La Primavera ha venuto a Milwaukee

     For all you English speakers out there, that's "spring has come to Milwaukee," in Italian.  For all you Italian speakers out there, feel free to correct me if that's inaccurate.  Truly: all the birds in the neighborhood are flying in pairs, we've moved our grill to the patio, the blades of green far outnumber the winter browns of the backyard, and much of my elastic-prominent clothing is surfacing in my wardrobe.  (Jeans and regular bras in the heat?!--gross).

     After having the out-of-laws visit two weekends ago, we had a bunch of our friends visit Milwaukee for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.  This meant three straight days and nights of watching basketball.  Now, as a Spartan, I don't mind some exciting games, but I couldn't keep up with the fellas and my interest waned after State played their games.  So, my old MSU roomie and I did some traipsing around Milwaukee to various bars, breweries, and restaurants.  It was a fun four days!  But it didn't leave much time for anything else, so we're glad to be back in our regular routines. 

      We've had a string of perilously (sunburn, climate change) beautiful days down in Southeast Wisconsin, so I took a bike ride around my neighborhood to show you some interesting shots that contrast the winter scenery in my post from less than a month ago.

Daffodils have grown up and out, even though you can still see their dead comrades in the background.

Not snow-covered boughs, but petal-covered.

Choke Cherry Tree?  We're unsure.

For whatever reasons, this is the third barn I've become compelled to photograph.  I like the contrast between the decrepit building and the bright, blooming bush.  (Alliteration was unintentional here)

This fella, the cardinal, my squeeze captured rested atop the birdie "summer cottage."  He chases his mate around all morning.

      There's a little old ditty my dad used to sing to us every year:

          "The spring is sprung,
           the grass is riz,
           I wonders where
           the flowers is!"

Naan Pizza

     Ciao, amici!  Sorry I've been gone so long; we had a busy week.  My squeeze's parents, my "out-of-laws," or, King and Queen, as I've come to call them, came down to old Milwaukee for a weekend of food, culture, and window treatment shopping.  This meant that my house became cleaner than it's ever been.  But honestly, having company is what it takes for us to do anything more than low-level maintenance.  

     So we had fun!  On the first night, I tried to recreate the seafood risotto I blogged about two weeks ago, we had some awesome Southern fare at Maxie's Southern Comfort on Saturday night, got two trips to Alterra in (one of my favorite places in Milwaukee), and then I whipped up some polenta and pasta sauce Sunday night for the final meal before they hit the road early this morning.  

 

     We also enjoyed two amazing theatre outings: Saturday night to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's performance that included a 19 year old prodigy violinist who accompanied the orchestra through a Sebelius (Finnish composer!  We're all Finnish, if not by blood, than by marriage!) concerto, and then the full orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.  If you've never been, I absolutely recommend it.  There's nothing better than live music performed by intensely talented musicians in a room so specifically designed to enhance the listening experience.  It was my first symphony and I loved it.  

 

     Then we attended the Sunday matinee performance of a hilarious show called "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged," which was so comically performed by three young men at hyper light speed.  There was audience participation, hyperbole, drama, and a tinge of political folly.  We were rolling.  Even our Doc Jones was (reluctantly) plucked from the audience, brought on stage, and coached into a hysterical Ophelia--whose scream I can still get goosebumps from thinking about!

     But anyway, you clicked on this link because I lead you to believe there was a recipe, right?  Right.  Let's get to that.  Last week, before the King and Queen's arrival, we made Naan pizzas.  But, what is naan?  I'm glad you asked.  It's a delicious, crusty Indian flatbread.  You can actually make it at home, which we haven't, or you can find it in most grocery stores' deli area.  

     The topping combinations for any pizza are countless, but there are a few things that I can't seem to get enough of: goat cheese, grilled veggies, and garlic.  Throw a little bacon and onion on for good measure, and you've got yourself one fine 'za.  I'm almost heartbroken to tell you that I bought pine nuts solely for this recipe, and forgot to use them.  Could've been overkill, though. 

     I began by making a garlic paste in my mortar and pestle.  This is pretty simple, it's just garlic gloves and salt smashed around until it looks like this.  Then I stir in some olive oil and spread it over each of the pizzas.

     Then I added the goat cheese.  Tip: buy crumbled goat cheese if you can find it; spreading the creamy stuff can be a little trying because it's so sticky.

     I sliced some zucchini, sprayed it with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled (maybe 3-5 minutes each side, depending on the size and heat of your grill).

Then I topped it all with bacon, shallots, and crushed red pepper.  I should also mention that my preferred method of cooking pizza is actually grilling it.  Just make sure to keep an eye on it; I had the naan pizzas on for about 10 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. 

     I decided we should enjoy it with a bottle of my favorite Zinfandel, Edmeades. 

It was so dang good, it took us all of ten minutes to eat each of our pizzas.  I also garnished with a little bit of basil because I had it on hand.



     Seriously, this was the best combination of pizza flavors I've had: garlic, shallot, bacon, goat cheese, basil, baby bellas, grilled zucchini, crushed red pepper, and mozzarella--but you can do anything you want.  My best advice is to use what you like.  Maybe not peanut butter and olives on the same pizza, but let your appetite guide you!  Buon appetito!

Meatless Monday for the Flexitarian

     Though neither my squeeze nor I are vegetarians, we do practice Meatless Mondays.  I am slightly more committed to the idea, whereas he could probably take it or leave it.  We've been actively eating meatless on Mondays for close to a year now, and have come across some really delightful recipes (some are posted in the new "Other Peoples' Recipes" tab!).

     I would say "flexitarian" (which I did not coin) is a more appropriate term for our diets, meaning we're flexible.  I eat meatless when it suits me or what I'm craving.  And as it happens, there are such delicious restaurants in Milwaukee, many of them catering to vegetarian lifestyles with more than the "salad-only" veg option.  Our easiest and most populous options for homemade meatless meals are usually stir-fries, quesadillas, fish tacos, lasagna, pizza, or sandwiches.  Tonight we opted for something a little different.

     I grew up eating my mom's stuffed green peppers, but I'd never had a vegetarian version.  Cooking Light's Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers was my inspiration tonight.  I substituted and swapped where I knew I preferred other flavors, but generally used this recipe as a guide.  It was actually really delicious and I didn't miss the meat at all (tip: the meaty and woodsy flavor of mushrooms will almost always compensate enough for omnivores). 

• So, the original recipe makes six peppers.  I guestimated the proportions for four.  Since we aren't baking here, it's safe to make guesses.  As far as seasoning goes, my best tip is just to use everything to taste.  
• It calls for sherry, I used the reserved water I re-constituted porcini mushrooms in.
  
• It also calls for sliced almonds; I subbed pine nuts.
• Lastly, the original recipe asked for ancho chile powder.  I like-a the spice, so I used chipotle powder (though, not 1 1/2 t., only 1/2 t.).

Decapitate, de-stem, and de-membrane your peppers.

Parboil the peppers for about five minutes, then drain, and saute the good stuff together (mushrooms, shallots, etc.) in the meantime.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the stuffing, by the way.

Everything else is pretty easy.  Once you've combined the rice, juice, and salt and pepper, you stuff your peppers, top with some parmesan, and bake those bad boys for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Also, taking a page out of my ma's cookbook, I drizzled the remaining tomato juice over the top and to line the bottom of the baking pan.

When paired with some steamed edamame (soy pods), you've got yourself a spicy, nutritious, less-than-400-calorie meal!

Not to mention, we have leftovers for lunch this week, which is almost always the best part of home-cookin'.

Some Things Human

     This is somewhat of a copycat of a post from my friend Rachel's blog from this week.  Rachel writes a really great food blog, and since mine is in its infancy, I hope she finds it flattering, even if I'm not as creatively adept just yet. 

     There is a large part of me (presumably the native Yooper part) that gets pleasure from being in the cold outside.  I realize these are bold statements of potential idiocy, but what is an idiot without her boldness?

     I find snow less of a nuisance and more of a pleasantry.  After a winter whitefall, so many take to their viral soap boxes to bellyache, but I'm pretty content to slap on my Kromer and head out to our 105x19-pace driveway (of course I counted), shovel-over-shoulder.  Sure, it takes a long time.  Sure, it's hard work.  But there's something gratifying in that scrape-heave rhythm, something beautiful about work you can see progress in, something human about seeing your breath exhausted in the air, something hilarious about blowing snot-rockets at will. 

     I didn't head out S-O-S this afternoon, though.  I went camera-strapped, and this is what I brought you:

Meet our one of our neighbors.

 

Person's eye view.

This is a bonus shot from a skiing/winter camping trip 

we did two weeks ago near the shores of Gitche Gumee:

And this is our impossibly adorable MSU football gnome who guards the back deck.

 

 

Did I mention that my squeeze is replacing our downstairs toilet while I write these ethereal observations on the glories of the snowy interval?    

 

What a guy.

There are some things so completely opposite, they can only be human.

Risotto Revisited

     Every Sunday, my squeeze G-mac and I set down on our couch with our ritual stack of cooking books, magazines, and apps, and cruise through to compile our menu for the oncoming week.  Sometimes this task takes fifteen minutes, other times it takes two hours.  I will never deny that I am a picky and finicky planner.  We usually plan out three to four meals--I'm a bartender on Thursday nights at an Irish joint, and usually need food-on-the-go.  This has become immensely easier since I left my full-time day job, as we usually rely on convenient make-ahead options like meatballs, chili, or soup.  But today, my friends, I made risotto.

     I feel it necessary to make this disclaimer first and foremost: as it will be with so many of the foods and recipes I post, this is not original.  In fact, very few things I cook are (yet).  Without seeming like a paid endorser, I'd like to share with you my tips, sources, and ideas.  As an undergrad, the threat of expulsion for plagiarism was very real and made me sensitive to giving credit where credit is due.   I found this recipe in my January issue of Cooking Light: Sausage and Spinach Risotto.

     There are a few things I know about risotto; it takes time and attention, and when executed properly, can be the most creamy and delicious thing you've eaten since the last time you had risotto. 

     I was at a girls' gathering in Fond du Lac, WI last weekend, and for our Saturday night, we all got jazzed up for our dinner plans at a local chophouse.  I am notorious for hemming and hawing my entree selections right up until that anxiety-riddled moment when the server smiles and asks what I'd like to order.  I swapped between three separate choices until finally opting for the seafood risotto--upon his recommendation, no less.

     Unfortunately, when he brought my entree, it was an immediate disappointment.  The scallops and shrimp were seared to perfection.  The asparagus was crisp and flavorful.  And all of this rested atop a cup of short grain rice with some kind of sauce.  Now, I am no food critic.  I am not a trained chef.  I don't even rightly know if I have enough knowledge to form respectable opinions of food.  But, I grew up in an Italian household, and I know proper risotto.  This stuff was simply...I don't know, was it mid-cook?  Under-cooked?  A house-made interpretation or short cut of the real deal?  It was hard and rice-like, rather than the creamy, al dente, pasta-esque glory I've always had.  Luckily, I'd had enough wine and whiskey to just ingest it with minimal complaint to my server.

So, to avenge my appetite, I made this today:

 

 

A tip I've heard, used, and justified, is that it's essential to toast the arborio rice grains prior to saturating them with liquid.  In this case, I also sauteed the sausage, shallots, and garlic prior-to.

 Here's where your patience is evoked, but I promise you that it's worth it.  You de-glaze the pan with white wine (I used white vermouth because it's what we had on-hand) to scrape up the brown bits, then add a cup of reserved stock liquid. 

Stir until absorbed, and repeat the process--one half-cup at a time, stirring constantly and waiting until it's absorbed to add the next half-cup--for as long as it takes, or about a half an hour.  This is where the creaminess of the risotto comes from.

This is what your pot will look like when you add the bag of spinach:

But, keep stirring, young padawan...

...and you will be rewarded.

     My stomach is positively roaring each time I go through and proofread this.  I realize this wasn't exactly a training on proper risotto execution, but those are my tips.  And wherever you go, please, please, please don't settle for anything less delicious than what these photos suggest.  Buon appetito!