Meeta's Monthly Mingle No. 4

I was getting a little worried about this month's Monthly Mingle.. as coming up with something that included zucchini and sage was posing a problem for me. I could think of a zillion zucchini recipes, but I don't use sage that often in my cooking. I did not want to disappoint the very lovely Meeta so I really needed to come up with something! After a lot of recipe research in cookbooks and online, nothing really sounded very inspiring. Bummer. BUT! When I decided to cook a big meal for Hubbs and I yesterday afternoon, I decided that instead of serving potatoes with the roast, I'd like some creamy risotto. As you know, risotto is very versatile and many different ingredients work well in it. I wondered how zucchini and sage with maybe a little hit of mild onion would taste in a basic risotto recipe? Ha! It was fabulous! And now, I've created a risotto recipe that I will use again and again - I lurve when that happens! So if you aren't familiar.. this month's Monthly Mingle is called "Take Two". Meeta gave us all the challenge of coming up with a dish that included zucchini and sage. Here is my submission, I hope you try it and I hope you check out all the rest of the creative dishes when she posts the roundup this coming weekend. There is still time to get in your creative sage and zucchini dish as well! The deadline is Oct. 12 - so get cookin' kids! :D Lisa's Sage, Zucchini and Green Onion Risotto 2 small to medium zucchini, cut into coins and then quartered 3-4 green onions, sliced thin 1 TBS. fresh, chopped sage 1 TBS. butter 1 1/4 c. Arborio rice 3 - 3 1/2 c. chicken stock 1 generous pinch of sea salt Ground black pepper, to taste In a large skillet, melt the butter and then saute the zucchini and onions (reserve about 1 TBS. of the sliced onions) until translucent. Add the rice and saute until it just begins to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 c. of the stock and stir rice until it soaks up most of the stock - then continue on in this fashion, 1/2 c. of stock at a time, until you've used all the stock - this should take between 20 and 30 minutes and the rice should be very creamy. Add the fresh sage with the last 1/2 c. of stock. Once the rice has absorbed the last of the stock, sprinkle the reserved onions on top and serve. *Note: When I make risotto, I normally add a good handful of Parmigiano or Pecorino. I did not do that this time as I wanted the other flavors to shine through, but I can't imagine it not being just as delicious with the addition of the cheese if you so desire. :D

Honey Ginger Salmon with Risotto

Yesterday I was up at 4 in the morning and by 6 I was bent over in pain again (ugh!) so I went back to bed and slept until 11.. holy schnikeys! Once up, I discovered that Hubbs had cleaned the house and aired out the stench of the chicken from hell of the night before. After all that sleep, I was feeling pretty good for a switch and a change.. and seeing my house freshly cleaned put me in an even better mood. Wayne's brother is up from Florida and staying with their other brother at his cabin in the woods and I knew Wayne was dying to go see them, so I begged him to just go have some fun and not worry about me, I was feeling good. Besides, this was probably going to be his only chance, as we've finally heard from bossman that Wayne will most likely have to leave for Arkansas next weekend. It will only be for a week this time, but his brother will be gone by the time he gets back. After he left I came back to the office, propped up my feet (hi doc!), and checked e-mail and my blogroll. Not long after, I started feeling the pain again but thought to myself that this is simply ridiculous. I can not do another day in bed, I've got laundry out the ying yang and I missed my kitchen so very much. So I popped a pain pill left over from surgery. I know, I know.. not following doctor's orders, blah blah blah.. but this laying in bed shit obviously wasn't helping (at least not fast enough for me) and my body was screaming for some movement. After the initial 15 minutes of feeling high as a kite (woo!), I couldn't feel the pain anymore and proceeded to get some laundry done. I was careful, made several trips with small baskets of clothes and didn't over exert myself. And I've gotta tell yas, I felt great the rest of the day. Every once in a while I'd get a pang, but nothing like the previous pain I'd been having. I accomplished quite a few chores and didn't feel any worse for the ware. Today, I feel pretty good - and am going back to work. I really think the movement did me some good, honest! :D In between loads of laundry I checked out a few of my cookbooks and decided that I wanted to cook a beautiful piece of salmon I had bought last week. While looking for a recipe, I also had Food TV on (shocker, eh?) and The Head (a/k/a Giada) was making a simple risotto that looked fabulous. So I looked through her book and found the recipe which I thought would be a great side to the Honey-Ginger salmon recipe I had decided on in the Cooking Light book. We aren't big fans of salmon in this household. I've attempted it twice now and it just never floated our boats. I sincerely think that the difference this time was the fillet I bought. Normally my grocery store carries the farm raised fish shipped in from Chile or Vietnam or somewhere equally far away. This fillet was from Alaska and was caught wild (or so the fish gal said). It was of the darkest ruby red that I've ever seen and smelled like nothing really, meaning there was no over powering fishy smell at all. Still, I only bought a 1/2 pound fillet, just because we've never been that into salmon. I cut the fillet in half, which gave us both a nice slice of fish and I marinated it as per instructions. Hurray! The fish was marvelous and although I will only buy the same fish caught wild in Alaska from here on out.. we will have it again. I'm so happy about that because I've seen so many fabulous salmon recipes that looked insanely good but I was afraid of making them. Now I know I can try them out, now that I know which salmon to buy. This was a sweet glaze, well doh! honey!, and it did pair very well with the savory risotto. The risotto was amazing.. creamy, nutty and buttery. Yum. Honey-Ginger Glazed Salmon Courtesy of Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2006 Basic Risotto Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis For the salmon: 2/3 c. sage honey (I used basic clover honey) 2 TBS. fresh lemon juice 2 TBS. warm water 1 1/2 tsp. grated, peeled ginger 1 garlic clove, minced 4 (6 oz.) skinless salmon fillets (1 inch thick) 1/4 tsp. salt Preheat oven to 350º F. In a small bowl, combine honey, juice, water, ginger and garlic. Pour honey mixture into a 9" x 13" x 2" Pyrex baking dish, arrange fish in pan, skinned side up. Let stand 20 minutes. Turn fish over, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and preheat broiler. Brush fish with honey mixture and broil for 7 minutes, (As you can see, the honey mixture started to burn a bit after about 5 minutes, so I took the fish out and it was perfectly done.) or until fish is browned and flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. I cut both of these recipes in half. For the risotto: 4 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth (I used a good chicken stock) 3 TBS. butter 3/4 c. finely chopped onion 1 1/2 c. Arborio rice or medium-grain white rice 1/2 c. dry white wine 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. fresly ground black pepper 2 TBS. fresh, chopped basil (Recipe didn't call for this, so optional) In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep hot over low heat. In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 2 TBS. of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender but not 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 c. of the simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 c. 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 heat. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining TBS. of butter, salt & pepper and the basil (if so desired). Transfer the risotto to a serving bowl and serve immediately.