into little pieces
2 cups of flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/8 cup ice water

Assemble!

Take a few components from the leftovers – a bit of roast, some carrots and potatoes. Chop well! Heat up the juice from the leftovers on low on your stove. Roll out your pie dough and cut out 4″ circles. Fill the circles with 2 heaping tablespoons of roast mixture. Place another 4″ round of dough on top and crimp the edges. Brush with a beaten egg and bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned.

Place a hand pie into a shallow bowl and ladle a warmed cup of leftover pot roast juice over the pie and serve immediately!

*recipe adapted from The Chic Site

Mexican Chocolate and Horchata Risotto

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Alisa

I really can’t think of a better day to make this dish than today. It’s cold, cloudy and all I want to do is eat complex carbs, sprinkle cinnamon on them and then take a nap. The other day, I found a recipe in my cute little French non-diet diet book for a simple chocolate rice pudding. I started improvising and adding cinnamon. Then more cinnamon. Then some cream, then more vanilla. It started tasting exactly like horchata, my favorite Mexican beverage, and I was happy. I even thought, “Why ruin this horchata by adding the chocolate the recipe calls for?” So I ladled out half of the rice pudding and added the chocolate to the other half. Woah. Insanely good. The intense cinnamon and vanilla, mixed with the dark chocolate was a revelation. Such a depth of flavor you wouldn’t really expect from something as seemingly bland as a rice pudding. It was amazing. And with just a little extra cream to loosen up the consistency, it was exactly the way risotto should be, only sweet! Dessert risotto – you heard it here first, folks. I think it should be a “thing” if it isn’t already. It’s going to be a “thing” in this house, at least!

Horchata/Mexican Chocolate Risotto
serves 4 as a dessert

2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup Arborio rice (this is risotto rice that plumps up and absorbs a lot of moisture. I’d really recommend not using any other kind)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbs cinnamon
– then, for Mexican Chocolate, stir in 3 ounces dark chocolate chips (the darker the better – I used 70%)

Pour the milk, sugar and salt into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the rice and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the milk is absorbed. You may need to add a few more splashes of milk or cream to keep the rice creamy. It may take more time and more milk in order for the rice to not be crunchy anymore.

Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon and taste. Revel. Feel happy. Then, when you’re ready, add in the chocolate to the entire batch or just half, like I did. Stir until fully melted and incorporated. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon and a sprinkle of cayenne if you dare. Serve with a warm cup of hot chocolate and be sure you’re wearing fuzzy slippers.

Enjoy.

The Family Meal

we eat together

Lemon Cream Crepe Cake with Pomegranate Seeds

Savory Crepes

Homemade Creamy Tomato Soup

Overnight Steel-Cut Oatmeal

A Week in the Life

Happy Halloween!

Shocking Red Pasta – just in time for Halloween

Sweet Potato Pie with Butter Rum Sauce

Pot Roast Pies

Mexican Chocolate and Horchata Risotto

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