When I think about risotto, two things come to mind. I think about the episode of Seinfeld where George’s girlfriend eats the risotto, is satisfied, and George is weird and jealous. It’s awkward, hilarious, full of innuendo, and classic Seinfeld. If you haven’t seen it, watch the clip in the link. The second thing I think about when it comes to risotto is Top Chef. Every time someone on Top Chef makes risotto everyone talks about what a risk it is, how ridiculous that chef is for trying, then it comes out terribly, and the chef gets blasted by the judges. So with all those associations together, I was intimidated about making risotto.

A few years ago I got over my fears and I made risotto for the first time. The recipe used a kobocha squash (which is also kind of daunting), and it was just gloriously delicious. It was amazing and I was in adoration of risotto. And that’s when I realized, “oh it’s not that hard and it’s fantastic.” The thing about risotto is that it takes some time and lots of attention. When you usually make rice you simply get it started, set a timer, and walk away. Risotto on the other hand needs you next to it the entire time. In short, risotto is a needy baby.

However, even though risotto needs you, you shouldn’t be overwhelmed. Risotto needs you to stir regularly for about 20 minutes. We can all do that! Also, this is the reason I think the people on Top Chef fail. They’re too busy running around, sweating, and cursing to stir the risotto. But you? You can do it! I think you could even turn on the TV and watch that 20 minute episode of Seinfeld as you stood by your stove and prepared your filling risotto.

I also want to tell you two other good things about risotto and one annoying thing. First, the good. Risotto is a lovely way to pack a variety of veggies and meat into a one pot dish. One pot dishes that incorporate a variety of food groups are my holy grail for dinner time.  When I saw this recipe for bacon and vegetable risotto in the magazine Great British Food, I was instantly hooked. I want to eat more vegetables, Ryan would prefer a little meat with dinner, and a dish like this can satisfy both of us.  It’s also really easy to change what goes into your risotto. You could add shrimp instead of bacon, asparagus instead of the soy beans. Once you know the basic method for cooking the rice, then it isn’t too hard to experiment with what goes in the rice.

The other thing I love about risotto is that it is so creamy. A hunk of butter and a bunch of cheese gets thrown in at the very end and turns something that looks like a nicely cooked stir fry into a rice and hearty wave of flavor. It’s that sticky, creamy texture that makes risotto special. However, it’s that very thing that can make risotto go wrong. Overcooking it can turn everything into glue, and that’s sticky in a bad way. So, stay near your risotto, check it occasionally as you think it’s about to finish, and serve it immediately. Once it cools all the way it will thicken up and won’t be very nice.

You might be confused about some of the ingredient conversions. Since this recipe came from a UK magazine, the ingredient amounts are listed in grams. I have tried to make the conversions as best as a I could, but for the bacon, soy beans, and peas that amounts don’t have to be perfect. They don’t have to be perfect because they are the add-ins and as long as you don’t add way too much or way too little the whole dish will still cook evenly. And finally, this recipe makes a ton of food. Seriously, it serves 6-8 people. Cut the recipe in half if there are fewer people. Better yet, invite some friends over and share this goodness with friends.

Adapted from Great British Food magazine, May 2015.

Bacon and Vegetable Risotto

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 200g/ about 1 cup bacon lardons
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 400g/ 1⅔ cup arborio rice
• 1.5 liters/6.5 cups vegetable stock (you might not use all of it)
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 200g/about 1 cup frozen soy beans
• 200g/about 1.5 cups frozen peas
• 50g/1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• hunk of butter, about 2 tablespoons
• pepper

Instructions

1. In a large pot heat the vegetable stock until it is lightly simmering. Let it keep simmering throughout the cooking process.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pan. Seriously, use your pan with the largest diameter.
3. Once the oil is hot, add the bacon and cook until lightly brown.
4. Add the onions to the oil and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the garlic and arborio rice and cook for 1 minute to toast.
6. Pour in about half the stock (enough to cover the rice) and cook for 10 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed so the whole thing is bubbling happily but not ferociously boiling.
7. Add the soy beans and stir.
8. Add a ladle full of stock and stir. Repeat. This is where you need to be nearby. Basically, you're adding a ladle full of stock, stir, and then add more stock once the first stock is mostly absorbed. Keep adding stock until the rice is cooked. It's ready when the rice is tender and you have a saucy consistency. Your goal is to have this whole cooking process done in about 20 minutes (might be less, might be more that's ok).
9. When the rice is cooked, add the peas and cook for 1 minute more.
10. Remove from the heat.
11. Stir in the butter and Parmesan.
12. Season with some pepper and serve immediately.

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I’m going to say something that will hurt my credibility with children everywhere. Here it is: I like broccoli. In fact, it’s my favorite vegetable. My go-to preparation for broccoli is to season it with Old Bay or garlic powder and then to steam it. But, if I’m honest that gets a bit boring sometimes so I have to find new ways to eat my vegetables. And that’s the thing, I like vegetables and I know I have to eat my vegetables, but I don’t always know how to do it in an exciting way that will make me want to eat my vegetables. That’s why I’m always doing green smoothies or baking it in to something. 

I know people do all kinds of cool things with vegetables, and make them the centerpiece of their meal, and thereby they eat less meat, and as a result those people are friendlier to the environment. I want to be that kind of person all the time, but I’m not that person all the time. Sometimes I don’t have much in the fridge or cupboards and I’ve had a long day at work and I’ve been dreaming of a heaping bowl of pasta and so when I get out of the tube and pop over to the Sainsbury local I buy pasta, sauce, and a single veggie as an afterthought.

So how do you make that afterthought become something glorious that shines on its own? By roasting it. I think all vegetables taste better roasted, and roasted broccoli is no exception. This recipe is adapted from the Amateur Gourmet‘s recipe “the best broccoli of your life.” The first time I made it I didn’t tell Ryan that it was supposed to be mind blowingly good because I wanted to see what he would say. And he tried it, and then said that it was incredibly good.

Roasted broccoli is delicious because the florets get a little soft and the flavor gets rich and caramelized. Even better, some little bits get crispy and dark and that crunch is so tasty. And finally, you can season your broccoli and really let that flavor settle in, in a way that’s not possible when you sprinkle a bit of salt after cooking.

Here is the best endorsement I can give this recipe: I find this broccoli so good, I eat it like popcorn. Meaning, if the broccoli finished first while I’m making dinner, I’ll pick up a piece with my hands, pop it in my mouth, and eat it while I finish cooking. If there’s some leftover and I’m doing dishes and haven’t cleared everything, I’ll snack on it some more. I’ll eat this broccoli alone, without an accompanying main dish. Broccoli that you snack on and can’t get enough is an amazing thing.

A few notes on ingredients… it seems like a lot of olive oil and it kind of is. But you want the broccoli to be nice and coated otherwise it will come out too dark and burnt and will taste like charcoal (and that’s not what you want). Second, I highly recommend using coarse sea salt instead of regular table salt. I think the granulated sea salt gives a nice crunch and a fresh flavor to the broccoli. If you can’t be bothered, just use a little less table salt and it should be fine. And finally, sometimes I like to sprinkle a little Parmesan at the end – it’s nice but I think it’s valuable to learn to love vegetables without cheese, which is why I didn’t include it in the recipe below. Is that blasphemous to say? If so, I’m sorry.

Adapted from Amateur Gourmet.

Messy level: Very easy to make and without a lot of dishes or clean up. I love this because you basically prep it and put it in the oven and forget about it until it’s done. It’s exactly the kind of easy, mess-free side you need for weekday dinners.

Roasted Broccoli

 

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Ingredients

• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little more if needed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon chili flakes
• lemon wedge
• lemon zest, optional

Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 425°F/220°C.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. [Note: a rimmed baking sheet is nice in case you go crazy with the olive oil, but it's not necessary]
3. In a medium bowl stir together the broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt, and chili flakes. Stir so that everything is well coated.
4. Spread the broccoli mix on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with more olive oil if you're feeling so inclined.
5. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the edges are browned and everything is fork tender.
6. Remove from the oven and squeeze the wedge of lemon so juice gets all over everything. Optional: sprinkle a little lemon zest over the broccoli if you want a little more lemony flavor.
7. Serve warm and devour.

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I think I’ve developed a minor obsession with basil. In the past month I’ve made blueberry basil lemonade and basil Thai chicken – and now pesto. I know that you can buy pesto from the store, but this isn’t a blog about things you can buy – it’s a blog about cooking. And pesto is so easy to make! Most importantly, as with anything you cook, you can make it appeal to your personal tastes.

One of the reason I like pesto is because pasta is my favorite food to eat and pesto is a nice alternative from regular tomato sauce.  It’s also green so you know you’re sneaking in a bit of vegetables into a bowl full of high-carb spaghetti. I also love pesto because it’s got such a strong sharp flavor.

Yes, I admit pesto leads to bad bread central with all that uncooked garlic but I don’t care. Eat pesto with someone you love who won’t judge you for garlic breath. And on that note, eat pesto with someone who will tell you if you have green bits in your teeth. Nothing worse than walking around with food in your teeth. I think a person who eats pesto with you is probably a true friend since they’ll deal with the stink and make sure your teeth are clear.

But, recently I’m liking pesto on sandwiches. When I worked in DC I would sometimes go to Springmill Bread Company in Eastern Market and I would get a tomato, mozzarella and pesto sandwich toasted on whole wheat bread. It was simultaneously simple and decadent.  Lots of melty cheese, bright tomatoes, and bold pesto – it’s like a caprese salad in a sandwich. What’s better than that? So it’s summer time practically, basil is in season – go crazy and make some pesto. Slather it on pasta, spread it on sandwiches, and find new ways to use it then email me so I can try them. We know I’m obsessed with basil and I’m always looking for new ways to try it out.

Now, even though pesto is so easy to make, I don’t always like to make it because pine nuts can be quite expensive! However, if you don’t want to use pine nuts in your pesto I’ve had success using almonds instead. Sure, it tastes a little bit different and might be less “authentic”- but if you like almonds it’s a pleasant change and you’re still getting the same garlic, cheese, and basil flavors. Main lesson here, you can make pesto without breaking the bank!

Adapted from BBC Good Food

Messy level: One spoon. All you need is a blender. You don’t even really need to cut anything (although you do need to peel the garlic). And if you don’t want to you don’t even have to measure. You can just pour the ingredients into the blender, blend, taste and adjust. Job done and so easy and dish free.

Pesto

 

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Ingredients

• ⅓ cup pine nuts
• 2 - 2½ cups basil leaves
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
• ¾ cup of olive oil
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. This step is optional, but adds a nice flavor: In a dry skillet over medium heat add the pine nuts to toast. Stir regularly to keep from burning. Toast the pine nuts until brown in a few places, this takes about 3 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and add the pine nuts to a blender.
3. Add the basil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and olive oil to the blender.
4. Blend on high until smooth.
5. Eat it with whatever you prefer. Store it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge. If it gets too thick just stir in a little more olive oil.

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The first recipe I watched was for soup au pistou and I knew it was the perfect winter soup. Yes, it calls for green beans and basil so technically it might be more of a spring soup, but it’s everything I want right now. It’s cold, it’s windy, and sometimes dreary and I want soup. This soup is hearty without being heavy, full of vegetables, and the pistou (kind of like a pesto) gives the broth a robust flavor.

Now, this recipe is adapted from Julia Child’s for a few reasons. First, she used just water in her broth. I used a mix of water and chicken broth because I had an open container of broth in the fridge that had to be used. You could definitely use all water, more chicken broth, or even vegetable broth. Second, Julia calls for either leeks or onions and I used a mix of both. The reason being my leeks didn’t go as far as I thought they would.

The third adaptation is that Julia has a beautiful gilded soup tureen and I do not. Does anyone have a soup tureen anymore? Julia makes the pistou, then puts it in the soup tureen, and then slowly mixes in the soup from her pot. It looked beautiful, but… really? Since I don’t have a soup tureen do I really need to use two pots? I don’t think so, and I’ve come up with my own solution for those of us lacking in a soup tureen. If you have a soup tureen, I’d love to know it. Send me a picture or write in the comments below!

Ingredients:

3 quarts liquid (water, chicken broth, or vegetable broth)

2 cups diced waxy potatoes (I used Yukon gold)

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups diced leeks, or onions, or a combination of the two

1 tbsp salt

1 15oz can of white navy beans, drained

1/3 cup broken spaghetti (Julia used orzo, I just smashed up some pasta)

2 cups green beans, cut to 1″ length

ground black pepper

Pistou:

4 cloves crushed garlic (I just minced 4 cloves of garlic then smushed them a bit)

4 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped basil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup olive oil (or a little more or less to your liking. Julia Child said between 1/4-1/2 cup)

Directions:

Prep step: Chop all your vegetables!

1. Bring liquid, potatoes, carrots, leeks/onions, and salt to a boil in a large pot (6 quart pot would be best).

2. Once it’s come to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Add beans and spaghetti. Let them cook for about 10 minutes.

4. Right after you’ve added the beans and spaghetti, make the pistou. Place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon or pestle and mash up the ingredients until you form a lumpy paste. Then, slowly, about a teaspoon at a time, mix in the olive oil. Add olive oil until you have something the consistency of pesto. I used about a 1/3 of a cup in total oil. Set aside until soup is finished.

5.  Add the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes. You want them to be a bit crunchy, but cooked through. Basically, stay away from mushy green beans.

6. When soup is done, add 1-2 cups of soup to your pistou. Whisk the soup and pistou until smooth. Then, gently pour the pistou soup into the rest of the soup post. Mix that together until the broth is a beautiful red-orange color throughout.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Messy level: Honestly, for the number of ingredients, I’m surprised to give this recipe 1 spoon. There is so little mess! All I had to do was chop, heat, and mix. You’ll end up with very few dishes and almost no splatter. This recipe is a winner!

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But I thought about it and said, why not?! Let’s lean into the holiday season of hearty foods, decadent meals, and rich desserts. Now, don’t get crazy and give up your exercise routine, but let’s wait until January 2nd to worry about our meals. So here’s a great meal that will make you feel cozy on a cold day, that’s great to serve to holiday house guests, and will provide you with workday lunches you’ll eagerly gobble up.

The way I make this recipe, I make the sauce using Marcella Hazan’s recipe, which I first mentioned in my pici post. If you do the whole recipe the way I do, it should take you about an hour. If you’re going to use jar sauce, I think this should take you about 30 minutes.

Now, I know most of the time a recipe like this is called baked ziti. I’m calling it baked rigatoni because it’s my favorite noodle to use. Rigatoni’s large and textured shape makes it perfect for sticking to cheese, sauce, and meat. In my opinion, rigatoni allows you to have the perfect bite. But, if you’re interested in other pasta, I’ve used penne and ziti before and I also think you could use macaroni or fusilli.

Last but not least, I don’t usually measure when I make this. I like a lot of cheese and sauce. Feel free to find your perfect balance of ingredients. I hope you enjoy and can find space in your belly for this great meal.

Adapted from Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce recipe and the Amateur Gourmet’s baked ziti recipe.

Baked Rigatoni

 

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Ingredients

Tomato Sauce

• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion

Meat

• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb ground beef
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp smoked paprika (optional)
• salt

Everything Else

• 1 lb box of rigatoni
• 8-10 oz ricotta cheese (so a bit more than 1 cup)
• 8 oz ball of mozzarella (or larger!)
• ¼ cup grated parmesan

Instructions

1. We're starting with the tomato sauce. Put the can of tomatoes in a medium sauce pan. Take a knife and roughly cut up the tomatoes in halves or quarters. This isn't the serious, it just helps everything break down.
2. Cut (and peel) the onion. Cut the onion in half from end to end, not across the equator. Put the onion halves and butter in the tomato sauce.
3. Heat the sauce on medium high until it's simmering. Then turn the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Set your kitchen timer! Over the 45 minutes, stir occasionally and use your spoon to smash and cut up the tomatoes.
4. Preheat your oven to 450°.
5. When the timer says 25 minutes left, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet on medium-high heat. Add the minced onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is soft but not yet brown (about 7 minutes).
6. Once the onions and garlic are ready, add the ground beef. Add the crushed red pepper, salt and paprika, if using. Cook until brown. Break up with your spoon as you cook it.
7. When the meat is finished pour out any excess fat and grease from the pan. Then set the meat side, it will wait until everything else is ready.
8. When the timer says 15 minutes left, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
9. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. Cook until it is al dente (about 6-8 minutes). This means, when it still has a chew to it. Cook it about 2 minutes less than you usually would, when it's just on the cusp of being ready but is still a bit tough. The pasta will cook more in the oven.
10. Drain the pasta using a colander.
11. The sauce should be done by now. Remove the onion and throw it away. Add the cooked ground beef and the pasta to the pot of sauce. Mix it thoroughly.
12. Add the ricotta to the pot. Mix a little, but try to leave some chunks of ricotta showing.
13. Pour half of the pasta-beef-sauce mix into a 9"x13" pan. On top of that half, add half of the Parmesan and half of the mozzarella.
14. Pour the other half of the pasta mix and then top that with the rest of the cheese.
15. Cook in the oven for 15. The sauce will be bubbling and the cheese will be a bit brown.

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Messy Level  I’m giving this three spoons only because the pasta, meat, and sauce, and final product are all cooked in different pans, so that means there’s a lot of dishes. Also, pouring the rigatoni mix can be a little hard and sauce can splatter. I don’t really find this that messy, but my dishwasher might disagree.

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Last Saturday I was hanging out with my friends, Mala and Anna, and we decided to try out the chocolate pasta. I’m lucky to have very adventurous friends – although maybe now they’ll be more wary of my cooking. We decided to try the pasta, sans bacon, since I didn’t have any. We were going to go basic: oil, crushed red pepper, maybe a little Parmesan.

So I boiled the water and dropped in the pasta. The  kitchen filled with the most decadent chocolate aroma. It smelled like hot chocolate. But that is not descriptive enough to truly convey how great it smelled. It smelled like hot chocolate on Christmas. It smelled like when you have hot chocolate and curl up with a blanket and a book on a rainy day. It smelled like when you’re a kid and you come in from a long day of sledding and you’re face is pink and cold and your mom has hot chocolate waiting. It smelled like the best hot chocolate of your life.

And that’s probably the worst part because that smell was a lie. A horrible, disappointing, lie. Smell and taste are supposed to be so intricately linked! If a dish smells good, then that is supposed to indicate that the food will taste good.

After the pasta had been cooking for a bit, I fished out one almost-done chocolate noodle to taste. It was gummy and pretty flavorless – like what I imagine mushy sawdust would taste like. I had read that chocolate pasta doesn’t taste like a candy bar, but that there was still some chocolate flavor. This tasted nothing like chocolate. Now I was worried. I gave half of the noodle to Mala, who very kindly suggested that it wasn’t done yet and we should withhold judgement.

The water was turning a dirty brown. Dark brown, like when you’ve let a tea bag steep for too long. Was that where all the chocolate flavor was? I don’t know, because unfortunately I didn’t taste the pasta water.

But, my bold friends and I powered forward. We drained the pasta, served ourselves small portions, and added our toppings. Crowded around the table, I took my first bite and declared, “this is bad!” Anna tried to be supportive, and said some things along the lines of “it’s not good, but it’s not that bad. It’s not the worst.” 

“No,” I insisted, “this is gross, bad, and a disappointment.”

Mala took one bite and said she wouldn’t eat  anymore. In fact, all three of us agreed we weren’t going to eat more. The pasta was bitter, gummy, and unappealing. It tasted bitter like when you buy very pure, very dark chocolate – but there was no richness or chocolate flavor to counter the bitterness. It gave immediate bad breath and made me want to brush my teeth. We all dumped our bowls into the trash. And then we complained, moaned, and hypothesized about what could have happened.

Did I do something wrong? Maybe. But we all felt like I just boiled pasta, how could that have changed it?

Could it be that it was gluten-free? No, we decided. Each of us had eaten gluten-free pasta before and had never had such disastrous results.

Was it the toppings? I’m not sure, but companies make chocolate bars with pepper. And Anna rightly pointed out that, “oil and cheese make everything better.” Also, we felt like the pasta tasted so bad that even if we had gone with strawberries and whipped cream, it still would have tasted bad.

I didn’t expect chocolate pasta to replace regular pasta. I didn’t expect it to be like eating a candy bar. But, what I’d hoped for was a new flavor, something that would be surprising and delightful.  This was none of that.

Do you know what I did wrong? Or have suggestions on what could have gone differently? Out of intellectual curiosity, I’d love to know.

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Yes, you read that right, I’m a big fan of Brussels sprouts. Growing up, I had always seen on kids on TV scrunch up their faces, stick out their tongues, and groan “eww Brussels sprouts.” So, I thought they were going to be gross and inedible. But then, a few years ago my friend Emily got them in her farm share and had me over and served them to me for dinner. I was nervous. I was 25 years old, I’d never tried a Brussels sprout, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself by refusing to eat my veggies. I cautiously speared one with my fork and tried it. And I liked it! Everything I had thought before was wrong! It was like when the character in Green Eggs and Ham finally tries the green eggs and ham, and realizes that after repeatedly saying  “I do not like them Sam-I-Am,” his world is blown and he does in fact like the new and strange looking food.

So now I’m crazy about Brussels sprouts. When they’re well-cooked I just want to scarf each sprout down like it’s a handful of popcorn. And this recipe is that good. I ate them fresh from the oven and later warmed in the microwave. I also ate them cold, while riding a school bus with fifth-graders after a field trip. This recipe is good in all conditions. Before I found this recipe, I found a lot of other recipes I didn’t want to make.  Apparently a ton of Brussels sprouts recipes include bacon. Don’t get me wrong, bacon is great. But I didn’t want to have to make bacon just to make the dish. And I wanted to make something that would let the vegetable flavors shine. I also wanted to roast the Brussels sprouts because I love when the inside is soft and chewy while the outside leaves are crispy, blackened, and a bit sweet.

Today’s recipe is adapted from a Whole Foods recipe. I was nervous about the proportions of rosemary, pine nuts, and cheese because I thought they would overpower the Brussels sprouts. I was wrong. The rosemary adds a great scent that evokes memories of the holidays and helped get me excited about the colder fall weather. The pine nuts add a nice toasty crunch. And finally the cheese… ahh the cheese. I love cheese, but I often feel that people use cheese to mask vegetables and I didn’t want to do that. So at first I added only two tablespoons of cheese. But Ryan, who never over cheeses anything, said he thought more cheese would be good because it really accentuated the flavors of the rest of the dish. So I think you should taste test between 2 tbsp and 1/4 cup to see what you like best. And if you’ve never had Brussels sprouts before, I hope you’ll try this  and let it change the way you think about this vegetable.

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels sprouts

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp pepper (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (use 1 tsp in using dried rosemary)

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Cut off any brown bottoms and pull of yellow leaves from Brussels sprouts.

3. Put the Brussels sprouts in a medium bowl. Add oil, pepper, salt, and rosemary. Stir until the sprouts are well coated.

4. Spread the Brussels sprouts on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook for 25 minutes.

5. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the roasted Brussels sprouts. Cook for 5 minutes more. By the end of cooking, nuts should have a darker brown color and the Brussels sprouts should be dark brown-black in color.

6. Remove Brussels sprouts from the oven. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Messy Level: 

This gets one spoon. The whole thing goes from bowl, to baking sheet, and then you can serve it back in the bowl you used for mixing. There is very little work and mess in this recipe!

The post Rosemary Brussels Sprouts with Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

This year Ryan and I decided not participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture). Partially it was because we remembered too late to sign up. But we also had a lot of waste last year. We’d get a huge bag full of beautiful vegetables and we just couldn’t eat everything before the next bag and before things went bad. The thing I miss about a CSA is getting veggies I’ve never seen before. Without a CSA I never would have tried kohlrabi, garlic scapes, or rainbow chard. So I promised myself that instead of a CSA, when I go to the farmer’s market I’d try to push myself out of my comfort zone. Enter, purple cauliflower. It’s just so darn pretty!

And not only is it pretty, but cauliflower isn’t a vegetable I’ve eaten much. I looked to some of my favorite cookbooks and blogs, and what I found is that pretty much everyone covers cauliflower in cheese. I love cheese. I think cheese makes everything delicious. So, when I decided to get cooking, I went with Smitten Kitchen’s recipe (she even used purple cauliflower!). This recipe is basically the creamiest, most luscious mac and cheese – only instead of pasta it’s cauliflower.

I made it before going out to dinner with Ryan and his friend Shane, and both boys liked it. So here’s a boy approved veggie recipe. It did look weird, but it was so yummy. It was also something we’d take out of the fridge, and with each bite we’d be like “oh yeah!” Each bite was always better than we remembered. And of course, the purple-ness makes it fun.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of cauliflower florets (I used a mix of purple and white cauliflower)

4 tbsp butter, divided in half

3 tbsp flour

2 cups hot milk

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese (divide this into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/3 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°

2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook cauliflower in boiling water for 5-6 minutes. You want the cauliflower to be a little bit tender with still a bit of crunch. When done cooking, drain cauliflower and set aside.

3. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan over low heat.

4. Add the flour to the melted butter. Stir constantly for 2 minutes. It should be a thick-ish paste.

5. Pour the milk into the flour-butter mixture. (I heated the milk in the microwave until it was steaming, but not bubbling. It was probably about a minute at high heat.) Stir occasionally until it comes to a boil.

6. Once it’s to a boil, use a whisk to stir the milk for about 1-3 minutes, until it thickens. I have a really hard time with the phrase “thicken” because it seems so vague. When has it gone far enough? What this means to me is that I put a spoon in the mixture, the liquid sticks to it, and then when I touch the spoon it feels thicker than regular liquid.

7. Turn off the heat. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup of Gruyere, and Parmesan.

8. I used a 9×9″ pan. You can use something a bit larger too. Pour about 1/3 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the pan. Pour the drained cauliflower on top of the sauce.

9. Now pour the rest of the cheese sauce over the cauliflower. Mix it a bit so that everything is coated. I used a spoon to mix, and a silicone brush, to make sure the cheese was evenly spread.

10. In a small bowl mix the bread crumbs and last 1/4 cup of Gruyere. Sprinkle on top of the cauliflower.

11. Melt the last 2 tbsp of butter. Drizzle over the top of the gratin.

12. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

13. Bake for 25 minutes until the top is browned.

14. EAT IT!

Messy Level: I’m giving this three spoons. You have to use a number of dishes to make this meal (two pots and a baking pan). Also when cutting the cauliflower I had little shards of leaves and florets all over the counter and floor. Additionally, making and pouring cheese sauce is a bit messy. There are a bunch of steps and some messy conditions, but this recipe is also pretty easy and straightforward. Definitely worth making!

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