Month: February 2011

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First Try at Risotto

Risotto is one of those delicious dishes that I’ve had many times in restaurants. Some experiences with risotto were downright life changing, and other “lesser” experiences were still tasty and memorable. I started thinking about making risotto about a year ago; but when I began reading recipes, I was a little overwhelmed by what seemed to be described as a Herculean effort of technique.

I was reading The Pioneer Woman’s Blog and came across her recipe for risotto.  I decided it was time to undertake creation of this culinary treasure.  Surprisingly, my first take on this dish went very well.

For the most part, I followed The Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  I made a slight modification.  I re-hydrated some mixed dried wild mushrooms, and I substituted some of the liquid I used to soak the mushrooms for about 1 cup of the recommended stock.  I also chopped the mushrooms and added them in toward the end of cooking – after the cream and cheese.  The mushrooms still had a little more chewiness to them than I liked.  I think next time I will add them in earlier on with the adding of stock- to give them more time to tenderize.  I also got to put my new All-Clad stainless steel sauté and simmer pan– which worked out amazingly during this application.

So, the moral of the story is – have a sense of adventure and try those daunting recipes.  You might just be rewarded with a gourmet meal.

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Restaurant Supply

(my new favorite place on earth)

Visiting the restaurant supply store is something that’s been on the back of my mind for quite some time now.  I don’t know why it took me so long to actually track a store down and go, but I finally did it just a few days ago.  Oh boy, I felt like a kid in a candy store!  Does anyone remember that old game show Supermarket Sweep?  It was also kind of like that…dashing through the store and just throwing stuff in my cart.

There were a couple of items I had in the back of my mind to look for – a Stainless Steel Chinoise (for straining soups), commercial sheet pans (for everything under the sun), and metal spoons and ladles.  Previously, I had seen the Chinois Bouillon Strainer from Williams-Sonoma and that was like $70.  I kept thinking…there has to be a less expensive option that works equally as well for less than that.  Sure enough, I found one at the restaurant supply for $18.  I got a couple of sheet pans for $13 each and spoons and ladles for between $2-4 each.  Gotta love that!  Check out the photo of my entire haul from the trip.

I left with a couple of large measuring cups, 2 large sheet pans, a pizza dough scraper, 2 fifteen inch pizza pans, a Chinoise, a red pepper shaker, an OXO peeler, an aluminum mixing bowl, 3 spoons, 2 ladles, 4 plastic squeeze bottles, and a microplane.  Even after all of that, my total with tax was under $150.  So, I highly recommend – if you’re looking for some common kitchen items, find your local restaurant supply store and make a visit.  I visited Ace Mart Restaurant Supply, and it just so happens that they have an online store, too!

The restaurant supply store is a great place to buy things in bulk for parties/events, too.  For instance cups, glasses, disposable plates, etc.  It’s also an amazing place to drool over professional kitchen equipment.  Here’s a picture of a a Vulcan gas stovetop range with 6 burners, 2 ovens, and a griddle.  How cool is that?  I don’t think I’ll be convincing my husband any time soon that we need to invest in that kind of kitchen equipment.