Food (again)

Surprisingly, the turkey came out of the oven a little after 8pm last night. It was pretty tasty and only a little dry. The potato and parsnip pierogies were the unexpected stars of the evening--delicious packets of dough surrounding creamy starch goodness and glazed with melted sage butter. We all over-indulged. I think the most unusual dish was the chestnut risotto. I don’t believe that it came out perfectly last night, so I am posting it here for my future reference. I suspect with a little more effort and the right ingredients that this will be an awesome dish.

It’s in metric because I’m feeling too lazy to convert, but 100 g is approximately ¼ of a pound and a liter is about a quart.

Chestnut Risotto

320 g arborio rice
200 g chicken liver, chopped (I think ground beef would be more palatable)
200 g chestnuts, boiled, peeled and chopped (roasting might be tastier)
200g cooked squash, cubed (roast this too)
1 clove of garlic
1 liter of broth, keep this warm on the stove for the rice
½ cup of white table wine
1 onion, chopped
3 Tbl olive oil
Small knob of butter
Grated parmesian

Add two tablespoons of olive oil and the whole garlic clove into a large pot over medium heat. Add in the liver or ground beef and brown for a couple of minutes. Remove to a bowl and set it aside.

Put in the remaining oil, the butter and the onion and saute until the onion turns translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Pour in the wine and let it boil down for a minute. Add the broth in a ladle-full at a time. Stir the rice and don’t add the next ladle of broth until most of the liquid from the previous has been absorbed. Repeat until the broth is gone and the rice is creamy. This can take 25-30 minutes or longer, so don’t rush it. If the rice isn’t soft enough, continue with hot water or extra broth until it is.

Stir in the chestnuts, squash and the liver/beef into the rice. Serve with the grated parmesian.

Lordy me. I have a lot of pictures that I want to post, but I don’t trust the internet connection here. You’ll have to wait until we reach the land of the Scots and the Pillars of Hercules (I can’t wait to meet the person who named the farm this) before you can see any of the marvelous pictures from the last 5 weeks of our adventures.

Ch-ch-ch-ciao ciao ch-ciao…ciao. (<-- Best ending to a phone call, Eh-var!)