Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens (20 page)
6 cups fish or vegetable stock
cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1
In your 12-quart stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Season the shrimp, scallops, and calamari with salt and pepper. Once the pot is very hot, carefully use your tongs to brown the seafood on all sides. Don't let them cook all the way through, just brown, and then remove them from the pot, and place on 2Add a clean plate.
2
tablespoons of butter to the stockpot and allow it to melt. Toss in the white leeks and garlic. Stir, season lightly with salt and pepper, and allow them to soften but not brown, for about 6 minutes. Stir in the rice and continue stirring until the edges of the rice become translucent; this will take 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and continue stirring until the wine evaporates.
3
Season lightly at this point with salt and pepper, and add just enough stock to cover the rice. Bring the temperature up to a high simmer, and stir constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed. Continue cooking, adding just enough stock each time to cover the rice and never stop stirring or your starch will not develop. This should take about 25 to 30 minutes. When the rice is almost completely cooked, or al dente (it will be translucent on the outside with a tiny pearl of white in the middle), add the last bit of stock and remove from the heat.
4
Stir in the cooked seafood, the last 2 tablespoons of butter, and half of the Parmesan cheese. Taste and, if necessary, add salt and pepper. Either pile it high in the center of a serving platter, or put oval shaped scoops in the center of individual plates. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and the thinly shaved leek greens and serve immediately.
Eat Your Vegetables Risotto
Serves 6
This is a truly perfect meal for any vegetarian friends or family coming for dinner. It's flavorful, colorful, and extremely impressive. Baby artichokes don't need to be boiled separately, which is why this dish represents an outstanding one-pot wonder!
6 baby artichokes, small and tender
2 lemons
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup white and green parts, sliced and cleaned leeks
1 cup small dice carrots
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1½ cups sliced cremini mushrooms
2 cups Arborio rice
cup dry white wine
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
cup freshly grated pecorino Toscano cheese
1
Pull your trash can over to your cutting board area, because you're going to have to work fast to prevent the baby artichokes from turning brown. Slice the lemon in half. Go through the entire pile of baby artichokes slicing off the bottom stem (in a large artichoke this is edible, but not so in the baby) and then chopping off the top half-inch of the pointy leaves. Rub the cut ends of the artichokes with the lemon; the juice will keep them from oxidizing and turning brown. Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice into a medium-size bowl.
2
Now stand over the trash can and, just as if you were shucking corn, peel off the dark, coarse outer leaves. When you reach the tender and pale greenish-yellow leaves, move to the next artichoke. If there are any tough, dark green spots on what's left of the stem, trim it off with your knife. Cut each of the artichokes into quarters lengthwise, and put them into the lemon juice. Add enough cool water to the bowl to cover the artichokes and set them aside.
3
In your 8-quart stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add the leeks, carrots, and garlic. Stir, season lightly with salt and pepper, and allow them to soften but not brown. This should take about 6 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cover for 5 minutes to sweat them.
How to Clean Leeks
Because they grow in sandy soil, leeks are difficult to clean. Cut off the very dark green top and the rootlet at the bottom, and the slice the leek in half lengthwise. Thinly slice the leeks and put them directly into a container of water large enough to hold the leeks while covered with water. Stir them around in the water and then allow the leeks to float to the top. The sand will float to the bottom and you can skim your fresh and clean leeks right off the top.
4
Uncover, stir in the rice, and continue stirring until the edges of the rice become translucent, which will take 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and continue stirring until it evaporates. Drain the lemon water off your baby artichokes and add them to the rice.
5
Add just enough stock to cover the rice. Bring the temperature up to a high simmer, and stir constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed. Continue cooking, adding just enough stock each time to cover the rice, and never stop stirring or your starch will not develop. This should take about 25 to 30 minutes. When the rice is almost completely cooked or al dente (it will be translucent on the outside with a tiny pearl of white in the middle), add the peas and the last bit of stock. Remove from the heat when the last of the stock is absorbed.
6
Stir in the butter and half of the pecorino cheese. Taste and, if necessary, add salt and pepper. Either pile the risotto high in the center of a serving platter with the baby artichokes arranged around the outside, or put tall scoops in the center of individual plates with three baby artichokes fanned over the top. Garnish with pecorino and serve immediately.
Lasagna Love Affair
to Remember
Serves 6
We are using fresh pasta and vegetables, which have so much natural water, that there's no need to preboil the pasta. That saves us a pot on our Crappy Little stove! If you can't find fresh lasagna noodles, just substitute with dry pasta that you boiled in supersaturated salt water (to prevent sticky noodles), and follow the cooking time on the package.
2 cups Spicy Pomodoro Sauce (p. 211)
2 pounds fresh lasagna noodles
2 pounds fresh whole milk ricotta
2 pounds fresh baby spinach
1 pound zucchini squash, ½-inch quarters (cut ½-inch disks and then cut those into quarters)
1 pound eggplant, cut in ½-inch cubes
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
10 basil leaves
1
Preheat oven to 350°. In a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, (a disposable baking dish is fine) spread a thin layer of Pomodoro, and lay down the first layer of pasta. Cut it to size if it doesn't fit. Spread ¼ cup of the Pomodoro over the layer of pasta. Next, spoon ¼ of the ricotta into dots over the sauce and layer with ¼ of the spinach, zucchini, and eggplant. Lightly season the layer with salt and pepper.
2
Repeat the layers of pasta, sauce, ricotta, and vegetables (with light salt and pepper) 3 more times. End with a fifth layer of pasta and a little more sauce. Arrange your thin slices of mozzarella and basil leaves over the top of the lasagna.
3
Bake the lasagna for 20 minutes until the sauce and cheese are bubbling hot and golden brown, and let it sit to rest 20 minutes before serving warm, directly out of the dish.
The perfect gourmet meal requires well-prepared
accompaniments commonly known as side dishes, so don't neglect this essential element. In this section, I'll share my chef secrets for foolproof side-dish preparations that are ideally suited for your Crappy Little Kitchen. From basic cooking methods for vegetables, pasta, rice, and potatoes to elegant recipes for goat cheese souf-flés and seafood timbales, you'll glean a wealth of restaurant-proven knowledge that will compliment your entrées and turn your ordinary meals into extraordinary masterpieces.
Don't make a crappy meal by messing up your side dishes. Follow my advice for perfectly prepared accompaniments to round-out every meal.
Veggies Steamed and Simple
Serves 4 to 6
I find that floral vegetables, like broccoli, broccoli rabe, cauliflower, artichoke, and asparagus taste best and achieve the perfect texture when steamed. You only need salt and pepper to season steamed vegetables, but my recipe includes onion, garlic, and thyme, which are added to the water used for steaming. They are called aromatics because they add flavor through the steaming process but are not eaten. This gourmet trick will enhance the flavor of any vegetable you steam. Finish the veggies by tossing with a few tablespoons of butter or olive oil. You only need your stockpot/steamer basket combo to create perfectly steamed veggies making this another CLK-friendly one-pot wonder.
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed
10 fresh thyme sprigs
2 pounds vegetables to be steamed, cut to be the same size
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1
Add the stock, onion, garlic, and thyme to your 12-quart stockpot and place it over high heat. You can cover the pot to speed the process.
2
Once it simmers, reduce the heat to medium, place your steamer basket filled with vegetables over the stockpot, and cover with either a lid or aluminum foil. Be careful to lower the temperature again if the stock starts to boil. Anything above a simmer will cause the outside of the vegetables to cook faster than the inside.
Allow the vegetables to steam until just tender. Start checking them for doneness when the vegetables first turn a vibrant color. To test, spear a piece with a fork, if it goes in easily, it's done. Season them lightly with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or some butter.
Better-Believe-It
Braised Vegetables
Serves 4 to 6
Sturdy vegetables like escarole, Swiss chard, kale, and even fennel do very well when braised. Braising vegetables involves cooking them quickly with a little fat and then simmering them with liquid in the same pan, which makes preparation in a CLK a breeze. Simmering southern style greens will take out their natural bitterness, and this cooking method works great for fibrous vegetables like Swiss chard, because the longer cooking time tenderizes them.