Daring Cooks January: Cassoulet

Since Lo decided to take a brief hiatus from blogging, I begged and pleaded to do this month's Daring Cooks Challenge... especially once I found out it was going to be cassoulet.  After all, EVERYBODY loves a good cassoulet, right?

Heh. I'll be honest, I thought cassoulet was just a fancy name for a casserole... or a "kick-asserole,"which is the name we've coined for the really good casseroles.  You know -- the ones that put all others to shame.

And trust me, I've learned a little bit about casseroles over the years. As a child, I attended my fair share of church potlucks. And I endured my share of nasty casseroles.  Surprisingly, I still love tater tots. But I prefer them baked or fried and eaten plain, rather than sprinkled on the top of ground mystery meat mixed with can of cream of mushroom soup.  But, I digress...

It doesn't really seem like cassloulet would be that big of a deal to make. I mean, c'mon! It's beans layered with meat... and more beans... and then you bake it.  Peasants made this stuff way back in the 1300's before electricity, right?  How hard could it be?

So, I did a little bit of reading.  I found out that cassoulet is a slow cooked stew/casserole that's named after the vessel in which it's cooked, the cassole, which is essentially a big pot that has slanted sides (You might find it interesting to note I like to pronounce the word, cassole, with a nice thick northern WI accent so it sounds like I'm calling someone a bad name. Lo prefers to let it roll off her tongue like she is a pretty lady from France. Ying and Yang I tell ya...) It is truly unfortunate that we do not possess a cassole. But we do have a huge LeCrueset dutch oven. And it's French. So I decided it would do just fine. And fine it did.

I washed my hands, waxed my mustache, and did a little dance.  I also may or may not have pulled out my very long, very skinny cigarettes and insist that Lo refer to me as "Pierre"...

And then, I took a look at the recipe.
The first mandatory requirement was to make a confit. Well, remember that pork belly we procured a while back? It was much too large to eat all at once (even over French Fries), so we confited the rest of the pork belly in olive oil. Well, as luck would have it, we still had some left. Mandatory requirement number one accomplished! So, thanks to Lo, I got out of having to do the complicated stuff.

Second step -- make beans.  Ha! Making beans is so Cooking 101.  I was also required to make up a batch of caramelized onions, brown sausages, and then layer things with bacon. Hmph. These were all things that even a person with minimal cooking skills (such as myself) could easily do. 

Looks like once I had that altogether, it was as simple as taking the whole shebang, putting it into the oven, and letting it do its thing. Mmmm, meat and beans.

I continued reading. Turns out the instructions didn't stop there. Oh no. This Kick-assoulet was going to be so good, it required me to cook it all over again the next day.

WHAT?! I had to read the directions again.
I looked at Lo, who knew exactly what I was thinking.  She smiled.

"So, THIS is why she needed a break from the blogging world", I thought to myself. "This is the beast that broke Lo's back." Or something like that. Actually, I think I just looked up and said something about how good it is that I don't have a job because this business of "making kick-assoulet" was going to consume me for at least the next 3 days.

And that is when my three day affair with Kick-assoulet officially began.
__________________________________________

Since our confit utilized pork, I was hesitant to use more pork sausages for the cassoulet.  So, I went to my friendly little butcher man (not really little, quite large actually), and inquired about my options for duck sausage.  He provided me with some lovely duck-links, and about a pound of homemade bacon, which he hand cut right to my specifications. Once I had my meat, I made another stop at the local co-op to get some dried beans before making my way  home.

Since I'd procured butter beans (large lima beans), I soaked the beans for 24 hours, then cooked them in the slow cooker for another 16 hours or so. Started them on high for a few hours then switched to low overnight. They were not done yet in the morning, so I let them go for a few more hours. When they finally decided to be done (beans can be stubborn this way, I'm discovering), I drained them and reserved the cooking liquid.

Next I browned the duck sausages. The recipe instructed me to do this in duck fat, but (always the rebel) I did it in bacon drippings. I call that an upgrade. Sausages came out and I cut them into chunks so it would be easier to dish up. Then the sliced onions went in to do their thing.  Aren't they pretty?

The caramelized onions made their way into the blender and I ran it until they were smooth. Finished by taking the pork belly and browning it up. And then, it was time to assemble.

I should warn you. This is when it gets really good. I took the thick cut bacon and lined the dutch oven with it.

I put in a good layer of beans. Then I added some duck sausage chunks, topping them off with some of that awesome caramelized onion love from the blender. Repeated that layer again, adding a bit more love puree. I saved the pork belly for the top layer. Added the rest of the heavenly puree and topped with the last of the beans. And then it was "Into the oven with you."

By the time the first round of baking was over, the smells coming out of the oven made me want to rip the door off and shove my face right in the pot. But I didn't. I waited like a good boy.  And I didn't even snitch a taste while the beans were cooling down and waiting to be put into the fridge.

The last day was the best day because I had the opportunity to smell all of those intoxicating smells all over again. And this time, I knew that once it was done I could reap the rewards of actually eating it.  It took a bit longer to heat through than the recipe indicated, but I was pleased to note that it was worth the wait.

This kick-assoulet was completely amazing. The smokey bacon infused the beans. The duck sausage was succulent and delicious. And the pork belly....well...there are few words that can really describe how good it tasted in my mouth. A wonderful meal for any winter's night.

Recipe: Cassoulet

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman. 


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Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at FOODCrush, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.

Candied Jalapeno Peppers: Daring Cooks Challenge September

Considering the state of affairs in my brain lately, it was utterly serendipitous that the Daring Cooks challenge this month had to do with food preservation -- because that's exactly what I've been spending my time doing lately.  And that means I haven't had much time for extra-curricular cooking projects!

One of our goals during the Eat Local Challenge this year has been to preserve as much local produce as possible so that we're able to sustain our regular local eating for a longer period of time.  And, so far, we've put up quite the stash of edibles:

• 25 lbs of roasted Amish paste tomatoes
• 14 cups of roasted tomatillo sauce (with more to come)
• 10 lbs Italian Romano beans
• 15 lbs of roasted red peppers
• 50 lbs of Door County peaches
• 20 cups applewood smoked sweet corn
• 1/2 lb dehydrated Principe Borghese tomatoes
• 6 lbs raspberries

Our freezer is filling quickly, so I had plans to start canning foods, rather than freezing them.  The first recipe on my list -- candied jalapenos!

I should preface all that excitement by confessing that, for a good many years, I've harbored a very irrational (yet real) fear of canning.  I have no idea where it came from, since my mother canned all sorts of delicious things when I was a girl -- tomatoes, peaches, pears, salsa, jelly, jam...  You name it, my mom seemed to be able to can it.   But me -- not so much.

About five years ago, I bought all of the supplies -- the jar grabber thingie, the magnetic lid picker-upper, the oversized funnel...  but the items sat there down in the basement. Unused.  And I'm not really sure why.  The fact of the matter was, I wasn't really afraid I'd give anyone botulism. But, canning seemed... like such a pain.

I knew I needed a great recipe to push me to tackle canning on my own. Fortunately, I didn't have to look very far to find one. Ever since I saw the recipe over at CakeWalk last summer, I've wanted to try my hand at canning these peppers. We were lucky enough to be able to sample them when Rebecca brought corn bread made with the peppers to our Soup Night last February -- and we fell in love.  I vowed to conquer my irrational fears of canning and make the best possible use of the jalapeno harvest in 2010 -- expressly to make these wonderful little sweet-hot wonders.

And so we did!  I didn't, unfortunately, have enough peppers in my own little garden to equal the three pounds needed for the recipe. But, I was fortunate that Kay from Jen Ehr Family Farms did.  Her peppers were fat and succulent looking -- with the tell-tale striations that always seem to belie a nice amount of peppery kick.

About 20 minutes with the mandoline yielded a large bowl filled with near-perfectly sliced jalapenos.  And a few more minutes  of cooking gave me the vinegary-sweet pepper-infused syrup that I'd need to get the canning process underway.


I'll admit I felt more than a little bit twitterpated by the thought of putting my (never used) canning supplies to work.  And I was even more excited by the fact that the recipe seemed quite nearly fool-proof.  Thanks to a few wise tips and lots of encouragement from Rebecca, I was on my way.

Of course, as I heard the water come to a boil in my canning pot, I also felt the butterflies mounting in my stomach.  How exciting was this?? I was canning!  And it was easy!

By the time our 7 half-pint jars were filled with jalapenos and the pot was bubbling gaily in the midst of processing, Peef and I had already decided that we also wanted to can the leftover brine from the recipes.  What would we do with it?  *wink*  Well, only time would tell!

In the meantime, we'll be happily eating our lovely jars of candied jalapenos -- in corn bread, on pulled pork sandwiches, burgers... and strewn deliciously atop jerk chicken nachos.  OH, YUM.

Candied Jalapenos


The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.


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Daring Cooks June: Teriyaki Chicken Burgers with Pineapple & Macadamia Nut Butter

 I have been a fan of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for as long as I can remember... I particularly love them when made with salted roasted macadamias, since the combination of salty toasty nuts and sweet white chocolate is pretty difficult to beat.

I'm also a big fan of the macadamia nut pie -- which I fell in love with in 1998 when a business associate mailed one to me as a Christmas gift. Since I'm a nice person, I immediately cracked open the package and shared the bounty with my colleagues -- but soon regretted the decision. Let's put it this way, the word "luscious" doesn't even begin to describe that deliciously salty sweet pie.  In fact, I've been conspiring to make a pilgrimage to Hawaii to pay homage to the macadamia nut ever since.

It probably goes without saying that if someone challenged me to make something delicious with macadamia nuts, I'd be most likely to think of a sweet application for them.  But, those Daring Cooks... they're sly. Margie of More Please  (who also happens to be a local food blogger -- yay!!) and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies chose to challenge all of the Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and then use the nut butter in a SAVORY recipe.

Hmm. I'll admit I had to think about this one for a moment.
It's not that I've never eaten a savory recipe made with nut butter.  After all, there's nothing quite like a mole made with almond butter or an Asian noodle dish made with peanut sauce.  But, I wanted to do something a little different. And less... well... expected.

So, I enlisted my usual compadre in crime, Peef, to help me think of a great savory application for nut butter. Our two brains ground around on the topic for quite some time (pun intended), and we finally decided on a plan.

The credit for the burger concept belongs to Peef, who is always coming up with new and wonderful ways to combine meat and bread. He may have been slightly inspired by the Barrie burger, which is served at a little local burger joint called AJ Bombers (if you're on twitter, you've probably heard of them).  The Barrie burger consists of a cheeseburger topped with bacon and... peanut butter. Actually a fairly brilliant combination, master-minded by @KateBarrie, and enjoyed by many in the humble city of Milwaukee.

But, we're not complete copy-catters (though you might remain unconvinced if you look back in our archives at the Stendler breakfast burrito or the Buttafuoco tomato sandwich  -- both Comet Cafe knock-offs).  And I was pretty determined to do something wonderful with macadamia nut butter.  So, we settled on that classic combination -- teriyaki chicken and pineapple.  To take the challenge truly over the top, we also added a Daring Baker's challenge -- homemade brioche buns.

While the dough for the burger buns was rising, we put our heads together and came up with a nearly perfect marinade for the chicken.  A bit of pineapple juice, some soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a whisper of brown rice vinegar.  Taste and... perfect.

We mixed the chicken with the pineapple mixture and put everything aside to marinate in the fridge.  In the meantime, we took about a cup of roasted salted macadamia nuts (this seems to be the only way we can find them here in Wisconsin), and made our nut butter. We used about one cup of macadamia nuts, which produced approximately 1/2 cup of butter.

Thirty seconds in the food processor was all it took to create a creamy delicious butter. And, of course, the first thing we did was to stick our fingers into the bowl to get a sample.  Smooth, creamy, nutty, slightly salty... dare I say buttery?

The thing about macadamia nut butter is that it's scarily addicting. In fact, the both of us stopped just short of simply taking out a couple of spoons and finishing up the batch right then and there. But, we refrained. And, as painful as it was, our burgers were far better for it.

We distracted ourselves by finishing up the brioche rolls. Gorgeous, aren't they?  (seriously, you must try this recipe at least once... it was particularly perfect with these burgers)

After the chicken had marinated for a couple of hours, we hauled out the KitchenAid meat grinder attachment that we got from my parents for Christmas and slopped the chicken bits right into it, along with about one-fourth of a large red bell pepper (which added both color and flavor).

We probably should have drained off more of the marinade, since the resulting ground meat was a little bit damp.  But, we solved that problem by adding a few crushed saltine crackers to the mix.  We formed the chicken into patties and put them on a plate in the refrigerator to give them a bit more time to firm up before we grilled them, along with a few slices of pineapple.

And then it was time to feast...
A homemade hamburger bun, a slathering of fresh macadamia nut butter, a perfectly grilled teriyaki burger, and a slice of grilled pineapple -- there's something for everyone on this burger. The freshly ground meat was tender, the burger was juicy, and the flavors were outstanding. A little bit of sweet, a little bit of salty... and all kinds of great synergy between the pineapple, red peppers, macadamia nuts, and soy sauce.

Seriously one of the best burgers we've had in a very long time.  And totally worth every last bit of effort. Especially that 30 seconds we spent on the nut butter. *wink*

Light Brioche Buns
Teriyaki Chicken Burgers with Pineapple & Macadamia Nut Butter

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

And don't forget to check out other Daring Cooks' Challenges!  Lots of creative folks out there whipping up nut butter.


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Learning to Lurve Liver: Three Spice Liver Pate

And it's time again for the Daring Cooks Challenge. Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

My first inclination when I read about this challenge was to suggest we create something completely decadent -- a country duck pate with port wine, maybe? or something with beef and wild mushrooms?

But, the more I thought about it, the more I decided that we really needed to be a little bit more daring.  We knew some DC cooks, like Audax Artifex would shock us with delicacies like head cheese and chicken feet pate -- and both of those things would be awesome to tackle.  But, we knew we didn't have time for that.   What we did have time to do, however, was to confront one of Peef's most long-standing aversions:  liver.

I won't lie.  Liver has never been a particular favorite of mine either. But, I never had quite the aversion to it that Peef does. His lack of affection for beef liver goes way back -- to one evening when his mother decided to make up a batch of something that she called "little meats" (i.e. pieces of fried beef liver sliced up into tiny little steaks). According to the story Peef has told, everyone was tentatively eating their little meats ... when all of a sudden his sister stopped dead, dropped her fork, and said: "Ew. This is liver, isn't it?"  The meal was ruined from that point forward.  Needless to say, Paul has been hesitant about eating liver ever since.

So, after discussing the matter for a bit, we decided that liver pate might be an interesting way to reintroduce the concept.  We also decided to make the King Arthur French bread recipe that was included as part of the challenge, since I've been looking for a tried and true batard recipe.

The process for the bread went swimmingly -- from the poolish (starter), through two full risings, to the baking.

The bread didn't brown up quite as well as we'd hoped, but the loaves were pleasantly hollow sounding when tapped, and the crust was exquisite.

It wasn't until we bit into our first bite of freshly baked bread that we realized I forgot to add the salt!  The bread had a pleasantly wheaty and yeasty flavor... but bread without salt is a bit of a disappointment. 

Considering the bread didn't turn out quite as expected, we had high hopes for the liver pate. We decided to try the three spiced liver pate, a tried and true recipe Evelyn and Valerie had suggested. For the recipe, we were required us to purchase beef liver, pork belly, and ground pork.  The meats were chopped and pureed with cinnamon, cumin, coriander, garlic, and shallots. 

The puree was then mixed with egg and cognac and layered in a baking dish with bay leaves and bacon. Then, the pate was baked in a water bath for an hour and a half.

The pate smelled amazing when it came out of the oven -- spicy and smoky and somewhat complex. But, we managed to wait until it was cooled to enjoy it spread atop of some of our freshly baked (albeit salt-less) French bread.

Sadly, for as great as it smelled, the pate was a bit disappointing.  I thought the recipe was a bit heavy on the side of the cinnamon, and I felt I'd probably like the pate a bit better if it was made with a different combination of spices. Peef thought the flavors were interesting together, but not something that he'd necessarily seek out again.

On the bright side of things, the pate did make Peef think twice about his initial impressions of liver.  In fact,  he declared after eating his fill of the pate that I could make him liver and onions any time I wanted to!

So, the verdict?

We'll definitely be making French bread again (and adding salt next time).  And we'd love to try a different variation on the liver pate concept.  So, if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them our way!

RECIPES - June Daring Cooks Challenge
And don't forget to check out the submissions from other Daring Cooks!



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Daring Cooks May: Goat Cheese Enchiladas with Homemade Red Mole

Wow, how time flies! It's time again for the May edition of the Daring Cooks Challenge.  Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce, was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh. 
 
We thank Barbara and Anna for coming up with an exceedingly DELICIOUS challenge -- but also for allowing us the chance to stretch our culinary muscles a bit.  They gave us lots of freedom with this one, and I'm pleased to say that we really took the opportunity to run with it.  While we didn't make our own tortillas (which would have been great, if we'd had the time), and we didn't make the green chile sauce (since we've already had a lot of practice making our own roasted tomatillo sauce, that would have been akin to cheating), we did manage to come up with our very own recipe for mole -- an accomplishment, I dare say, that we wouldn't have tackled had it not been for the inspiration the challenge provided.

I'll admit that we approached this month's project with a bit of trepidation.  It wasn't so much that we were frightened by the thought of making our own enchilada sauce.  But, we were pretty sure that we wouldn't have the TIME.  Usually we set aside an entire weekend to devote to our DC challenges.  But, this month, we didn't have that luxury.  We'd have to complete the challenge on a weeknight. After work. And I was planning to make homemade mole -- that Mexican sauce infamous for being... well, a bit time consuming.

But, we're not the sort of people who give up easily.  No sirree. So, we decided we were gonna tackle this thing. Inspired by the approach taken by my good friend, Rebecca, over at Cakewalk, we decided to tackle the challenge in parts. We'd divide up the work over multiple evenings. We'd set aside all else to make the challenge happen. And we'd make a grand attempt at taking half-decent photos at 8:00pm.  We'd persist, and that was all there was to it.

Well, we managed.  And we're here to tell about it.
So, sit right down and we'll attempt to serve you up a little bit of mole...

It all started with our mise en place.  I decided to improvise on the ingredient list -- putting everything I knew about mole together in one place.  I collected my ancho chiles, tomatillos, a few cherry tomatoes (not pictured), garlic, sweet onion, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), raisins, and a bit of Ibarra Mexican chocolate.  I also gathered together an arsenal of wonderful spices -- cracked anise seeds, cinnamon, ground cloves, black pepper, Mexican oregano, and smoky chipotle powder.

There were quite a few ingredients. But, that didn't stop us.  We got right to business --  sauteeing and roasting.  I decided to roast the tomatillos and cherry tomatoes to mellow out their acids and give them a slighly smoky flavor.  They would then be pureed with sauteed onions, garlic, and spices, and seared in a hot pan full of oil to bring out the best in their flavors.

Just get a load of that delicious looking chocolate. Mexican chocolate is made from dark, bitter chocolate mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and sometimes nuts. The end result is a "grainy" and less smooth product than the chocolate to which we're accustomed in the States. But, if you ask me, it's just as delicious -- especially for mole.

We cooked the sauce for 30-40 minutes, until all the flavors were blended.   At the end, we tasted for seasonings, and packed the sauce away for another day.  The good thing about that is that it gave the flavors a chance to meld even more in the refrigerator.


The next day, we got to work on the enchilada filling.  We combined fresh soft goat cheese, sauteed onions & garlic, raisins, grilled corn, toasted pine nuts, and plenty of cilantro.

We used my favorite technique for prepping the sprouted corn tortillas for filling.  We sprayed them with a bit of coconut oil and placed them in a hot oven for 4-5 minutes, just until they were pliable.  And then we stacked them on top of one another and started filling the enchiladas.

 

We filled each tortilla with about a 1/4 cup of filling, rolled them in the traditional manner, and laid them in a baking dish side by side.

When all of the enchiladas were prepared, we spooned over a bit of the reheated mole sauce.

After adding a bit of chihuahua cheese, everything was ready to go into the oven.   After about 20 minutes, we were greeted by a pan filled with amazingly fragrant enchiladas.

 You may never have thought to fill an enchilada with goat cheese and corn, but you'd be surprised what a delicious filling it makes -- particularly when paired with the sweet and smoky flavor of the red mole.  We owe this idea to Deborah Madison, who features a version of this dish in her book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.   The first time we tried her recipe, we accomplished it with the help of a bit of mole paste from our local Mexican grocer.  But, this time around, the flavor was even more profound.  The fresh mole -- while turning out quite similar to other moles we've tried -- was definitively more fresh, more vibrant.  The chocolate flavor mingled with the smoky tang of the ancho chiles, and the spices muddled into a wonderfully sweet and spicy serenade of flavor -- the perfect foil for the tangy goat cheese.

Goat Cheese Enchiladas with Homemade Red Mole


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Daring Cooks March: Reuben Risotto

It's dreary and drippy outside. The winter chill has subsided, but the rising temperatures, paired with the remaining snow, have given way to lingering fog.  With the sun hiding behind persistent clouds, it's downright murky out there.  But, it's perfect weather for one-dish comfort foods like creamy risotto. So, this month's Daring Cooks challenge was a fitting project.

Since we've made risotto before, we figured we had to find a way to bring new life to an old favorite.  But how?

Fortunately, with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, Peef was starting to get his annual craving for corned beef. And, along with that craving, he was starting to think about all the delicious dishes we'd enjoy in the aftermath of our St. Patty's Day feast.  How about... a reuben risotto?

At first the idea seemed a little bit wacky. But, the more we thought about it, the more interesting it seemed -- a bit of corned beef, some saurkraut, a bit of cheese, some beer... cooked together with onions and rice in a flavorful stock . We decided to give it a try.

First, we prepared our corned beef.  We used our favorite crock-pot recipe in which a corned beef brisket is cooked with carrots, onions, and celery in a delicious broth made from dark beer, tomato paste, water, browned sugar, freshly ground pepper, cloves, and lots of dill weed.  In addition to making a tasty brisket, the recipe results in a plethora of deliciously unctuous corned beef stock -- just perfect for risotto.  Since one of the specifications of this month's challenge was that we had to make our own stock, the idea was downright perfect.

We placed everything in the crockpot the night before we intended to make the risotto and let it cook slowly on low heat for about 12 hours.

We removed the corned beef,and then strained out the vegetables.

We were left with a richly colored corned beef stock that smelled positively fantastic.

I skimmed as much fat as I could from the surface of the broth, and placed it into a saucepan to keep it warm -- and then we prepped everything to begin the risotto.

We chopped the corned beef into bite-sized pieces.

And drained about a cup of saurkraut.

Peef grated about a cup and a half of gruyere cheese.

Then we set to work on the actual risotto.  We sauteed one chopped onion in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. When the onion had turned transluscent, we added a cup and a half of arborio rice.

We stirred the rice to coat it with the oil and allow it to toast briefly in the hot pan.  Then, we added a couple of teaspoons of whole caraway seeds.  The idea here was to pull in a flavor reminiscent of the rye bread used for a reuben sandwich.

When the caraway seeds began to bloom -- giving off their incredible fragrance -- we pulled out the big guns, a bit of stout beer.  The idea here is to infuse the grains of rice (and, frankly, the onions too) with some of the beer's flavor.  It would offer up a subtle bitterness, a bit of sweetness, and a depth that you just wouldn't get from adding white wine.  It would also complement the corned beef stock we'd be using.

We stirred the rice until the foam had subsided and the beer had absorbed fully into the grains of arborio.  Then, we began adding our stock.  When I make risotto, I like to set a timer for about 20 minutes right around the time I add the first ladle-full of stock.  That gives me a gauge of when the risotto should be done.

We continued to add stock until there was about a cupful left in the sauce pan.  At this point, the timer had gone off, and the grains of rice were still al dente. But, they had expanded to almost twice their size and were swollen with the flavor of the stock.  At this point, we added the corned beef and the sauerkraut.

We also added the last of the stock.  We gave everything a good stir, and then added the grated Gruyere cheese.

After stirring, we noted that the risotto was quite creamy and luscious.  It definitely didn't need to be finished with any additional cream or butter.  So, we spooned it up into bowls.

Even the smell of the risotto was intoxicating -- meaty and hearty, with the perfume of caraway seed, the sweetness of the stout, and the slightly sour overtones of the saurkraut.  One bite told us that reuben risotto was a pretty fantastic idea.


Corned Beef Brisket

Reuben Risotto

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

And don't forget to check out all the other great Daring Cooks Risotto challenges at Daring Cooks’ blogs!  


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