Easy Mushroom Risotto--Honest

I love rice. Always have. I like all kinds of rice, all colors of rice, and any recipe that includes rice. I especially like those recipes that involve tossing the rice into the oven to let it do its thing without me having to set a timer or keep watch. That's why I was thrilled to hear Ina Garten on the Food Channel say that she had found a way to make risotto in the oven.

Now I am partial to risotto. It's thick and creamy and stands up to anything you can think to put in it. But making a good risotto involves standing at the stove, spoon in hand, stirring, stirring, and stirring. It also includes having a pot of some kind of warm liquid on the back burner so that when the rice gets dry, I can add in another ladle or two. And then continue with the endless stirring. For at least 20 minutes. Sometimes 30.

Bah, Humbug.

Patience has never been one of my virtues. Hence, when I saw that Ina's oven risotto turned out perfect, I was sold. I tweeked her recipe to make it vegan and then served it to company. We all declared it a prize winner. And while I used assorted mushrooms as my vegetable of choice, this risotto could be made with all manner of roasted veggies or veggies and faux meat or an assortment of cooked and fresh vegetables so that the dish would be both creamy and crunchy. If you are a rice lover like me, give this recipe a try. I bet you'll be smacking your lips over its taste and tap dancing at its ease of preparation.

EASY MUSHROOM RISOTTO

1/2 pound of fresh mushrooms of your choice

1 oz. package of dried mushrooms. 

5-6 cups of no-chicken broth

6 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped shallot (I used sweet onion)

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

Saffron, the world's most expensive
spice. A little goes a long way.

1/2 tsp. saffron threads

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 cup frozen peas

Reconstitute the dried mushrooms according to package directions.

If your fresh mushrooms are large, slice them; if they are small, leave them whole.

Put the reconstituted and fresh mushrooms into a Dutch oven with the 6 Tbs. of olive oil. Add the shallots and cook until the ingredients are lightly wilted but not browned.

To the Dutch oven add all but the frozen peas and 1 cup of the broth.

Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Most of the liquid will be absorbed and the rice will still be a bit too firm. Remove the pot to the stove top to finish cooking.

Add the last cup of broth and give everything a good stir. It will take about 3-5 minutes for the liquid to be absorbed by the rice and the whole mixture to become thick and creamy.

Taste the risotto. If the rice is still too firm, add a bit more broth, about 1/2 cup at a time.

Just before serving, add the peas and continue cooking until the peas are no longer cold. Serve the dish hot. You can sprinkle the dish with vegan Parmesan or minced parsley. I served a side of Caesar salad and garlic toast.

Vegans who don't like to cook are always on the lookout for oven recipes. I'm one of them.

Vegetable Pot Pie--On My!

I never met a vegetable I didn't like. Well, okra used to be on my "hate" list but I learned to cook it whole, thus eliminating the slime factor. Both of my sisters love vegetables too and I liken it to the fact that we all grew up in farm country. My parents always had a garden--a small one for the kitchen and a huge one for corn or wheat to feed the farm critters.

Our kitchen garden was personally weeded by yours truly and my middle sister. I always thought it was too bad that my parents had only girls because some boys thrown into that mix would have made the "yard work" their job. At least that was my way of thinking when I was a child.

Even so, weeding the garden got me up close and personal with the fruits and vegetables that grew there. I got to see the spring onions peek up through the soil and the radishes grow into red globes and the carrots push their feathery tops higher and higher above ground. I investigated the strawberry patch with great regularity, always hoping to see a ripe red berry that would be mine alone. I watched in amazement as the sweet corn grew so tall it hid me within its leafy maze and afforded me a great hiding place when I didn't wish to be found.

I so often hear parents complaining that their children refuse to eat vegetables and I wonder how that came about. Growing up during WWII, my sisters and I had no choice in the matter. We ate what mom put on the table or we could go hungry. If most of those dishes consisted of vegetables, then we ate them simply because none of us liked going to bed with growling tummies.

I have a daughter who as a child, disliked vegetables and her dad would make her sit at the table until she ate them. Sometimes I'd have the dishes done and the kitchen all cleaned and she'd still be sitting at the table, eyeing stone cold veggies that no longer looked attractive even to me, a veggie-holic. By the time she was a school-kid, she had come to terms with vegetables and ate them willingly. I guess she was tired of sitting at the table by herself. Today, she loves vegetables. All kinds. I suspect her dad was right in making her eat them. At the time, she didn't know she would like them. It was a learning process.

This week I was busy knitting some socks for one of my sisters (who had begged me for a new pair) and while I kept the needles flying, I watched the Food Channel. I observed Ina Garten make a vegetable pot pit that just looked delicious. So I set about veganizing it, not sure what it would taste like. Now you know by now, if I'm giving you the recipe that it turned out terrific. I hope you give this one a try. Then let me know what you think.

VEGETABLE POT PIE

2 cups sliced onions
1 fennel bulb, cored and sliced thin
1 1/2 cups diced potatoes
1 1/2 cups asparagus spears, sliced small
1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced small
1 1/2 cups sweet potato, peeled and diced

Sprinkle the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them on a large cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 450 degrees. They don't have to be done, just softened. They will finish cooking in the pot pie.

In a saucepan put:

1/2 cup flour
4 Tbs. vegan margarine

Cook over medium heat until the roux is a light tan. The add:

2 1/2 cups NoChicken Broth or vegetable broth if you can't find the other one
1 pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbs. non-dairy milk

Stir until the mixture thickens.

When the vegetables come out of the oven, add 1/2 cup minced parsley and toss  everything in with the gravy mix. Stir all the ingredients together so it is well blended, then spoon everything into 4 oven-proof bowls. Top each bowl with a circle of pastry dough sprinkled with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for an hour.

I cheated and used ready-made pastry dough. You can do as you wish.

I can't help it. I always eat the crust first.