Carrot and kale risotto with roasted radishes, or “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-risotto”

Saturday morning, feeling super lazy after cleaning the apartment, all I really wanted was to take a shower, open a bottle of wine and lay on my couch. But we gotta eat, right? After cleaning the apartment and doing the laundry Joao and I get pretty hungry – never fails. :D I was not feeling very creative or inspired to cook, to be honest with you: I could have made burgers, but had forgotten to defrost the beef. I did not feel like eating pasta. So I opened the fridge and grabbed everything in front of me: carrots, leeks, radishes. Oh, there were also some kale leaves already washed, so I just gathered everything and decided to use them up in a risotto.

It is a carrot and kale risotto with roasted radishes, a.k.a. “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-risotto”. :)

As I did not have any vegetable stock at hand, I used leeks and onion to enhance the risotto flavor and boiled 1 bay leaf in the water I used to replace the stock. It worked like a charm! The risotto turned out really good, guys – sorry for not being modest at all. :D
In the end, the roasted radishes did not go so well with the rest of the dish: I wanted to add a different texture to the meal, but the risotto worked very well without the radishes. I bring you the recipe anyway, in case you want to serve the radishes in a different meal, with a different dish.

Carrot and kale risotto with roasted radishes
own recipe

Radishes:
5 small radishes (100g in total), sliced in half lengthwise; if radishes are large, cut them in 3 or 4 pieces
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Risotto:
3 cups (720ml) water
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 small and thin leek, only the light green part, thinly sliced
½ small onion, finely diced
¾ cup (165g) Arborio or Carnaroli rice
¼ cup (60ml) dry white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small carrots (160g in total, weighed before peeling), coarsely grated
2 kale leaves, without the central stalk, torn into small pieces
¼ xícara (35g) coarsely grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a small baking sheet with foil. Transfer the radishes to the foil, drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat, spread on the sheet leaving some space between the radishes and roast for 30 minutes, turning at half the oven time. Remove from the oven and set aside.

In the meantime, make the risotto: place the water and the bay leaf in a small saucepan over high heat until it boils. Keep it simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt half the butter and olive oil. Add leek and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3-4 minutes. Add the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes, to coat all the rice grains with fat. Add the wine and cook until it evaporates. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the carrots. Start adding the water, 1 ladle at a time, then stirring constantly so the rice releases its starch.
Repeat this until all the water has been used, the rice is al dente and the risotto is thick and glossy – about 20 minutes. Stir in the kale, the remaining butter and the parmesan. Check the seasoning, adjust if necessary, cover the pan and wait 5 minutes. Transfer risotto to serving plates, arrange the radishes on top and serve immediately.

Serves 2 generously, or 3 lighter servings

Red wine chocolate cake and Vincent, again

Days ago I finished watching season 2 of Daredevil and despite all the action the Punisher brought to the show I did not like this season as much as I liked the first one – the whole Elektra thing? Oh, so boring.

I was about to give up on the show when Vincent D’Onofrio showed up: it is no secret how much I love the guy and I might be a bit biased here, but the two episodes he was in were the best in the entire season – that is what a talented actor can do to a show/movie. He added even more depth to a character played by him to perfection on the previous season and also created great dynamic with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle – they were wonderful together.

The eternal Bob Goren added a wonderful layer to a show I was no longer very much excited about, even if for two episodes – after he appeared on the show, it became instantly more interesting. This is what the red wine does to the chocolate cake I bring you today: you cannot quite taste the flavor of it, but it adds depth to the chocolate flavor making it more intense, on top of making the texture insanely tender. Cheers!

Red wine chocolate cake
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious Delicious. Love to Cook

Cake:
200g all purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder + a bit extra to dust the pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon table salt
200g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
½ cup (120ml) red wine, room temperature

Glaze:
2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan and dust it with cocoa powder, knocking off the excess. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until very creamy and pale. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition – scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the melted chocolate until combined. Still on low speed, beat in half of the flour mixture, then the milk and the wine, then the remaining flour mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix only until incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack and cool completely.

Glaze: place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook them over a medium-high heat, stirring, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Boil for 2-3 minutes or until shiny and thick. Remove from the heat, cool for 2-3 minutes, then pour over cake.

Serves 8-10

Port cookies to celebrate Leo

My days are still super busy, and I hope things slow down a little in the weeks to come, but I am still making super quick recipes at home (and there are days I don’t make anything at all) and I am also still writing very short posts, as you can see. :)

However, there is one thing I could not leave aside, which is the fact that my beloved Leonardo Di Caprio, or “Leozinho”, as I call him, has finally won an Oscar, after so many years watching less worthy actors take home the award (not to mention the wonderful performances that were not nominated). The Internet almost collapsed and I jumped on my bed (and there were people a lot less subtle than me). :)

So congrats to Leo! And because of that I am posting cookies – not any kind of cookies, but cookies made with wine, because it is time to celebrate. \0/

Port cookies
slightly adapted from Rita Lobo

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
200g unsalted butter, chopped, room temperature
¼ cup (60ml) Port wine
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
icing sugar, for dusting the cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, place flour, almond meal, granulated sugar and salt and mix on low speed to combine. Add the butter and mix on low speed until a dough begins to form. Drizzle the wine and vanilla over the mixture, mix again on low just until a dough forms, but avoid overmixing.

Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie into balls and place onto prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart. Gently flatten each ball. Bake for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven, transfer sheet to a wire rack and dust the hot cookies with the icing sugar. After 5 minutes, slide the paper with the cookies onto the rack and cool completely.

Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Makes about 42

Orange Marsala pound cake

Many, many years ago, without much thought, I started baking a cake every weekend, and it has become a tradition here in my house: if I don’t see a cake cooling over a wire rack on a Saturday it just doesn’t feel like the weekend.

Sometimes I struggle with choosing which cake to make, either because I have too many ideas at once or because I don’t have any. :) Weeks ago I was cooking lunch and as I poured some Marsala over the broccolini I immediately thought of adding it to a cake. After we finished eating I found an orange in my fridge and the flavor of the cake was then decided – just like that. Inspiration coming from all sorts of places – I like that a lot.

This is a moist, delicious and fragrant cake, one that I once made with whisky and nutmeg and that it turned out even more fantastic with a touch of citrus and Marsala.

Do you like making cakes on the weekend? What is your favorite cake flavor?

Orange Marsala pound cake
slightly adapted from the delicious Pure Dessert: True Flavors, Inspiring Ingredients, and Simple Recipes

2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
2 tablespoons Marsala wine
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
150g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
105g cake flour (homemade: 15g corn starch + 90g all purpose flour)
55g whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
180g unsalted butter, softened and in chunks

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 4 to 5 cups loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, Marsala, eggs, and vanilla to combine.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar and orange zest and rub with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Whisk in the flours, baking powder and salt. Add the butter then pour in half of the egg mixture. Beat on low speed just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add half of the rest of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Add the rest of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake until golden and risen and a toothpick comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, unmold carefully and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely, then peel off the paper.

Serves 8-10

Mulled wine jelly and a giveaway

Christmas is coming and I have a gift for you, my dear readers: Zinio has given me 5 free magazine subscriptions to share with you! If you’re not familiar with Zinio, take a look at their website and you’ll see that there are hundreds of wonderful digital magazines for you to choose, including my favorites Donna Hay and Delicious Australia.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post between today, December 17th and December 31st – only one entry per person, no anonymous comment will be eligible. I’ll announce the winners on January, 3rd. Good luck!

And while you take part in this great giveaway, I’ll leave you with some delicious and boozy jelly, a nice dessert idea for Christmas since it can be made in advance, and the recipe comes from DH mag, one of the great digital magazines you’ll find at Zinio.

Mulled wine jelly
from the always beautiful Donna Hay Magazine

1 ½ tablespoons gelatin powder
2 cups (480ml) cranberry juice
4 cups (960ml) red wine, such as Pinot Noir – I used Shiraz*
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
2 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg
rind of 1 orange, remove with a vegetable peeler
1 cup heavy cream, whipped with 2 teaspoons icing sugar until soft peaks form

In a small bowl, combine the gelatin with ¼ cup of the cranberry juice. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan combine the red wine, remaining cranberry juice, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange rind and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir through the gelatin. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a 3-liter capacity serving dish (or individual cups as I did). Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set.
Serve with a dollop of the whipped cream.

* the jelly tasted great but to my taste it was a bit too strong on the alcoholic side – I would definitely use less wine and more cranberry juice next time

Serves 8-10

Raspberry Port linzer tartlets and a list of the movies I love

I’ve finally finished something I’d been meaning to do for ages: a list with my all time favorite movies – the ones I deeply love. It was rather difficult putting the list together – and I might have forgotten something, only time will tell – but it was a lot of fun doing it. It is posted here, if you’re curious. :)

These lovely tartlets were a similar challenge: the pastry was very difficult to work with – too crumbly – but it tasted so good it was all worth it. And the filling was delicious, too – raspberry jam spiked with booze? I’m in. ;)

Raspberry Port linzer tartlets
slightly adapted from The Boozy Baker

Dough:
1 ½ cups (157g) sliced almonds
2/3 cups (133g) superfine sugar
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
3 large egg yolks

Filling:
1 ½ cups raspberry preserves
3 tablespoons Port wine

Start by making the dough: combine the almonds and 1/3 cup (66g) of the sugar in a food processor and pulse until coarse. Add the remaining sugar (66g), flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and the yolks and process until a dough begins to come together. Turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead lightly to make it come together. Divide in two pieces, one slightly larger than the other, flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Make the filling: place the preserves in a small bowl and break it with a fork. Add the wine and mix to combine.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Roll the larger piece of dough between two pieces of lightly floured baking paper until you have a 30cm (12in) circle. Transfer to a lightly buttered 23cm (9in) tart pan with a removable bottom and press up the sides.
Roll the second piece of dough to a 30cm (12in) circle. Cut into strips, transfer to a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes.
Pour the filling into the tart shell and smooth the surface. Remove the dough strips from the freezer and arrange half horizontally and half vertically across the tart, creating a lattice pattern.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Remove the outer ring of the pan, cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 8 – I halved the recipe above, used 9cm tartlet pans and got 6 tartlets

Vanilla rice pudding with Port syrup

One of the things I love about watching now movies I saw for the first time on my teen days is seeing known, acclaimed actors at the beginning of their careers. I watched “Witness” last week again, after so many years, and saw Viggo Mortensen as one of the Amish guys (those of you who have been reading me for a while know I’m a huge fan – he is part of my acting Olympus, along with Mr. Fiennes and Mr. Roth). :)
I did not remember Viggo was at that movie, but I once read something here that I completely agree with: even then one could see he had potential, and now, after working with great directors – pairing up beautifully with another favorite of mine – he’s one of the best out there.

I guess I can say the same about this dessert: rice pudding is already good and comforting, but gets even better made with real vanilla and topped with this Port syrup.

Vanilla rice pudding with Port syrup
slightly adapted from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup Arborio rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 cups (960ml) whole milk
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (212g) caster sugar

Sticky Port syrup*:
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (60ml) Port wine

Place the rice, cinnamon, vanilla (seeds and bean), milk, cream and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-35 minutes or until rice is al dente. Discard the vanilla bean**.
Make the syrup: place the brown sugar and the Port in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute or until syrupy – it will thicken as it cools.
Divide the rice pudding between six cups or small bowl and top with the sticky Port syrup.

* the original recipes calls for Marsala

** rinse the vanilla bean and remove any traces of cream/milk. Let it dry naturally then place it in your sugar jar

Serves 6