With a 333 page cookbook (before the index), choosing a "first" recipe wasn't an easy task. Rather than start at page 1, I intend to skip around and select recipes based on what's in season, what else we are making for dinner, and simply, what I'm in the mood for. I've grown to love risotto (who doesn't?) and have been the designated risotto chef as of late so I figured a new take on a risotto would be a fun but approachable challenge.
Page 76 of Plenty More outlines the recipe for "Brussels Sprout Risotto" followed by three full pages of beautiful accompanying images of the dish throughout the cooking process. The chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, displays these absolutely beautiful brussels sprouts that are unlike what you typically find in a traditional market in the U.S. Rather than the mini green cabbage look-alikes that I typically cook with, the pictured brussels sprouts appear more leafy and have a darker green hue with tones of purple near the stem. If I ever see those in a store, I will pick them up. For this recipe, however, we're dealing with the traditional brussels sprout - still delicious nonetheless.
I would classify the basic taste of this of recipe as zesty with a touch of pungency. Perhaps this is an odd combination when you think of risotto, but it works - and adds a new perspective on a classic dish.
As I was cooking for 2, I halved the recipe and we had leftovers with the risotto acting as the side dish. Portions are appropriate as a main. The full recipe is as follows:
BRUSSELS SPROUT RISOTTO (from Plenty More)
2 tbps/30 g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped (1 1/3 cups/200 g)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp thyme leaves
2 lemons, rind shaved in long strips from one, finely grated zest from the other
1 1/2 cups/300 g Arborio or another risotto rice
18 oz/ 500 g trimmed brussels sprouts, 7 oz/200 g shredded and 11 oz/300 g quartered lengthwise
scant 2 cups/200 ml dry white wine
scant 4 cups/900 ml hot vegetable stock
about 1 2/3 cups /400 ml sunflower oil (I forgot to pick this up so I used unflavored coconut oil)
1 1/2 cups/40 g coarsely grated Parmesan
2 oz/ 60g Dolcelatte, broken into 3/4 chunks (I used Gorgonzola Dolce - a soft mild blue cheese)
1/3 cup/10 g tarragon leaves, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
salt and black pepper
Place the butter and olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and fry for 10 minute, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, thyme and lemon rind strips and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the rice and shredded sprouts and cook for another minute before you start adding the stock, 1 teaspoon salt, and a good grind of pepper. Turn down the heat to medium and carry on adding the stock in ladlefuls, stirring often, until the rice is cooked but still retains a bite and all the stock is used up.
While the rice is cooking, pour the sunflower oil into a separate large saucepan; it should rise 3/4 in/2 cm up the sides. Place over high heat and, once the oil is very hot, use a slotted spoon to add a handful of the quartered sprouts. (Take care that they are completely dry before you add them; they will still splatter, so be careful). Fry the sprouts for less than 1 minute, until golden and crispy, then transfer them to a place lined with paper towels. Keep them somewhere warm while you fry the remaining sprouts.
Add the Parmesan, Dolcelatte, tarragon, and half the fried sprouts to the cooked risotto and stir gently. Serve at once with the remaining sprouts spooned on top, followed by the remaining lemon zest and lemon juice.
We served this with a pan-fried skate (one of my favorite seafood products, the most affordable option for a halibut lover like myself) in a lemon-butter caper sauce and found the two to go quite well together.
SUBSTITUTIONS:
- Shallots instead of small onions - same amount measured in grams
- Unflavored coconut oil instead of sunflower oil (only because I didn't have it)
- Gorgonzola Dolce instead of Dolcelatte (can't say I know what the latter is but this worked well)
TIPS/OBSERVATIONS:
- Prep everything ahead of time. There are a lot of nuances with chopping and measuring ingredients. If you are cooking solo, have everything out. I prepped everything except for the final "stir-ins" (the cheese, tarragon and lemon juice) and found the cooking process nearly seamless but didn't enjoy multi-tasking during the most critical portion of the cooking process as the risotto is nearly done. In hindsight, I would have prepped everything.
- Use a scale. I used a scale to stick to the recipe - I found this the easiest way to make sure portions were correct - especially for the brussels sprouts since they have to be divided.
- No white pith on the lemon. This is critical. This recipe uses full strips of a lemon rind which are not discarded at the end of cooking. To ensure a pleasant experience with the lemon - make sure that when you are shaving the strips, you do it thin enough so that the white portion of the rind does not get mixed in with the yellow. The white causes bitterness which would take away from the intended punch added by the rind.
- Drink the wine to get the "scant" measurement correct. Measure the full 2 cups of wine and take a couple sips - the chef deserves a treat.
- Mince the garlic. The recipe calls for "crushed" which could be interpreted as simply a crushed whole garlic clove or a crushed/minced clove. Given that there is no instruction to remove the garlic, mince it so no one has a full bite of garlic!
- Less oil can be used to fry. Since I did a half recipe, I didn't have too many sprouts to fry. Since I don't have a small saucepan (yet) I didn't want to use all of my oil to fry a few sprouts. Instead I took a small fry pan and added a shallow pool of coconut oil (unscented!) and fried the brussels sprouts in two batches, stirring during the frying process. This worked just fine for me.
- Salt a bit more, if you like. The recipe doesn't say season to taste at the end but I added a bit more salt as I found it in need of a bit more. Do to taste, I didn't add to much more, maybe another teaspoon at most for a half recipe.
- Less lemon zest is more. I didn't use all of the lemon zest at the end - it was already quite lemony - and I love lemon. As lemons can vary in size, use your judgement on how much zest actually goes in.
Final Takeaway: Truly unique take on a risotto. I love lemon so the flavor was great to me. Those a little less lemon-obsessed might find this a bit too lemony so I would tone it down a little for them. I would make this again but probably not any time too soon as I have a full cookbook to work through now!!
Page 76 of Plenty More outlines the recipe for "Brussels Sprout Risotto" followed by three full pages of beautiful accompanying images of the dish throughout the cooking process. The chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, displays these absolutely beautiful brussels sprouts that are unlike what you typically find in a traditional market in the U.S. Rather than the mini green cabbage look-alikes that I typically cook with, the pictured brussels sprouts appear more leafy and have a darker green hue with tones of purple near the stem. If I ever see those in a store, I will pick them up. For this recipe, however, we're dealing with the traditional brussels sprout - still delicious nonetheless.
I would classify the basic taste of this of recipe as zesty with a touch of pungency. Perhaps this is an odd combination when you think of risotto, but it works - and adds a new perspective on a classic dish.
 |
| Finished product (1/2 recipe) |
BRUSSELS SPROUT RISOTTO (from Plenty More)
2 tbps/30 g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped (1 1/3 cups/200 g)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp thyme leaves
2 lemons, rind shaved in long strips from one, finely grated zest from the other
1 1/2 cups/300 g Arborio or another risotto rice
18 oz/ 500 g trimmed brussels sprouts, 7 oz/200 g shredded and 11 oz/300 g quartered lengthwise
scant 2 cups/200 ml dry white wine
scant 4 cups/900 ml hot vegetable stock
about 1 2/3 cups /400 ml sunflower oil (I forgot to pick this up so I used unflavored coconut oil)
1 1/2 cups/40 g coarsely grated Parmesan
2 oz/ 60g Dolcelatte, broken into 3/4 chunks (I used Gorgonzola Dolce - a soft mild blue cheese)
1/3 cup/10 g tarragon leaves, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
salt and black pepper
Place the butter and olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and fry for 10 minute, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, thyme and lemon rind strips and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the rice and shredded sprouts and cook for another minute before you start adding the stock, 1 teaspoon salt, and a good grind of pepper. Turn down the heat to medium and carry on adding the stock in ladlefuls, stirring often, until the rice is cooked but still retains a bite and all the stock is used up.
While the rice is cooking, pour the sunflower oil into a separate large saucepan; it should rise 3/4 in/2 cm up the sides. Place over high heat and, once the oil is very hot, use a slotted spoon to add a handful of the quartered sprouts. (Take care that they are completely dry before you add them; they will still splatter, so be careful). Fry the sprouts for less than 1 minute, until golden and crispy, then transfer them to a place lined with paper towels. Keep them somewhere warm while you fry the remaining sprouts.
Add the Parmesan, Dolcelatte, tarragon, and half the fried sprouts to the cooked risotto and stir gently. Serve at once with the remaining sprouts spooned on top, followed by the remaining lemon zest and lemon juice.
We served this with a pan-fried skate (one of my favorite seafood products, the most affordable option for a halibut lover like myself) in a lemon-butter caper sauce and found the two to go quite well together.
 |
| Brussels Sprouts - Two Ways |
 |
| Lemon - Used Three Ways (rind in strips/grated and juiced) |
 |
| Italian white - dry/crisp - fine at ~$14 a bottle |
 |
| Risotto starting to cook (before broth is added) |
 |
| Finishing touches |
 |
| Risotto from a different perspective |
 |
| Served with Lemon Butter Caper Skate (half portion so not the prettiest but delicious) |
SUBSTITUTIONS:
- Shallots instead of small onions - same amount measured in grams
- Unflavored coconut oil instead of sunflower oil (only because I didn't have it)
- Gorgonzola Dolce instead of Dolcelatte (can't say I know what the latter is but this worked well)
TIPS/OBSERVATIONS:
- Prep everything ahead of time. There are a lot of nuances with chopping and measuring ingredients. If you are cooking solo, have everything out. I prepped everything except for the final "stir-ins" (the cheese, tarragon and lemon juice) and found the cooking process nearly seamless but didn't enjoy multi-tasking during the most critical portion of the cooking process as the risotto is nearly done. In hindsight, I would have prepped everything.
- Use a scale. I used a scale to stick to the recipe - I found this the easiest way to make sure portions were correct - especially for the brussels sprouts since they have to be divided.
- No white pith on the lemon. This is critical. This recipe uses full strips of a lemon rind which are not discarded at the end of cooking. To ensure a pleasant experience with the lemon - make sure that when you are shaving the strips, you do it thin enough so that the white portion of the rind does not get mixed in with the yellow. The white causes bitterness which would take away from the intended punch added by the rind.
- Drink the wine to get the "scant" measurement correct. Measure the full 2 cups of wine and take a couple sips - the chef deserves a treat.
- Mince the garlic. The recipe calls for "crushed" which could be interpreted as simply a crushed whole garlic clove or a crushed/minced clove. Given that there is no instruction to remove the garlic, mince it so no one has a full bite of garlic!
- Less oil can be used to fry. Since I did a half recipe, I didn't have too many sprouts to fry. Since I don't have a small saucepan (yet) I didn't want to use all of my oil to fry a few sprouts. Instead I took a small fry pan and added a shallow pool of coconut oil (unscented!) and fried the brussels sprouts in two batches, stirring during the frying process. This worked just fine for me.
- Salt a bit more, if you like. The recipe doesn't say season to taste at the end but I added a bit more salt as I found it in need of a bit more. Do to taste, I didn't add to much more, maybe another teaspoon at most for a half recipe.
- Less lemon zest is more. I didn't use all of the lemon zest at the end - it was already quite lemony - and I love lemon. As lemons can vary in size, use your judgement on how much zest actually goes in.
Final Takeaway: Truly unique take on a risotto. I love lemon so the flavor was great to me. Those a little less lemon-obsessed might find this a bit too lemony so I would tone it down a little for them. I would make this again but probably not any time too soon as I have a full cookbook to work through now!!
No comments:
Post a Comment