Brown Rice Risotto

Hello hello!

Today was an experiment day... can you make a good Risotto using brown rice? You can! It turned out really creamy and delicious. I added some cream at the end, but it really wasn't necessary. This took less stock than I'm used to, but took longer to cook.

Brown Rice Risotto

2 cups brown rice (we use parboiled)
6 cups chicken broth  (but we ended up not using it all)

2 small onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 chicken breasts, cooked (I used poached, but roasted, grilled, it's all good)

1/3 cup white wine

Optional: heavy cream, parmesan

Heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter on low heat in a large sauce pan. Add the onions and garlic. Cook until soft but not browned. Add the rice, and cook 1-2 minutes, mixing to coat all the rice.

Add the wine and cook until almost all reduced.
Add about a cup of stock, continually stirring until almost all cooked off. Repeat until the rice is cooked and the liquid has reached a creamy and porridgy texture. Season with salt and pepper. If you want it to be more creamy, add a splash of heavy cream. But it is not entirely necessary. Grated parmesan can also be a nice topper.

I cut up the chicken and served on top of the risotto.

SO CREAMY AND DELICIOUS. My nephew really liked this. Rice and chicken? What else to five year olds love? If we had some cookies he would have been in heaven!

Chicken and Waffles

Time for a family favourite! Southern Fried Chicken!

I love this recipe, originally from Martha Stewart. Although I didn't do my normal 24 hour marinade in buttermilk, it still came out pretty well.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

16 chicken thighs, bone-in

1 L buttermilk

Salt, pepper, paprika. Generous amounts.

LOTS of paprika

I like to leave it in the fridge for 24 hours, but I didn't think of this dish until the day we made it. So it got about 6 hours or so.

Then the messy and FUN part. Time to bread those poor marinated cluckers.

A few cups of flour
Salt, pepper, paprika
Few tablespoons of cornstarch

Dip the chicken repeatedly until chicken is thoroughly covered in flour.

Results in AWESOME scary DOUGH hands

 Set deep-fryer to 375 F. The chicken should cook for about 15 minutes, until a nice deep golden colour.

This goes very well with waffles!

Waffles

This recipe is also adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, but I took out the vanilla and cinnamon to keep them less sweet and more savoury, appropriate for chicken.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 cups flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the milk, butter and egg yolks in a separate bowl. Add liquid mix to the flour mixture, mix together. Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into the batter. Spoon 1/3 cup amounts into the waffle maker. Cook until no steam emits from the waffle maker.

Lumpy future deliciousness.

 

Waffle One

Pile o' waffles

Devour with the fried chicken.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

This is adapted from some recipes at Martha Stewart and one I learned at work.

1 tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp oil, butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, rinsed and chopped
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
4 oz cream cheese (half a 225g package), softened
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.
Heat the oil and butter on medium flame. Add the chili flakes, cook 1-2 minutes. Add onions, cook until soft and translucent, slightly caramalized.
Add garlic and artichoke hearts. Cook 2-3 minutes, until soft.
Pour mix into bowl. Add cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, 1/2 the Parmesan. Stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Put into oven-safe container. Cover with the rest of the parmesan and the breadcrumbs. Slide into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes, until dip is bubbly.

Yes, artichoke hearts look funny.

*Drool*

This was hoovered pretty fast in our house! We served it with some warm pita bread.

Another success!