Merry Christmas!

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! And a merry Christmas! So, I've already confessed to being a little delinquent in getting posts up on the ol' blogalog,* and this is one of the more tardy (though, there may or may not be a post about an August paella...) Since the Brothers Bull have moved in triplicate to Seattle, Papa and Mama Bull decided that they would visit their children for the winter holidays. We made a nice week and a half of it, including a trip to Whidbey Island (glorious in the cold light of the northwest winter sun).

M & C arrived in the evening on Christmas day, so we had our Christmas dinner on the 26th, and, as is only appropriate, all of the dishes were themed to be Christmas colors: red pepper risotto with lime, roasted garlic brussels sprouts with paprika, and pomegranate parsley tabouleh. Unfortunately, my pictures of the food are less than satisfactory. These were my young, naive, pre-DSLR days. This may be the best shot that I got:



The sprouts recipe is dead simple, and is essentially my aping the way that my aunt makes b-sprouts for every Thanksgiving. If you think that you don't love brussels sprouts, you're wrong. You do. If you need convincing, try this recipe. Or, if you don't need heavy cream to convince you (hell, it convinces me that nearly anything is delicious), try them roasted:

{+} Sprouts Recipe

Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts
Makes 4 Servings


24 Brussels Sprouts
2 tbs. EVOO
4 cloves garlic
a dash of paprika
S&P to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450. Roasting things like to be hot.
2. Prep the sprouts: get rid of any the stems and any unsightly outer
leaves, then cut the sprouts in half.
3. Put the sprouts, and the garlic (minced or pressed) into a casserole
dish and coat with the EVOO, S&P.
4. Bake for 15min or until tender.
5. Sprinkle with paprika when serving.


Really, that's all there is to it. Here are some great tips for picking out your sprouts at the g store or farmer's market. Easy. Delicious. Persuasive. Green. Garlicky. I can't imagine that there's anything else you'd want from these little guys.

Will and I have been eating our share of Brussels sprouts recently, and it's been grand. Just the other day we had Kribshire over for some spinach-feta-ricotta calzones, and had some of these on the side. I'll post soon about calzones--Will and I have been using a no-rise pizza dough to make our calzones, and it's damn easy. Also, calzones are brilliant cheese delivery devices, so you gotta love 'em.

I've always loved tabouleh, and got the idea for a bulgur-based salad with a pomegranate kick here. I made swapped the walnuts for almonds, bailed on the celery, and added a touch of lime juice to the dressing. I think it came out quite nicely as a way to spice up your regular old tabouleh. Also, for some reason pomegranate seeds, those tart little explosions of joy, remind me of that scene from RotK where Denethor goes all NOM NOMs (@25s) on that cherry tomato. Hilarious. Anyway, here's the salad:

{+} Pomegranate Tabouleh

Pomegranate Parsley Tabouleh
Makes 6 Servings

2 Pomegranates
1 Cup Bulgur
1 Bunch Parsley
A handful of mint
Roasted Almond Slivers
Squirt of Lime Juice (this also has
lime oil, and adds great flavor)
Salt, Pep to taste

1. Soak your bulgur: Cover it in an inch or so of cold water. Let it sit for an hour or so until it is soft. You'll end up draining/squeezing out the extra liquid, so don't worry about things being too wet. In fact, do that now. Use whatever method you deem fit to squeeze the liquid out of the bulgur. Wrap it in a cloth or press down on it with a plate and drain the bowl or put it in a colander or strainer--really, whatever you've got on hand. You want the liquid in the tabouleh to come from the dressing rather than water logged kernels of bulgur.

2. Chop your parsley and your mint finely.

3. We've been avoiding it, but you're going to have to deal with those pom poms. You can go ahead and buy pomegranate juice if you don't want to juice one of the poms. So, the trick that I picked up somewhere on the internets is to peel the pomegranates underwater: the glory-nubs (also called seeds) sink, the pith floats. Cut an X in the skin of the pomegranate and submerge it in a bowl. Rip it open and knock the seeds loose and let the pith float. Eventually you'll have a whole bunch of seeds and not too much in the way of pith (I scooped it off the top of the water as I went).

4. Juice half the pomegranate seeds. I crushed them in a bowl with a large spoon and dumped just the juices into a cup. This will be for the dressing. Give the juice some lime flavor and that should be good to go.

5. Combine!! Bulgur. Pomegranate seeds. Mint. Parsley. Almonds. Toss all these goodies with the pomegranate juice and lime mix. Add more of either to taste. S and P that jam. DONE.

Also, feel free to adjust proportions. Some like very green taboulaat, some like very bulgury taboulaat. I'm not a hater.

Finally, we've made our way to the risotto. I've actually made this a number of times. Damn, risotto is good. Also, I used leftovers to make Arancini, which are unequivocally one of the greatest creations of Western civilization. My god, these are genius. I've got a pic, so maybe I'll add a post about them, but I more or less followed the recipe from Food Junta anyway. So, on to the red pepper risotto and the conclusion of Christmas dinner.

{+} Red Pepper Risotto

Red Pepper Risotto
Serves 5 (with leftovers)


3 Red peppers
2 Cups Arborio rice
1 1/2 Cups Grated Parmesan (Grab a block and grate your own. Please.)
1 Box stock
2 Cups Dry white wine
1 White onion
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp Pimenton (Smoked Paprika)
2 Limes

N.B.: Risotto may be labor-intensive, but it's not hard. Also, it's delicious. You'll want to use a large thick-bottomed pot to decrease your chances of burning rice. If you use a smaller pot, prep your wrists for a workout. Unless you already have formidable wrist muscles--I mean, who knows what you do with your free time (God knows, you hairy-palmed sinner!).

1. Start by roasting the peppers. Cut in half, deseed, and broil with some olive oil until the skin on the peppers is black and blistered. Peel off the skin so you're left with some nice, soft pepper-meat. Dice it up.

2. From here on out it is essentially basic risotto steps. Vary the ingredients, and you can end up with any kind of risotto that you want (Kribshire made a baller beer and cheddar risotto like this; Ricardo puts together a divine tomato basil risotto the same way). Here's how it goes:

a. Dice onion and saute it with half the butter and half the pimenton in the bottom of your risotto pot. You'll leave the burner at medium heat for the whole time.

b. At the same time, but the stock and a sauce pan and get it up near boiling. You'll want it to be very hot before you add it to the risotto.

c. Add the rest of the butter. When it melts, toss in the rice. Toast it for a few minutes while you stir. This gives the rice a nice flavor and helps the grains stay whole. If you're doing the red pepper risotto, add the peppers now.

d. Put two ladlefuls of warm stock into the pot with the rice. Stir the rice as it absorbs the stock.

e. Continue to add a ladleful of stock and stir.

f. When you feel like it, add the wine instead of the stock. It doesn't have to be warm, since the alcohol content ensures that it evaporates quickly enough.

g. If you are running out of stock, add some water to the stock pot.

h. You'll want to stop when the rice is cooked. Taste it continuously when it is getting close. That way you can stop right before al dente, if that's how you like it. It will cook up to al dente before you serve it.

i. Add the Parmesean, salt and pepper to taste, and the rest of the pimenton now.

j. Serve it! I like to put a lime slice on top of the risotto because the acidity helps to balance the creaminess of the risotto.

Look forward to hearing about some kitchsperiments that took place this weekend soon.

Taste of Italy,**
Peter

*I can't believe I've never thought of this before. IX points to whomever correctly remembers the book that I read this summer which features prominently the Guosim warcry.

** Eric may or may not have signed a drunken e-mail that I received from him about taking olive oil shots with this. Hey, it's in his blood.