Adventures in the Kitchen

It is SO. WINDY. today. I almost got blown over this morning as I walked from one building to another and a huge gust came along — and I’m not even exaggerating. The gust came along so quickly and strongly, and my hands were in my pockets, and I wobbled.

(Photo of my ‘hood from Tuesday, i.e. a much less windy day)

I got a little ambitious this week and made not one but two new recipes! On week nights, no less! Jose had to work late on Monday so I entertained myself by making Pioneer Woman’s Risotto Primavera. I feel kind of silly because it seems like I’m always making PW recipes, but it’s hard to resist when her site (when you include the Tasty Kitchen portion too) has a recipe for pretty much anything you can think of to make. Anyway, I had never made risotto before. We watch a lot of Food Network and Top Chef these days, and inevitably there’s always a chef on one of the many competition shows that screws up risotto — so it seemed kind of intimidating.

Turns out it’s not that hard, as long as you’re available to sit there and monitor the rice for half an hour or so. Not as easy as using my trusty rice cooker, but still, not as difficult as I thought. And unlike some PW recipes, which I find underseasoned, this one came out great. I skipped the cauliflower but added red bell pepper. Other than that, the only change I made was to add less salt at the end (I didn’t think it needed a full 1.5 teaspoons). My only minor complaint is that the carrots were still pretty crunch, so if you decide to try this one, I’d suggest putting the carrots in the pan alone first, so they can cook for a couple minutes before you add the onions and then the other veggies.

On Tuesday, I got home from work really early since I’d gone in for a 6 a.m. meeting so I decided to try this How Sweet It Is pizza recipe — whole wheat crust, roasted red peppers, fontina cheese, and balsamic glaze. It was the balsamic glaze that really caught my eye — and the balsamic glaze is the only thing that was a total FAIL for me. I don’t think I’ve ever successfully reduced any kind of sauce. I don’t get what I’m doing wrong. I poured the vinegar into a saucepan like she said, boiled it, then took it to a simmer. Half an hour later, there was still at least a cup of vinegar left in there (not the 1/3-1/2 cup the recipe said) and when it cooled, it didn’t thicken at all.

So we ate the pizza without glaze. Fortunately, it was still DELICIOUS. Seriously, I would order this pizza at a restaurant. Yum. And yes, I even made the crust from scratch. And yes, I patted myself on the back for that one.